Our workplaces have rules that nobody wrote down. Norms about how to communicate, how to navigate conflict, how to ask for things, how to signal competence – and they're largely invisible to the people who grew up with them. For workers navigating a class shift, or who are neurodivergent, these unwritten rules aren't just invisible. They're a persistent source of confusion, frustration, and penalty.

In this episode, Hannah talks with Dr. Anna Kallschmidt – industrial-organizational (I-O) psychologist, consultant, and author of the book The Unwritten Rules of Work – about social class and neurodivergence as stigmatized and overlooked workplace identities, the hidden curriculum of professional life, and why the stakes of getting this wrong are getting higher in the age of AI.

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Music: “Feel Good (Instrumental Version)” by PØW via Epidemic Sound

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Find Dr. Kallschmidt (and her book, The Unwritten Rules of Work: Social Class and Neurodivergent Identities) at ⁠https://drkallschmidt.com/⁠

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Notes and References

Note: Hannah mistakenly said "the Herzberg model” when mentioning dimensions of culture. The framework she was referring to is Geert Hofstede's dimensions of national culture.

Hofstede, G. (1983). National cultures in four dimensions: A research-based theory of cultural differences among nations. International Studies of Management & Organization, 13(1/2), 46–74. ⁠http://www.jstor.org/stable/40396953 ⁠

Hofstede, G. (2001). Culture's consequences: Comparing values, behaviors, institutions and organizations across nations (2nd ed.). Sage Publications.

Hofstede, G., Hofstede, G. J., & Minkov, M. (2010). Cultures and organizations: Software of the mind (3rd ed.). McGraw-Hill.

Note: the term "hidden curriculum" was coined by sociologist Philip W. Jackson in this 1968 work, originally in reference to schools; Dr. Kallschmidt's work and research applies the concept to workplace settings.

Jackson, P. W. (1968). Life in classrooms. Holt, Rinehart and Winston.

Things mentioned while discussing AI:

Cheng, M., Lee, C., Khadpe, P., Yu, S., Han, D., & Jurafsky, D. (2026). Sycophantic AI decreases prosocial intentions and promotes dependence. Science, 391(6792), eaec8352. ⁠https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aec8352 ⁠

Dastin, J. (2018, October 10). Amazon scraps secret AI recruiting tool that showed bias against women. Reuters. ⁠https://www.reuters.com/article/us-amazon-com-jobs-automation-insight/amazon-scraps-secret-ai-recruiting-tool-that-showed-bias-against-women-idUSKCN1MK08G

When most people hear the word "caregiver" in a workplace context, they picture a parent with a young child. But a growing share of the workforce is navigating something different - caring for aging parents, a seriously ill partner, a disabled sibling, or a close friend managing a chronic illness. These non-traditional caregivers are largely invisible in organizational policy, rarely acknowledged in workplace culture, and often left to quietly manage an enormous amount of weight on their own.

In this episode, Hannah talks with Lauren Kiproff-Downer, an organizational development consultant about where organizations struggle to support this growing segment of our workforce, how even well-intentioned leaders can miss the mark, and what it actually takes to create workplaces where caregivers are supported to show up fully.

Music: “Feel Good (Instrumental Version)” by PØW via Epidemic Sound 

Guest Links

https://www.linkedin.com/in/laurenkiproff

https://perparaconsulting.com

https://laurenkiproffstudio.etsy.com

References

Dankas, S. (2026, February 15). What I missed as an HR leader - until my mother was dying. Medium. https://medium.com/@sally_67917/what-i-missed-as-an-hr-leader-until-my-mother-was-dying-82e43d0f384a

Eichbaum, Q., Barbeau-Meunier, C. A., White, M., Ravi, R., Grant, E., Riess, H., & Bleakley, A. (2023). Empathy across cultures - one size does not fit all: from the ego-logical to the eco-logical of relational empathy. Advances in Health Sciences Education, 28(2), 643-657. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10459-022-10158-y

Liu, C., Sun, S., Ma, G., & Ma, Q. (2026). Examining the relationship between empathetic leadership and organizational citizenship behavior in the architecture, engineering, and construction industry: the roles of altruistic attitude and caring ethical climate. Frontiers in psychology, 17, 1767674. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2026.1767674 

University of Michigan Ross School of Business. (2025, Q1). Workplace flexibility and RTO: Employee perspectives. Executive Edge. https://michiganross.umich.edu/programs/executive-education/insights/executive-edge-q1-2025-workplace-flexibility-and-rto-employee

