From the Archives: 1 Year of Ways of Working!
Hi everyone,
It’s exactly one year since I published my first article. Thanks for subscribing and all the insights you’ve shared along the way. I started this newsletter as a way to learn more about, and share information on the topics I’m interested in so hopefully you’ve found it interesting too! For this week’s edition, I’ve decided to revisit the 15 articles written over the year, grouped into the themes below, and highlight one insight from each. If there are any topics that you’d like me to cover in future, let me know in the comments below.
Themes
Culture & Communications
Company Planning & Decision Making
Go-To-Market
Future of Work
Personal & Career Development
Thanks again for following along,
Jo
Culture & Communications
There is a hierarchy of values adoption. …..While anyone, no matter how junior, can make micro-changes to culture, ultimately the internal nature of a company is influenced by those with the most power.
…how you communicate as an organisation determines your organisation’s culture. If you’re dissatisfied with any aspect of your organisation's culture, reviewing and changing your communication approach is a good place to start.
People tend to prefer to absorb information in different ways. Some people prefer visual updates and videos. Others prefer a long form read. People have varying preferences between sync and async comms. If your organisation hasn’t established consistent comms norms and clear expectations around this, then people tend to default to their personal preferences, leading to a sense that comms processes aren’t optimal.
Company Planning & Decision Making
The Shopping Cart Effect: Despite knowing we should ruthlessly prioritise and narrow focus to increase our chances of succeeding, goal planning season is one of those few times where we can, and are encouraged to, ask for anything we want. The temptation to put all new shiny ideas into our collective shopping baskets is strong and teams can often end up with hastily scoped wish lists that become committed to-do lists without much for-thought as to how the work will all be done.
…several issues that can arise with each goal type…One point to remember is that humans are setting the goals, and humans often let their own biases and preferences affect decision making.
One of the quickest ways to increase velocity is to take consistent action in a particular direction, while remaining open to the potential need to iterate along the way. To increase your rate of action, you need to increase the speed of decision-making, both big and small.
Go-To-Market
Consumer companies are typically marketing led with a low touch, high volume approach to addressing individual customer needs. B2B companies tend to be sales led (although this is changing), requiring a more hands-on approach to closing, expanding and retaining customers. Companies need to adapt go-to-market motions to serve accounts, not just individuals.
Future of Work
The pros of a shorter working week are obvious. It forces us to be mindful of how we spend our time, culling ineffective meetings and like any tight deadline, acts as a good antidote to analysis paralysis and actioning what matters, more immediately.
...there are certain types of work that are less effectively done from home”. Even as a remote-advocate I will admit that is true. One of the hardest things to replicate in a virtual environment is energy, and specifically infusing a sense of purpose…
Personal & Career Development
...there are three things that people need in order to feel happy at work:
Connection - do I feel connected to my team, my manager, the mission?
Contribution - do I feel my work is making an impact and do I feel a sense of accomplishment?
Competence - am I growing in skills and capabilities in areas that I care about?
...if you work in an organisation that has a career framework start by 1) deciding if you agree with the contents of the framework i.e are the expectations valid and in line with industry norms given your role and 2) figuring out to what degree it is used to make promotion decisions in the company i.e. is it actively referenced or is it a doc you and your manager only look at during performance reviews. This is what I refer to as bullsh*t baselining. Once you’ve figured out the degree to which the framework you’ve been assigned is nonsensical (and hey maybe it’s not!) then you can decide how you want to shape your career around it.
12. On Feedback
While we’d all agree that there are certain traits that are best kept out of the workplace and life more generally, it’s harder to define what the “best” version of a person is. Do you want to be the best employee at Company X or the best person as defined by your personal values? Those two options may be mutually exclusive. You may receive feedback that advises to develop your weaknesses to better succeed in a role, however, that can come at the price of dulling your strengths. Sometimes the feedback we receive isn’t about our work, but about ourselves. How we act and behave. Sometimes it can cut to the very core of our personality. Is that something you want to change? There are few objectively right or wrong answers to that question.
There is a quote that’s a particular favourite with productivity/performance podcast bros which is “it may not be your fault but it is your responsibility”. As much as I hate to admit it at times, it is true. A lot of the emotional baggage you’ve acquired is probably not your fault or at least not entirely. That doesn’t matter as ultimately you’re the one left dealing with it.
14. On Storytelling
Humans are hardwired for stories. Facts are fine, roadmaps are fine, customer testimonials are fine, but fine doesn’t get remembered…Luckily storytelling doesn’t require innate charisma. It’s a skill that can be learned and will pay outsized returns if invested in.
Practice divergent thinking:Divergent thinking is a thought process or method used to generate creative ideas by exploring many possible solutions. It’s the art of imagining what could be. As adults we tend to default to convergent thinking, eliminating ideas based on practicalities such as budgets and deadlines, before even allowing ourselves to explore new options. Deliberately practicing divergent thinking (even if the ideas are never used) can help strengthen our ability to think creatively.