Working Conversations

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...

Episode 68: How to Stop Tip-toeing Around Hyper-Sensitive People It seems everyone has a person in our work lives that is hyper-sensitive and that we need to tip-toe around. When we do so and we refrain from sharing important information with them, typically about their performance, how they could do something better, or if they’ve done something incorrectly, we do them a disservice. In this episo...

Episode 67: 6 Ways to Manage Distractions It's summer here in the northern hemisphere and many people are experiencing extra distractions in their workday. From beautiful summer weather that calls to you, to kids home from school for the summer, to projects around the house, it is hard for many to stay focused on their work. Dr. Janel Anderson shares her own personal experiences with summer di...

Episode 66: The Main Problem with Hybrid Work Spaces People who are back in the office on a part-time or hybrid basis have been complaining about their workspace. Everything from lack of privacy, to sharing their desk with others on alternating days, and more are getting in the way of productivity and satisfaction. In this episode, Dr. Janel Anderson uses design thinking to shed light on what does...

Episode 65: Jeff Bezos Has Communication All Wrong In this episode, Dr. Janel Anderson takes Jeff Bezos, founder of the online retail giant Amazon, to task on his perspective on communication. He says communication is dysfunctional and that teams should communicate less, not more. Dr. Janel Anderson dismantles a quote about communication from Bezos, sentence by sentence, showing how his interpreta...

Episode 64: 10 Ways Kayaking is Like Difficult Conversations  In this episode, Dr. Janel Anderson shares observations she had while kayaking and makes the comparison to holding difficult conversations. From doing the hard part first to taking risks and discovering unexpected surprises along the way, you’ll get tips on how to take difficult conversations further than you thought you could while exp...

Episode 63: Stop Apologizing!  Do you have someone in your life who apologizes for every little thing? Sorry when they make a wrong turn. Sorry when they bump into you. Sorry when they can’t find their keys or don’t have the right change when buying a product. In this episode Dr. Janel Anderson explains that all of these small apologies are not merited, and in fact, result in giving away your powe...

Episode 62: What to do with a Conversational Narcissist  In this episode, join Dr. Janel Anderson as she takes on a listener question in the first Ask Janel Anything episode. She fields a question from a listener who is distraught by a person in their lives who always turns the conversation back on themselves: a conversational narcissist. Dr. Anderson explains what conversational narcissism is, wh...

Episode 61: Why You Need a Mentor Having a trusted mentor can be a very strategic part of your career growth strategy. And having a mentor isn’t just for those who are early on their career journey. In this episode, join Dr. Janel Anderson as she distinguishes having a mentor from having a sponsor or a coach. She provides guidance on how to select a mentor, how to ask them to be your mentor, and h...

Episode 60: Words Create Reality The difference between “I have to . . .” and “I get to . . .” may seem small at first glance. But the results you generate from just a bit of semantic adjustment are huge. The words we use to label things in our world define how we engage with others and our own emotional state. In this episode, join Dr. Janel Anderson as she explores the impact our vocabulary and...

Episode 59: How to Communicate Strategically At work, so much of our communication is tactical. It’s about the nuts and bolts of getting the work done. And, our communication at work has become even more task-oriented and tactical with so many people working from home. Sometimes, however, it is very important to be more strategic in our communication, especially if you need to influence or get som...

Episode 58:How to Deal with Angry Customer It’s inevitable that you will encounter angry customers. We all have customers, whether they areexternal customers that are buying products and services from us or our company or internal customerswho are in need of ourwork product in order to complete their own work. Invariably things go wrong. In this episode, I share ideas on how to diagnose what is be...

Episode 57: Three Powerful Ways to Influence We are influenced in big and small ways every single day. The products we purchase, where we live, and what we deem as valuable uses of our time all have outside influences. In this episode, Dr. Janel Anderson explores three powerful types of influence and brings examples and stories from her life to show how influence works. She explores expert authori...

Episode 56: When Leaders Make Mistakes Leaders are human and in their humanity, they make mistakes. It’s how leaders handle and learn from those mistakes that make all the difference for those they lead. As people begin to return to the office in larger and larger numbers, mistakes will be made. Plenty of them. When leaders demonstrate humility and take responsibility when things go wrong it makes...

Episode 55: Leadership Lessons from a Fifth Grader My son came home from school recently absolutely buzzing with excitement about running for Mayor in Biz Town, a real-world curriculum developed by Junior Achievement to give kids practical knowledge of how business, the economy, and banking work. Along the way, they also learn valuable communication and community building skills. As my son shared...

Episode 54: Don’t Leave These Leadership Lessons Behind The pandemic foisted major changes on how and where work gets done. Leaders across all parts of organizations responded and adapted their teams, their organizations, and their leadership style to make it all work – in highly ambiguous, uncertain, and changing times. As we begin to return to the office, it is imperative that we carry forward s...

Episode 53: Grieving the Way Things Used to Be If you are pining for the way things used to be at work prior to the pandemic, or you work with or know someone who is, you won’t want to miss this episode. From leaders, to human resource professionals, to individual contributors, there are solid reasons why people might not want to go back to a changed workplace. After all, our identities are tied u...

Episode 52: Return-To-Office Rescue Guide With Coronavirus cases on a significant downturn, many organizations are asking employees to return to the office (RTO). If you are about to go back or have already started back to the office occasionally, you will benefit from the strategies Dr. Janel Anderson shares in this episode. She covers all the bases so you will arrive at the office ready to conne...