Wenxuan C. (2026). Neglected empathy: A study of the mechanisms of social workers' empathic competence on work withdrawal. Work, 84(4), 1049-1062. https://doi.org/10.1177/10519815261423859  

World Economic Forum. (2025, June 11). Talent trade-offs: Employability has overtaken flexible working in jobseekers’ priorities. https://www.weforum.org/stories/2025/06/work-employability-flexible-working/

Yucel, D., & Fan, W. (2023). Workplace flexibility, work–family interface, and psychological distress: Differences by family caregiving obligations and gender. Applied Research in Quality of Life, 18, 1825-1847. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11482-023-10164-1

Zhou, Y., Han, S., Kang, P., Tobler, P. N., & Hein, G. (2024). The social transmission of empathy relies on observational reinforcement learning. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 121(9), e2313073121. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2313073121 

Skilled trades workers make up over 20% of the U.S. workforce. They are highly educated, technically skilled, and essential to entire industries and sectors. And yet they have received remarkably little attention from the people management practices, research frameworks, and organizational systems designed to support workers.

In this episode - the first guest conversation in the Overlooked Workers series - Hannah talks with Victoria Frerichs, a talent management professional who supports a skilled trades workforce including shipbuilders, welders, ship fitters, crane operators, electrical and mechanical integrators, and more. Victoria brings a practitioner's perspective on what it actually takes to hire, assess, develop, and retain this workforce, and where the standard HR playbook falls short.

Topics covered include:

• Who skilled trades workers are, and what most people in HR and talent management get wrong about them

• The business case for prioritizing this workforce

• Where standard hiring and assessment systems break down for skilled trades candidates, including the limits of automated screening and résumé-based evaluation

• The challenge of capturing and evaluating expertise that is embodied, not easily articulated

• Micro-documentation and continuous performance data as alternatives to traditional performance management

• The culture gap between office and production environments, and what it takes to bridge it

• Language and terminology: why "blue collar" doesn't land well, and what to say instead

• Retention levers that actually work in skilled trades contexts, including creative approaches to schedule flexibility

• Workforce pipeline challenges and the part-time mentor model as one response to mitigating loss of institutional knowledge amidst our current retirement boom and shrinking skilled trades talent pool

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Music: “Feel Good (Instrumental Version)” by PØW via Epidemic Sound

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Victoria Frerichs on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vfrerichs/

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References

Once again, we don't have quite enough space provided on this platform. The full list of references is available on my website here: https://www.alignmentlab.online/podcast/s0aqj1wqedmt4skysdj499259w4xyv

Every workplace runs on a set of assumptions about who workers are, what they need, and how they operate. Most of those assumptions were built with a particular worker in mind. And for a significant portion of the workforce, that worker isn't them.

This solo episode opens a new series on overlooked workers – groups that have been underserved by research, by organizational practice, and by the broader conversations we tend to have about work and workplaces. The series grows out of a panel Hannah organized at the 2026 SIOP Annual Conference: Expanding the Lens: I-O Practice Centering Overlooked Worker Groups – a session designed to raise visibility, share practical approaches, and build community among researchers and practitioners working on these issues.

The original panel focused on three focal groups – skilled trades workers, non-traditional caregivers, and veterans. This podcast series aims to be a recap and continuation of that conversation, and a way of opening the door to people who weren't in the room. Hannah also expands the lens beyond the original panel with an episode on the unwritten rules of professional life: the hidden curriculum of workplace norms and the way those rules land as barriers for people navigating stigmatized social identities, including social class and neurodivergence.

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Music: “Feel Good (Instrumental Version)” by PØW via Epidemic Sound

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References (partial list)

Yung-Boxdell, H., Frerichs, V., Kiproff-Downer, L., Reiley, P. J., & Turner, S. M. (2026, April 30 - May 2). Expanding the Lens: I-O Practice Centering Overlooked Worker Groups [Alternative]. Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology Annual Conference, New Orleans, LA, United States.

