This Working Life

We all know the impact stress can have on our minds and bodies. But it turns out that it’s not the stress itself that’s impacting our health - it’s how we think about it. In the fifth and final instalment of This Working Life's special series about your health at work, we hear stories of work-related stress and our expert panel tell us how to change our stress mindsets so we can harness its power...

We all know what we need to do to be healthy and feel good so why aren't we doing it? In the fourth instalment of our special series about your health at work, we’re hacking health habits to help you feel more energised and creative in your workday. Hear personal stories and expert tips on how to overcome the afternoon sugar slump, move more without going to the gym, and sleep better to power up y...

Have you ever cried at work or been yelled at in front of your colleagues? In this third instalment of our series about your health at work we’re digging deep and talking about emotions at work. You’ll hear why it’s good for you to talk about your feelings at work, what selective vulnerabilities are and why you should know about them, how leaders need to be more emotional, and what the detrimental...

One in five of us are living and working with chronic pain. So why aren't we telling our colleagues and bosses about it? If you live with chronic pain yourself or someone on your team does, we have the answers for you to help you navigate it in the workplace and learn the surprising key that can help alleviate it.   Guests Dr Duygu Biricik Gulseren - Assistant Professor, York University Kathy Hubb...

Welcome to a special series about your health at work. In Everything's fine... we'll be diving into topics that can be tricky to talk about with our bosses and colleagues, particularly when it comes to our wellbeing. When asked "how are you?" we might say "everything's fine" with a brave smile. Sound familiar?  From physical pain to mental strain, over five episodes you'll be hearing personal stor...

On average, Australian women are paid $18,461 less than men per year. The recent report released by the Workplace Gender Equality Agency shows a gender pay gap across every sector in Australia. But what’s behind that yawning gap? Professor Lyndall Strazdins from the Australian National University calls it the “massive unresolved problem of our time”. It’s been dubbed the ‘Hour-Glass Ceiling’. So w...

So you may have witnessed some tense conflicts at work. Someone may have even raised their voice at you. But how can we harness the power of conflict at work? In this episode we dig into how to nail negotiation and conquer conflict at work with William Ury - Co-Founder of Harvard Law School’s Program on Negotiation and author of Possible: How We Survive (and Thrive) in an Age of Conflict.

There's been a lot of talk about the new right to disconnect laws. But what do they mean for you, practically?  In this episode you'll understand how it'll help you switch off from work (and what that will do for your health and wellbeing) and what you and your team can do to prepare.  

It’s been dubbed the Hollywood narrative of leadership - that leaders are special, and that we can’t work or succeed without them. This is what Professor Alex Haslam calls ‘Zombie Leadership’. In their paper, Alex and his co-authors detail what Zombie Leadership looks like and how we can kill these dead ideas that still walk among us.

It’s estimated we make up to 35,000 decisions every day so how can you make better decisions at work?  Before you start drawing up pros and cons lists, listen to this episode to hear how you can make decisions with less stress and a lot more satisfaction - from small everyday ones, to big ones like changing career.

Friction is everywhere - from our systems to our relationships at work. But there’s good news - not all friction is bad and if you know how, you can be a friction fixer. Robert (Bob) Sutton is Professor of Organizational Behaviour at Stanford Business School and co-author of The Friction Project. He takes us through the different types of friction and how we can fix it. Meanwhile, we hear personal...

Finding it hard to get your brain into gear for the work year? You might feel your mind wandering a bit, daydreaming of being back on the beach. To help you get you back on track, one of the world’s top experts on attention, Dr Gloria Mark from the University of California Irvine, explains how our attention spans have declined and what we can do about it. And Sydney University Associate Professor...

Feeling a little bit stuck right now? Like you want to progress on something but feel a bit glued up? Why does this happen to us? It turns out getting stuck is not a bug in our system — it's a feature in our success. So how can we get unstuck? Here are some tips and techniques to help you navigate a breakthrough. 

Saying "yes" too often can leave you feeling overwhelmed and perhaps a bit resentful. You might hear yourself saying "yes of course I can" when your inner voice is screaming "no!" Here's how you can say "no" more often at work, without feeling rude, and what it can do for you and your team in the long term.

Our image and expectation of a good leader is changing, and increasingly we're needing them to use both their head and their heart in making decisions. Leadership expert and author Dr Kirstin Ferguson argues that the art of this type of leadership is knowing what is needed when. So what does this balancing act really look like?

We've seen the Great Resignation, Lying Flat in China and Quiet Quitting. And now we're hearing murmurings of another movement that some are calling 'Anti-Striving'. So what exactly is it? And what will making peace with feeling less ambitious bring us in the long-term?

We've all had to work with 'that' difficult person that we just clash with. It's tense. It's stressful. And it's exhausting. So, do we have to get along to do our best work? Or is it in our best interests to make peace and move on? And how can we best do that? The solutions might surprise you.

When we make a mistake or fail at work we might want the earth to open up and swallow us whole. But what makes a fail ‘right’ and how can we talk about it at work? Amy Edmondson is a Professor of Leadership and Management at the Harvard Business School. Renowned for her world-leading research into the concept of psychological safety, a crucible movement in the 1990s helped her understand our relat...

We know curiosity is good for us and our work, but few of us actually feel it day to day. So what’s causing this gap? We find some answers and solutions so you can feel more curious in your work and career.

From loud chewing to breathing and keyboard tapping, many of you have your pet peeves when it comes to sounds at work that drive you to distraction. But for some of you, it’s a disorder that can cause extreme reactions like anger, panic, and fear. It’s called misophonia and in this episode you’ll understand exactly what it is, how it impacts people at work and what you can do about it.

“If I can just get to Christmas, fall over the finishing line, it’ll all be fixed.” Sounds about right, but unfortunately it’s not true. In this episode we’re diving into why we’re feeling so tired, how it’s impacting our work and what we can do about it while avoiding the ‘Great November’ disease.

“Fiction seems to do something in our brains that nonfiction doesn't.” What was the last book you read? And did you know it gave you something more than just some relaxing downtime? It turns out that books, especially fiction, can develop key skills needed for our careers. Book and short story recommendations mentioned: Poseidon, Franz Kafka The Helpline, Katherine Collette Out of Sheer Rage, Geof...

How do we go from wanting to do something to actually doing it, and doing it well? According to Organisational Psychologist and Professor Adam Grant, we need to tap into our hidden potential and hone our character skills.

“I remember I wrote 500 words of my thesis on Christmas Day. I was really proud of that at the time.” Dr Thomas Curran is bruised from the perfection trap but he slowly made his way out of it. But how did he do it? He shares insights from his own experience, unpacks why perfectionism is on the rise, what it can look like at work, and how you can move away from perfectionist tendencies yourself.

They’re not creatures of the night, but creatures in every workplace. Ever had a colleague that left you feeling drained of energy after a conversation? Or perhaps you’ve been feeling low in energy yourself and worried you might be the one sucking the fun out of the room? Either way, we’re here to help. Learn how to identify the workplace energy vampire and arm yourself not with a garlic necklace...