At Work with The Ready

When we decide to start working differently, it often begins with just one or two teams taking the leap. For everyone involved, the first weeks and months are a rollercoaster of highs and lows. Not everyone has the courage to see things through.

In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans talk about SLAM teams (self-managing, lean, audacious, multidisciplinary), the early days of a transformation, and why leaders should stay the course even when the going gets tough. Later, they’re joined by Doug Seacrist, from Bloomin’ Brands, who shares his story of reinventing the technology support function inside a huge system of restaurants.

Learn more about Doug and his work on LinkedIn.

Learn more about Bloomin' Brands at their website.

Mentioned resources:

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to [email protected]

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

We all know that faster learning loops are critical to success in complexity. Yet, we rarely (if ever) take the time to practice one of the most powerful learning moves in the game: the retrospective.

In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans talk about the power of reflection—for the individual, team, and organization—and why we can't keep charging ahead without looking back. Later, they're joined by Parabol founder and CEO Jordan Husney, who shares what he’s learned hosting tens of thousands of retrospectives on their platform, including this gem: ”The only wrong way to have a retrospective is to not have one at all.”

Get the full transcript and resources mentioned in this episode here: https://www.theready.com/podcast/episodes/bnw10-retrospectives-the-most-important-meeting-you-arent-having

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00:00 Intro + Check-In: What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever been given?

When starting something new, most of us tend to research, analyze, plan, and procrastinate. Because we don't want to fail. We don't want to be exposed as imposters. And we don't want to take big risks. But in novel and complex spaces, that strategy doesn't help, it only slows us down without increasing our odds. Instead, we need to start by starting and learn by doing so that our ideas can make contact with reality as soon as possible. 

In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans explore how to get on with it—by starting small and working iteratively—so that more good things make it out into the world. And speaking of good things, later they're are joined by Ben Kaufman, founder and CEO of the revolutionary toy store CAMP, who shares why he feels compelled to start impossible projects, and how he rushes in before all the reasons he shouldn't overwhelm him.

Learn more about Ben on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Learn more about CAMP at their website.

Resources mentioned:

-"The Marshmallow Test" from Tom Wujec's 2010 TedTalk "Build a tower, build a team":

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Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your guest ideas and feedback to [email protected]

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

Leading a team through change is hard, but leading a team to a place without traditional leadership is far harder. If you ask people to step up... will they do it? And can you really mandate self-management?

In this episode of Brave New Work, we talk about what it takes to realize a new way of working within a team or organization, and why that's so hard for—and so dependent on—those of us in charge. Later, they're're joined by former submarine commander David Marquet, author of Turn The Ship Around! and Leadership Is Language, who talks to us about the power of stepping back, the way language shapes the workplace, and how to create a "can think" (and do) culture.

Learn more about David and his books on his website, LinkedIn, and Twitter.

Resources mentioned:

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Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your guest ideas and feedback to [email protected]

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

A diverse team doing important work is bound to disagree. But they’re also likely to avoid talking about it—because conflict makes many of us deeply uncomfortable. But, what if we simply lack the skills to do it well? 

In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans talk about why disagreement is so hard, what healthy disagreement looks and feels like, and why it’s so critical to success in complexity. Later, they’re joined by Buster Benson, author of Why Are We Yelling, who teaches us how to have disagreements so productive we might actually seek them out and enjoy them.

Learn more about Buster on his website, on Linkedin, or on Mastadon.

Learn more about Buster's book Why Are We Yelling? The Art of Productive Disagreement

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Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your feedback to [email protected]

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

In a complex and dynamic world, sharing information on a "need to know" basis is misguided, because it perpetuates ignorance and bias. No one needs to know everything all the time, but we need the right (and the ability) to find what we need when we need it. And while many teams and organizations are coming around to the principle of transparency, when it comes to sharing more sensitive data—like compensation—many people freak out and start to backpedal.

In this episode Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans talk about why traditional organizations and teams (and even the two of us) covet and hoard information, and what it looks and feels like to let information flow. Later, they’re joined by the cofounder and CEO of Buffer, Joel Gascoigne, who shares how Buffer made "defaulting to transparency" a core value and never looked back.

Learn more about Buffer and their commitment to transparency at https://buffer.com/ and https://buffer.com/about#transparency

Learn more about Joel at his website or via LinkedIn or Twitter.

Resources mentioned:

• Dave Snowden's Principles for Managing Knowledge

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Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

We want to hear from you. Send your feedback to [email protected]

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

Self-awareness in the workplace is hard to come by—because our egos are so good at “protecting” us from reality. For many of us, our identity is so tied up in who we are at work that deep down we worry, “If not for my title... who am I?”

In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans talk about how our egos get the better of us, and why reinventing organizations often means reinventing ourselves. Later, they’re joined by psychologist Dr. Gareth Holman (Rodney’s own coach) who shares how we can bring the inside out, to become better colleagues and better people.

Learn more about Dr. Holman at his website or on Linkedin.

References Mentioned:

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Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com.

We want to hear from you. Send your feedback to [email protected].

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com.

In almost every organization we visit, teams aren't just having bad meetings—they're having meetings to prepare for those meetings. The virus is spreading. And so we have to ask: when should we have a meeting? And how can we make them more effective when we do?

In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans talk about why meetings are a symptom of other problems in the operating system and the path to a healthier meeting culture. Later, we’re joined by Dan Kim from Basecamp, who shares how the iconoclastic "calm company" delights in avoiding meetings unless they're absolutely necessary.

Learn more about Dan by visiting his website or connecting with him on Linkedin.

Resources mentioned:

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Our book is available now at https://www.bravenewwork.com/

We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to [email protected]

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit https://theready.com/

Communication around organizational change is a prime example of a complicated approach (write an email that nineteen people edit!) to a complex situation (human beings and their feelings!). Most of us have been on the receiving end of messages that feel like they were designed to obscure any actual information.

In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans dive into the double talk that gets the better of so many of us, and what to do instead. Later, they're joined by Deirdre Latour, who has led communications at both GE and Pearson, to learn what it's like to fight for candor in the midst of crisis.

Learn more about Deirdre on Linkedin.

Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com.

Have an idea for an episode, or the perfect guest? Reach out to [email protected].

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com.

The best teams in the world don’t just agree on what they’re going to do, they agree on how they’re going to do it.

In this debut episode, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans talk about working agreements—what they are and why we need them—and explore which working agreements might be critical to success.

Later in the episode, they’re joined by Mike Brevoort from Slack who takes us inside the norms and agreements that enable the company's “work hard and go home” ethos.

Learn more about Mike at his website or connect with him on Linkedin.

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Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com.

Have an idea for an episode, or the perfect guest? Reach out to [email protected].

Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com.

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00:00 Intro & Check-In: If you could choose, what would your last meal be?

02:51 What are working agreements?

05:59 Foundational agreements for any team

14:02 What broken agreements actually mean

22:09 Mike's interview begins

23:08 What is Slack and what do you do there?

24:48 Slack's working agreements

29:39 Agreements around emojis and reactions

34:48 Working agreements are a moving target

38:02 Agreements outside of the digital space and IRL

42:23 Wrap up: Leave us a review!