Working Conversations

Episode 126: Digital Nomads and the Countries that Are Wooing Them People who choose to work anywhere in the world they please are known as digital nomads. They are at the forefront of defining an important sector in the future of work. In addition to the freedom and flexibility on the part of the nomad, nation-states are seeing the value of hosting the nomads. More and more countries want digital...

Episode 125: Stealth Working: Globetrotting or the Local Coffee Shop Where in the world are you working if you are working remotely? Those who sneak off to another part of the world (or even down the street to a local coffee shop) to work are known as stealth workers. They are working remotely without explicit authorization from their employer to be in that exact location.  In this episode, Dr. Ja...

Episode 124: Loud Quitting – What It Is and What to Do About It First there was the Great Resignation and then Quiet Quitting. The latest trend is Loud Quitting.  In this episode, Dr. Janel Anderson explains what loud quitting is (hint: it might not actually involve quitting!) and what to do about it. Are you a Loud Quitter? If you’ve ever felt disengaged at work you might be. If you’ve felt disen...

Episode 123: Micro-acknowledgment and Why It’s Hard to do Remotely When you make eye contact with a colleague who just shared a good idea or example and you give them a look of agreement, of respect, or of admiration, you are communicating a very subtle message of micro-acknowledgment. We do this very naturally in the face-to-face work environment. In meetings, in the hallways, heck – even in the...

Episode 122: What is Your Competitive Edge? What is your competitive edge? Why should we prefer you? Whether in your leadership, in your product and service offerings to your customers, or how you are as a colleague, what makes you a better choice than someone or something else? Sparked by an exceptional customer service experience in which she was overwhelmingly surprised and delighted, Dr. Janel...

Episode 121: Are Generations Still Relevant? Do all Millennials enjoy avocado toast? Are all Gen Xers cynical and jaded? And are all Gen Zers addicted to their phones and unable to hold a face-to-face conversation? Of course not! But some of the generational research would have you thinking otherwise. Recently, the Pew Research Center announced that they would not be producing new research on gene...

Episode 120: The Work from Home Impact on Families We know that the pandemic’s need for people to work from home brought about tremendous changes in the workplace, both for working professionals and for organizations in general. But what about the impact on the family unit? Does it make a difference for children and families if parents are around more, working from home? In this episode, Dr. Janel...

Episode 119: The Four Day Work Week Will Thursday become the new Friday? The four day work week is being touted as the answer to most of the ills of the modern workplace. In this episode, Dr. Janel Anderson explores how the four day work week can answer an even bigger problem that leaders face: Do we force a return to office for greater productivity and profit or do we continue with work from home...

Episode 118: How to Stop Office Gossip Office gossip is one of the most corrosive and damaging things for an organization’s culture. But so many people find it irresistible! Why? What is it about gossip that some people find so tempting? In this episode, Dr. Janel Anderson explores what office gossip is, why people do it, and how to do less of it. Whether you are the subject of the office gossip,...

Episode 117: Full-Time Job AND Full-Time Caregiving? These days, hundreds of thousands of parents are juggling working full-time while also doing childcare full-time. Prior to the pandemic, this was not something that parents – or their employers – had to contend with. Now, it’s a very grey area. In this episode, Dr. Janel Anderson unravels the complexity and the multifaceted nature of trying to d...

Episode 116: My Best Advice for Hybrid Meetings Hybrid meetings – those meetings where some participants are together in a conference room and others are calling in from remote offices – are rife with issues. From audio issues, to connectivity issues, to lack of engagement, to poor facilitation . . . they tend to not be good experiences for anyone.  In this episode, Dr. Janel Anderson gives you he...

Episode 115: How to Say No Most people don’t like to be told “no” when they ask for something. They don’t like to feel the disappointment, the letdown, and the frustration of not getting their needs or wants met. And many people don’t like telling someone “no,” even when it is merited. We humans need social connections and belonging. Being told “no” or giving a “no” can feel like a threat to relat...

Episode 114: One Big Mistake Leaders Make One big mistake that leaders make is trying to be the smartest person in the room. This phenomenon happens with new leaders – and that makes sense: They recently were the smartest ones in the room because of their subject matter expertise. But as leaders, they need to draw on leadership skills rather than subject matter expertise to establish and maintain...