AARP and National Alliance for Caregiving. (2020, May 14) Caregiving in the United States 2020. Washington, DC: AARP. https://doi.org/10.26419/ppi.00103.001

Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2025a, March 20). Employment situation of veterans. https://www.bls.gov/news.release/vet.htm

Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2025b, July 29). Unemployment rate for veterans was 3.0 percent in 2024. The Economics Daily. https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2025/unemployment-rate-for-veterans-was-3-0-percent-in-2024.htm

Desilver, D. & Lin, L. (2025, March 31). Blue-collar workers are less satisfied at work, less attached to their jobs than other U.S. workers. Pew Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2025/03/31/blue-collar-workers-are-less-satisfied-at-work-less-attached-to-their-jobs-than-other-us-workers/

Greenberg, E., Schaefer, E., & Weddle, B. (2024, April 9). Tradespeople wanted: The need for critical trade skills in the US. McKinsey & Company. https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/people-and-organizational-performance/our-insights/tradespeople-wanted-the-need-for-critical-trade-skills-in-the-us

Lucas, K. (2011). Blue-collar discourses of workplace dignity: Using outgroup comparisons to construct positive identities. Management Communication Quarterly, 25(2), 353-374.

Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM). (2024). Best practices for recruiting and hiring veterans: SHRM research report. SHRM Foundation. https://shrm-res.cloudinary.com/image/upload/v1728927785/Foundation/Research_SHRM_Research_Report_on_Recruiting_and_Hiring_Veterans.pdf

Spector, P. E. (2024, April 7). It is time we started studying skilled trades workers. Paul Spector. https://paulspector.com/it-is-time-we-started-studying-skilled-trades-workers/

Tyler, K. (2022, March 5). Supporting employee caregivers. SHRM. https://www.shrm.org/topics-tools/news/all-things-work/supporting-employee-caregivers

U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. (2024). 2022 PSTAP longitudinal report. https://benefits.va.gov/TRANSITION/docs/2022-longitudinal-pstap-report.pdf

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Full list of references and episode transcript: https://www.alignmentlab.online/podcast/episode-8-overlooked-workers-series-introduction

In this solo episode, Hannah takes a closer look at introversion within the extraversion ideal: that we live and work in environments largely built for extroverts – and that this carries costs that most of us haven't fully reckoned with.

This episode isn't self-help for introverts. It's a critical examination of the extroversion ideal: the cultural and structural assumption, embedded in workplace design and in over a century of research, that extraversion is the gold standard for showing up at work. Hannah walks through what the research actually says about introversion – what it is, what it isn't, what introverts bring to teams and leadership, what it costs to perform extraversion in environments that demand it, and what organizations and leaders can do.

Music: “Feel Good (Instrumental Version)” by PØW via Epidemic Sound

Resources and References

Note - my references section is too long to fit this week! For the full list of resources and references, you can find it linked here.

In this solo episode, Hannah wraps up the career development series by synthesizing insights from across the four guest conversations, pulling on a few threads that are still in progress, and looking ahead to what's coming next on the podcast.

Concepts and Resources Mentioned:

Career development as a concept Arulmani, Gideon., Bakshi, A. J., Leong, F. T. L., & Watts, A. G. (Eds.). (2014). Handbook of Career Development: International Perspectives (1st ed. 2014.). Springer New York. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-9460-7 

Experiential development and feedback DeRue, D. S., & Wellman, N. (2009). Developing leaders via experience: The role of developmental challenge, learning orientation, and feedback availability. Journal of Applied Psychology, 94(4), 859–875. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0015317

Sensemaking Weick, K. E. (1979). The social psychology of organizing (2nd ed.). Addison-Wesley.

Weick, K. E. (1995). Sensemaking in organizations. Sage Publications.

Team leadership and sensemaking as a leadership function Morgeson, F. P., DeRue, D. S., & Karam, E. P. (2010). Leadership in teams: A functional approach to understanding leadership structures and processes. Journal of Management, 36(1), 5–39. https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206309347376

The pressure of speaking with precision - still looking for this one! When I find it, I will add it here. 

Introversion, extroversion, and the workplace 

Wilmot, M. P., Wanberg, C. R., Kammeyer-Mueller, J. D., & Ones, D. S. (2019). Extraversion advantages at work: A quantitative review and synthesis of the meta-analytic evidence. Journal of Applied Psychology, 104(12), 1447-1470. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/apl0000415 

Rand, B. (2024, February 16). Is your Workplace Biased Against Introverts? Harvard Business School. https://www.library.hbs.edu/working-knowledge/is-your-workplace-biased-against-introverts

https://www.afr.com/work-and-careers/leaders/extroverts-have-4-consistent-advantages-over-everyone-else-at-work-20190614-p51xnd

Music: “Feel Good (Instrumental Version)” by PØW via Epidemic Sound
Link to full episode transcript: https://www.alignmentlab.online/podcast/episode-6-career-development-series-review

What does it actually take to build systems that support people's development – not just in theory, but in practice?

