Wise Wednesdays

Have you ever noticed how a perfectly harmless conversation can turn negative at the flick of a switch? All it takes is for someone to start being judgemental of something or someone else. “John didn’t show up to the meeting – he’s such a slacker…”; “Jane’s being useless on the project and must be focusing on her kids again instead of work...” Suddenly, you feel you have to watch yourself and become more aware of your position in the organisational hierarchy. Are you being watched too?... [Read on or watch the video] https://youtu.be/vTuR6rm_Z3E Language as a means of power It’s not that assigning responsibility or evaluating performance aren’t necessary but there’s a special ingredient that turns the judgement into something toxic: power. Using judgement (or language) as a power play, e.g. by diminishing another person creates a sense of unease and divisiveness in the group that can be toxic (i.e. it triggers survival instincts). Yet language can also be generative, li...

Last weekend, I attended a mindfulness retreat on our relationship to work and money. It reminded me of the extent to which we operate within predetermined beliefs (or myths) about what we can/can’t do, and who we can/can’t be in our careers, relationships and lives. The best medicine against toxic work culture is to succeed on your own terms in your own time. The caging effect If you’re feeling small, caged in or constricted on a regular basis, it’s likely that some of these limiting beliefs or cultural myths are engrained and actively operating in your mind. You may think they’re real; or perhaps you have an inkling that something isn’t right but can’t quite put your finger on it. Recently, I’ve spoken about  what a toxic work culture  is and its most important  antidote on a group level . Of course, reforming the systems and structures that support and reproduce this toxicity is essential if not inevitable as we continue to evolve and don’t destroy the planet first....

Welcome if you’re new! Thank you, for subscribing and I hope you enjoy Wise Wednesdays. “A ship in harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are built for.”  - John Augustus Shedd. Last week, a research colleague and professor at the Oxford University Saïd Business School announced on the BBC that the 4-day work week was a scientifically supported proposal. Recent research that Prof Jan-Emmanuel de Neve refers to suggests that a 4-day work week improves team work, increases engagement and enhances happiness leading to better talent attraction and retention. A New Zealand study found that it didn’t affect productivity and could potentially increase it. The same day, I met an ex-Director at Amazon. From what he was describing, the work culture there lives up to expectation and the pace can be rather taxing even though there’s a motivation to be “part of something bigger”. It got me to thinking about the collective myths we buy into around work productivit...