Working Conversations

Episode 93: The Labor Shortage and What it Means for You – and Your Burrito  In this episode, Dr. Janel Anderson explores the current shortage of qualified workers in the labor force. She explains the various factors that led to this shortage including fewer people opting in to the workforce (this started well before the pandemic), the impact the pandemic had on the workforce, and how a rising gro...

Episode 92: My Predictions for Work Life in 2023  In this episode, Dr. Janel Anderson looks into her crystal ball and predicts the future of work in the coming year. Thinking about the future can help us understand the present and be ready for what’s coming next. Dr. Anderson’s predictions address the shortage of qualified workers in the labor force, where and how we will work, a clash of values t...

Episode 91: My Word of the Year for 2023 – And Why You Need One Too In this episode, Dr. Janel Anderson explains what a Word of the Year is and how choosing a word can be a great addition to your new year plans. Having a Word of the Year keeps your attention on the goals you have for the year and motivates you toward achieving them. And if you ever feel overwhelmed or if you are overthinking somet...

Episode 90: Why Procrastination is Your Friend (and How to Beat it Anyway) In this episode, Dr. Janel Anderson tackles the issue of procrastination. A life-long procrastinator herself, she is no stranger to doing everything EXCEPT the thing that most needs to be done. She unravels why we procrastinate and the tremendous value that procrastination brings (not just getting your office cleaned or wha...

Episode 89: Decision Making and Your Year of Wonders with Nick Tasler In this episode, Dr. Janel Anderson is joined by industrial psychologist Nick Tasler, an expert on decision-making and change. In their wide-ranging conversation that spans decision fatigue to making decisions with others (including coworkers and family members) to collaborating when personality and individual differences get in...

Episode 88: Get a Jumpstart on 2023 2023 will be here before you know it. Do you want it to happen by accident or by design? In this episode, Dr. Janel Anderson recaps the lessons of the past year, noting that 2022 was much, much better than its recent predecessors but also different from the recognizable past of a few years ago. She then puts on her futurist hat and turns her attention to the yea...

Episode 87: 6 Ways to Overcome Perfectionism If you have perfectionistic tendencies – or you know someone who does – this episode is for you. Dr. Janel Anderson explains where perfectionism comes from and explores why some of us tend to be perfectionists. She shares her own journey in overcoming perfectionism and offers six strategies for overcoming perfectionism. This episode also comes with a fr...

Episode 86: An Experiment in Gratitude The research on the positive impact of gratitude is compelling. On this episode, Dr. Janel Anderson tests for herself whether gratitude makes a difference in daily work and personal life. She shares the results of a six-week gratitude experiment she conducted on herself. On a daily basis, she recorded small moments and significant events that she was grateful...

Episode 85: Managing Your Energy During the Holidays Dr. Janel Anderson interviews Kristen Brown, keynote speaker, master of personal energy, and stress and resilience expert. With the holiday season fast approaching, Janel asks Kristen for tips on managing workplace stress and overwhelm, hosting gatherings with friends and family, and how to handle the (sometimes) dreaded office holiday party. Th...

Episode 84: Why Talking to Yourself Makes You Smarter If you think talking to yourself is a shortcoming, think again. Research demonstrates that speaking your thoughts out loud to yourself increases the quality of your ideas and tempers your impulsiveness. From vetting ideas before sharing them with a colleague, to managing your frustration, to finding your keys, talking to yourself can have treme...

Listening is a gift. When we focus entirely on the person who is speaking and are free from distractions and give them our absolute undivided attention, we are giving the present of being in the present. In this episode, Dr. Janel Anderson digs into issues that can get in the way of effective listening and offers strategies to overcome them. She reviews five barriers to listening that come from ex...

Episode 82: What to Do When You Don’t Like a Coworker We don’t always like everyone we work with. If we liked everyone the same, there’d be no distinction between our very best friends – our inner circle, if you will – to casual acquaintances. It’s perfectly fine to like some people more than others. Even if they are coworkers. But when that dislike (or its opposite: a great deal of affinity for s...