Episode 113: Americans Are Working Less. Are You? Recent data shows that US workers have cut their workweek by 30 minutes on average. In this episode, Dr. Janel Anderson explores the research and highlights those segments of the population who have cut their workweeks the most. At the top of the list are workaholics – those who used to work 55 hours a week or more have now dropped down three hours...

Episode 112: How to Waste Less Time and Have More Freedom Do you ever have discretionary time and then later realize you wasted it on unimportant tasks? In this episode, Dr. Janel Anderson shares how to waste less time and in the process, gain more freedom. She shares a step-by-step process to get important projects completed while creating more freedom in your work and your life. The secret is so...

Episode 111: Navigating High Tech Layoffs: A Bounce-Back Interview High-tech layoffs continue to be announced. In the 18 months alone, over 229,000 employees have been let go in the high-tech sector.  In this episode, Dr. Janel Anderson’s guest is  Paul Anheier, a senior-level user experience expert who was recently laid off from his high-tech job. The interview provides an up-close look at what i...

Episode 110: Giving Constructive Feedback to the High Performer If you’ve ever tried to give feedback to someone who’s already doing really well at something but you’d like them to do even better, you might have experienced them overreact to your feedback. It’s not uncommon for people who are already highly self-aware to overreact in the face of constructive feedback. In this episode, Dr. Janel An...

Episode 109: Productivity Paranoia – Obsessing that Your Colleagues Aren’t Working If you find yourself constantly and obsessively assuming that your colleagues or your direct reports aren’t actually working when they are in a different physical location, you may have productivity paranoia. In this episode, Dr. Janel Anderson defines productivity paranoia and explains why it’s important to address...

Episode 108: Why Coaching an Employee Out is Better than Quiet Firing In this episode, Dr. Janel Anderson takes on the topic of quiet firing. If you’re not familiar with the term, it is essentially making the workplace or the job unappealing and edging an employee out of the company in hopes that they quit so that you don’t have to outright fire them or lay them off. It doesn’t typically go quite...

Episode 107: Warning: Flexible Work Arrangements are Not Optional Flexibility is paramount in attracting and retaining top talent. One of the key factors job seekers are looking for in a new (or existing) workplace is flexibility. Whether that means working from home or a hybrid schedule, or being able to pick your own start time, or work part time, there are many different ways to implement flexi...

Episode 106: Is The One Minute Manager Still Relevant? Was it Ever? The One Minute Manager was released a little over a year ago. The runaway bestseller, written by Ken Blanchard and Spencer Johnson sat on the New York Times Bestseller list for 66 weeks. In this episode, Dr. Janel Anderson explores whether the three main techniques outlined in the book – One-minute goals, One-minute praise, and On...

Episode 105: How to Do Management By Walking Around in Hybrid Workplaces Management by Walking Around is a management style that emphasizes the importance of active engagement and communication with employees. The manager regularly walks around the workplace, observing employees' work, and having informal conversations with them.  How can you do that in the virtual or hybrid workplace? In this...

Episode 104: What To Do When Employees Abuse Unlimited PTO In order to remain competitive in recruiting and retaining the best talent, companies have turned to increasingly attractive employee benefits. One of those is unlimited paid time off or PTO. It provides several of the things that so many job candidates are looking for these days: flexibility and work-life balance. How does unlimited PTO w...

Episode 103: Why Some People are Slow to Change Why is it that some people are eager to change or try new things and others are much slower to try something new, like a piece of software or a gadget? In this episode, Dr. Janel Anderson explains the Diffusion of Innovation, a model first proposed by Everett Rogers many decades ago. The model explains that there are five different categories of adop...

Episode 102: How Gen Z is Shaping the Future Workplace Generation Z, or those born between 1997 and 2012, are having a dramatic impact on the workplace. Currently, they comprise only 13% of the workforce, but by the end of the decade they will account for 30% of the workforce. Gen Z were the first true digital natives, growing up in a world where smartphones and iPads and laptops were never “new.”...