In this episode, Hannah sits down with Stephanie Turner and Larissa Pyer, colleagues at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth and co-founders of Better Together, to explore what human-centered career development actually looks like as a system. They get into the defaults that no longer serve people – linear pathways, under-equipped managers, programs that generate great intentions and zero follow-through – and what to build instead. That includes a case for mentorship as a constellation rather than relying on one-to-one relationships, the difference between shared language and shared understanding, and why scaffolding (not prescription) is the design principle organizations keep getting wrong.

If you are interested in building systems that are truly effective at helping people grow, there’s a lot here to take back to your team. 

Notes, References & Resources

Better Together — The business Stephanie and Larissa recently co-founded, grounded in the belief that the most effective career development happens at the intersection of structure, reflection, honest conversation, and genuine connection. → Better Together on LinkedIn

Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth — Where both guests work; one of the world's leading MBA programs, founded in 1900 as the first graduate school of management in the United States.

Human-Centered Design (HCD) — The design philosophy underlying Stephanie and Larissa's approach to career systems. Emphasizes empathy, problem framing, and iterative prototyping over prescriptive solutions. Popularized by IDEO and Stanford's d.school. → https://dschool.stanford.edu/tools/human-centered-design-integrative-design-exploration

Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology (SIOP) 2024 Annual Conference session on generativity (and mentoring) → Musselman, R., Deller, J., & Hastings, L. (2025, April). Mind the gap: Generativity bridging older worker reciprocity for newer employees [Symposium]. Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology Annual Conference, Chicago, IL, United States.

CliftonStrengths (formerly StrengthsFinder) — Gallup's strengths-based assessment identifying 34 talent themes under four dimensions. Mentioned as an example of an assessment tool organizations can use to create shared self-awareness across teams.

DISC Assessment — A widely used behavioral assessment tool based on four styles: Dominance (D), Influence (I), Steadiness (S), and Conscientiousness (C). Some versions use bird archetypes (Eagle, Parrot, Dove, Owl) to make the styles more memorable. Mentioned as an example of an organizational baseline tool for shared understanding.

Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) — One of the most widely recognized personality inventory tools, categorizing people into 16 types based on four dimensions. Mentioned in discussion as a tool used in some organizations' for individual or culture development purposes. Editor's Note: Though a well-known tool, the MBTI can serve a purpose for self-reflection and self-awareness; however, it is widely criticized in the scientific community for lack of reliability and validity evidence - as such, the MBTI cannot be recommended for organizational decision making purposes (diagnostic or predictive).

Stephanie Turner on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephanie-szkutak-turner/

Larissa Pyer on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/larissa-pyer/

Better Together on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/bettertogethercoaching/

Music: "Feel Good (Instrumental Version)" by PØW via Epidemic Sound

Link to Show Notes with Full Transcript.

What is a calling – and are there any downsides to having one?

In this episode, Hannah sits down with Dr. Steven Zhou, Assistant Professor of Psychological Science at Claremont McKenna College, whose research sits at the intersection of leadership, personality, and career development, using methods ranging from traditional statistics to natural language processing (NLP) and AI. Steven brings a refreshing combination of academic rigor and real-world HR experience to a conversation that covers shared leadership, vocational calling (which has a dark side!), and the science (and skepticism) of leader development programs.

If you're a champion for evidence-backed practice, or the person who always seems to be asking "but what does the research say?" – this one's for you. Follow Steven’s work (or his newsletter) here: ⁠https://www.statslabatcmc.com⁠.

References and Notes

• Holland's RIASEC Model – The foundational framework for understanding vocational interests, classifying people and work environments into six types: Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, and Conventional. Holland, J. L. (1997). Making vocational choices: A theory of vocational personalities and work environments (3rd ed.). Psychological Assessment Resources. →⁠ Wikipedia overview⁠

• SETPOINT Model – A more recent 8-dimension model of vocational interests (Health Science, Creative Expression, Technology, People, Organization, Influence, Nature, and Things) that Steven referenced. Su, R., Rounds, J., & Armstrong, P. I. (2019). Toward a dimensional model of vocational interests. Journal of Applied Psychology. ⁠ https://doi.org/10.1037/apl0000400⁠ 

• The dark side of vocational calling – The landmark study Steven cited as the paper that kicked off research into the downsides of calling, based on qualitative interviews with zookeepers across 157 U.S. and Canadian zoos. Bunderson, J. S., & Thompson, J. A. (2009). The call of the wild: Zookeepers, callings, and the double-edged sword of deeply meaningful work. Administrative Science Quarterly, 54(1), 32–57. ⁠https://doi.org/10.2189/asqu.2009.54.1.32⁠ 

