This Working Life

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...

Why do our ‘old’ concepts of “High Performance Team” and "Peak Performance” need a rethink? Recorded live at SXSW Sydney, we interrogate these concepts and why it can lead to burnout, brittleness and budget blowouts. Ben and Aubrey share stories about their own burnout and the powerful role that values can play when it comes to our performance.

Ever felt that overwhelming sense that there’s just not enough time to do your job? And that everything is suddenly urgent? How did we get here and how can we stop the urgent work loop? Tips from Dermot Crowley: Six dials you can tweak to manage urgency: Time, Quality, Scope, Resources, Budget, and Risk. How to plan ahead to avoid urgency:  Daily: 10 minutes each workday morning to get focused Wee...

“If we do this, it could profoundly change how we are together.” Is your day full of meetings leaving you tired and working late just to get everything done? Surely there must be a better way... In this episode, Lisa Leong finds out how we can do meetings better and looks at one technique called The Circle Way.

You’ve been asked a curveball question in a job interview, or your boss has asked what you think in a meeting. Suddenly your heart races and your palms get sweaty. So how can you think clearly and speak in a compelling way when you’re put on the spot? Matt Abrahams has some surprising tips and insights to help you get through these anxiety-inducing moments - from how to maximise mediocrity to harn...

“We are all artists, sometimes we forget that”. Even if you don’t think you have a creative job, or that you yourself are artistic, there’s a lot you can learn from the ‘artist’s way’.In this episode you’ll learn lessons to incorporate into your working life no matter what your profession is - from how to get inspired and innovate to getting into a flow state.

You want to talk with your boss about a pay rise but even just thinking about it causes your heart to race and your palms to get sweaty. So how can you navigate negotiation at work like a pro and, most importantly of all, properly prepare so it goes well?

Our habits, good and bad, influence how we live, and how we feel and perform at work. And if you’re human, chances are you want to shake off some bad habits that set in over winter. So here’s how you can do it (with zero willpower).