This Working Life

Office renos for the hybrid world....organisations with empty floors are figuring out how to make the office more useful and attractive. Guests: Evodia Alaterou - design strategist at Hassell, principal in the Melbourne studio  Ethan Bernstein - associate professor of business administration at  Harvard Business School. Peter Wheatley - PWC workplaces leader Presenter: Lisa Leong Producer: Sarah A...

Tony Fadell was instrumental in creating the iPod and the IPhone.  He shares in his book Build: An Unorthodox Guide to Making Things Worth Making - that his greatest successes have come from his greatest failures. And he has some dooseys. 

Micro stressors - they’re just a normal part of the day, right? From when you wake up and check your messages, listen to the news, wrangle your kids, jostle your way to work, and then deal with that colleague…you’re stressed without anything major actually happening. Rob Cross says the people who maintain and prioritise their social connections, often through shared activities, are way less affect...

This Working Life explores ideas that are shaping changes in workplaces.

What we want in our leaders has evolved; we’ve seen a growing desire for more ethical and empathetic leaders. But destructive leaders are still in charge in many workplaces and their impacts are far-reaching. So how can we identify them and, more importantly, change them? We look at the personality traits and four styles of destructive leaders and get some tips on how to avoid them to help improve...

How’s your mental health? Is it affecting your work? Or maybe it’s the other way around and your work is affecting your headspace? Employee Assistance Programs….what are the pros and cons, and how could they work better? Is confidentiality actually a problem? And if so what can be done to make it safer?

Workplace bullying is a complex and insidious problem that one in 10 of us in Australia experience at some stage in our careers. We look at the organisational structures behind bullying itself, how many of us might be unwilling bystanders, and the impact it has on us physically and mentally.

When’s the last time you had fun at work? Really had fun? FUN. What is it, and how can it  help us enjoy work more, which of course will help us work better! How can we bring more fun into our working lives?  Catherine Price is a science journalist and author of T he Power of Fun . She also wrote How to break up with your phone. 

Are you seeking leadership nirvana? Is there even such a thing? Leadership development is such a lucrative, multi-million dollar industry but are we just throwing resources at the executive level managers with little benefit to the broader organisation? Are we going about leadership development all wrong?

Burning out has become a phrase thrown around almost as often as anxiety. But being stressed and overworked is not actually burnout. There is  more to it. Individuals can’t fight burnout alone - things have to change in our organisations. This is what the ‘pioneer’ of burnout theory and research has found. It’s Christina Maslach's measurement tool that’s been used by workplaces and the World Healt...

What's it actually like to be a teacher these days? There’s a worldwide shortage of teachers at the moment, so what’s going on in the classroom and school yards? In this episode we meet a bunch of teachers and former teachers and hear first hand about the new pressures, and what’s driving them out of the profession. What needs to change about the working lives of teachers?

Have you heard of the Dunbar number?  It’s the number of social connections one person can maintain at any one time.  It turns out that this also plays out at work.  How is Robin Dunbar’s  research relevant for your workplace? What are the optimum numbers for teams and factories?  How important are social connections and friendships at work, and how do these affect our productivity? Guest: Robin D...

Mindfulness … being mindful,  meditating, you know it’s good for you, but it just never feels like there’s enough time. Using meditation to create mindfulness is an ancient practice, and the science backing it has been piling in for years now. But how can we be motivated to make meditation part of our essential routine? How will it actually help our working lives? 

What’s your relationship with feedback? Maybe you’ve thought you could learn how to be better at giving it…but how about switching it round and considering how you receive it? Turns out, if we hone our skills at receiving we also get better at giving feedback.

What happens when the career you chose at 18 just isn't you anymore?

Have you ever sat at work thinking “Houston we have a problem, common sense has left the room!”? Brand and culture transformation expert  Martin Lindstrom , walks us through how to bring common sense back into our workplaces by establishing what he calls a “ministry of common sense”.  Martin has advised multinationals including Pepsi, Google, Burger King and Swiss Air but he started this movement...

Does your inbox make you miserable? Cal Newport walks us through why our relationship with email is dysfunctional and what a world without email looks like. Cal's book: A World Without Email: Reimagining Work in the Age of Overload Producer: Maria Tickle

What if ADHD wasn't seen as a deficit or a disorder? What if it's actually harnessed as a superpower? We show how, given the right support and understanding, workplaces have the ability to turn ADHD into an asset and create environments where everyone thrives.

We speak with proud Torres Strait Islander woman (Kubin; Moa Island descendant) Carla McGrath and proud Yorta Yorta man Ian Hamm about what First Nations perspectives bring to governance and management.

Emotions at work - do you repress or ruminate? Both could be dangerous for your career. Harvard Medical School psychologist Dr Susan David is one of the world's leading management thinkers. Her Ted talk has been viewed more than five million times and her book Emotional Agility is a bestseller. Susan discusses the benefits of bringing our whole selves to work; emotions as data not directives (we s...

We take a deep dive into this medical mystery and look at how workplaces and individuals can navigate the world of work as they recover from long COVID.

Teamwork, resilience and grit – just some of the skills from sport that we can all learn from when it comes to our work. So how can the corporate world harness these skills, and what can we learn from the athlete’s mindset?

It’s not just about getting the job done when we’re working hybridly, it’s about the connections we make. And this has been lost when we’re working from home, and this is making us feel lonely. In the second part of our hybrid work feature, we look at how hybrid work can leave us feeling lonely and disconnected, and what we can do about it. Guests: Mark Mortensen - Associate Professor, INSEAD Dr C...

Hybrid is here to stay. So, what is pandemic-driven hybrid work doing to our ability to focus and what do we need to do to find that elusive flow state in this brave new world of work? In the first part of our hybrid work feature, we look at hybrid work and our level of focus when working from home, compared to in the office, and along the way we’ll bust some myths and get some attention hacks. Gu...

What is your role in your family of origin? Jester, responsible one, black sheep or peacemaker, we all have one. But did you know the role you have inherited or the values and beliefs your family held could be holding you back at work? Professor Deborah Ancona runs us through how to recognise the “family ghosts” and how to bust them. Guests: Deborah Ancona , Seley Distinguished Professor of Manage...