Episode 81: How to Get a Second Chance at Anything Some say there is no such thing as second chances, but we mere mortals do not get everything right the first time. Especially when we are trying something new, taking a risk, or working outside of our comfort zone. All of us have made mistakes in our lives, and if there was never an opportunity to try again, we’d have no motivation to try new thin...

Episode 80: The Two Most Powerful Words in the English Language In this episode, Dr. Janel Anderson explores the power of two little words: I am. When we use these words, we declare something to be true about ourselves. Whether it is the work we are going to get done in a given day (as in, “I am going to complete this project”) or who we consider ourselves to be on a more macro level (like, “I am...

Episode 79: A Crash Course on Negotiation with Linda Swindling Negotiation skills are critical in today’s work world. Whether you are negotiating your schedule or your salary, you need to know how to ask for (and get!) what you want. In this episode, Dr. Janel Anderson interviews negotiation expert Linda Swindling. Linda reminds listeners to stop thinking about what’s in the negotiation for oursel...

Episode 78: How to Network in the Hybrid World - And Why You Need To! Having a strong network is critical for a thriving career and a thriving life! And, networking – that is, getting to know others and developing relationships that can be mutually beneficial – is more challenging in the virtual and hybrid world than it was when we spent more time together in the same spaces. In this episode, join...

Episode 77: Let’s Talk about your Well-Being – at Work It goes without saying that the past couple of years have had a lasting impact on the future of work. We’ve covered a lot of those changes over the past year and a half here on the podcast, but one of the critical areas we haven’t talked about is employee wellness and mental health. If your company is like most large organizations, the offerin...

Episode 76: Productivity Monitoring: Good or Bad for Business? Productivity monitoring has seeped from blue-collar work into office work. Known as digital productivity monitoring, this is the moment-by-moment tracking of your keystrokes, mouse movements, phone calls, and Teams or Zoom meetings. For many large companies, this process of tracking how employees spend every minute of the day has becom...

Episode 75: Why Low Employee Engagement Might Be Good for Business Employee engagement has presented itself as a perplexing issue to solve. Engagement survey after engagement survey inevitably come back with lower numbers than most companies want – especially in the last couple of years. In this tight labor market, it’s hard to find good employees at all, much less ones who are highly engaged. And...

Episode 74: What to Do When It’s Not Your Fault At some point in time, you will inherit something from a colleague that is not working. Their problem will become your problem and even though it is not your fault that the problem exists, it will be your problem to fix it. In this episode, Dr. Janel Anderson takes us through a process to take 100 percent responsibility for a problem, even if you wer...

Episode 73: How to Stop Ruminating and Feel Better Ever had a situation that you just could not stop playing over and over in your head? Of course, it’s never a good situation. Always something you wished would have turned out differently. In this episode, join Dr. Janel Anderson takes us inside the mind and shares a technique that will help you feel better right away. The technique is called cogn...

Episode 72: Why You Need to Bet on Yourself  Betting on yourself means that you are committed to you. You have an unwavering belief in your ability to do good work and add value. Whether that’s in a personal relationship, as a parent, or in your chosen profession, betting on yourself means you have that deep belief in yourself and your abilities and you have the discipline to stay focused on what...

Episode 71: How to be Visible in the WFH and Hybrid Workplace It’s much harder and more nuanced to be visible in the virtual or hybrid office, but you absolutely need to be visible in your organization now more than ever. And you must make a more concerted effort to do so in the world of virtual and hybrid work. In this episode, Dr. Janel Anderson shares three tips for being visible on the days wh...

Episode 70: How to Be More Innovative Nearly every industry had to do things differently as a result of the pandemic. And in so doing, they were being reactive. Some very good innovations came out of that time of reactivity, but waiting for a pandemic or its equivalent is not a sustainable way to be innovative. In this episode, Dr. Janel Anderson shares three different techniques for becoming more...

Episode 69: A Sneak Peek into My Professional Development In order to stay competitive or get ahead in your career, it’s important to have a plan – a professional development plan. This is a different plan than your manager or your employer might have for you. This is YOUR plan and it takes into account the big plans and dreams you have for your career that go beyond your current role. In this epi...