• Unanswered callings – The study Steven described showing that individuals who feel called but are not working in a matching role report worse outcomes than those with no sense of calling at all. Gazica, M. W., & Spector, P. E. (2015). A comparison of individuals with unanswered callings to those with no calling at all. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 91, 1–10.⁠ https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvb.2015.08.008⁠

• Stretch Assignments – A concept in both career development and leader development referring to tasks or roles that are more challenging than current competency but within reach. → A recent HBR article: Gilmartin, S. K., Brunhaver, S., Jordan-Bloch, S., Gall, G., Simard, C., & Sheppard, S. D. (2025, May 28). The right way to implement stretch assignments. Harvard Business Review.⁠ https://hbr.org/2025/05/the-right-way-to-implement-stretch-assignments⁠

• Developing leaders via experience – Research Hannah mentioned relevant to Steven's discussion of stretch assignments and the conditions needed for real development to occur. DeRue, D. S., & Wellman, N. (2009). Developing leaders via experience: The role of developmental challenge, learning orientation, and feedback availability. Journal of Applied Psychology, 94(4), 859–875.⁠ https://doi.org/10.1037/a0015317⁠

• KSAOs – Knowledge, Skills, Abilities, and Other Characteristics. The standard framework in industrial-organizational (I-O) psychology for describing what an individual brings to a role.

• Kravis Leadership Institute (KLI), Claremont McKenna College – The leadership research and development institute where Steven works, led by some of the most prominent names in leadership research. Steven mentioned their applied student leader development work incorporating stretch assignments, reflection, and mentorship. →⁠ KLI website

Music: "Feel Good (Instrumental Version)" by PØW⁠ via Epidemic Sound

Episode Transcript

In this episode of Office Hours, we continue our series on career development, exploring the ways managers can enable, support, and guide the career development of their direct reports.

I’m joined by Nick Denstaedt, a talent management leader with a background in operations, systems improvement, and industrial-organizational psychology.

Nick and I discuss how managers can more intentionally develop their people through better conversations, clearer follow-through, stretch opportunities, and everyday curiosity. We also discuss job crafting, experience mapping, psychological safety, and why making time for development may be one of the most strategic things a manager can do.

The episode is chock-full of practical tips and insights for managers engaging in this process to act with agency and to enable better individual and organizational outcomes.

Episode Mentions, Notes, and Links

Below are some informational resources related to things mentioned in this episode.

SMART goals
https://www.ucop.edu/local-human-resources/_files/performance-appraisal/How+to+write+SMART+Goals+v2.pdf

70-20-10 rule
https://hr.berkeley.edu/sites/default/files/70-20-10_2.pdf
https://www.ccl.org/articles/leading-effectively-articles/70-20-10-rule/

Experience Mapping (article by Marc Effron)
https://talentstrategygroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Using-Expereince-Maps-.pdf

The paper on team charters Nick referenced at the end of the episode:
Mathieu, J. E., & Rapp, T. L. (2009). Laying the foundation for successful team performance trajectories: The roles of team charters and performance strategies. The Journal of Applied Psychology, 94(1), 90–103. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0013257

Find Nick Denstaedt on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nick-denstaedt

Episode Transcript

A happy update: I've been notified that Spotify has enabled transcripts for Office Hours at The Alignment Lab! Though I do not know yet how long it takes for those become available, I do understand them to be auto-generated by the platform. A transcript of the episode that I have reviewed is available on my website here: Episode 3 Transcript

Music: "Feel Good (Instrumental Version)" by PØW⁠ via Epidemic Sound

Editorial Note

This episode had its fair share of unexpected technical challenges leading to some audio disruption, which I did my best to mitigate. I do apologize for any annoyances for the listener, but in the end I chose to post the episode anyways because I believe the content discussed was too high quality to sit on. I do humbly ask for your understanding as I endeavor to get better on the audio engineering/producing aspect of podcasting! At the end of the day, I hope you get as much out of this conversation as I did.

In this episode of Office Hours, we explore what it looks like to take a more self-directed approach to career development.

I’m joined by Elizabeth Cook, a career strategy coach who helps professionals navigate burnout and career transitions with greater clarity. We discuss navigating uncertainty, building self-awareness, and creating more agency in your career. We also talk about the importance of creating the bandwidth for this work, and how practices like job crafting can help align your day-to-day with longer-term goals.

Together, we break down what it takes to actively shape your career from the inside out.

Transcript

Unfortunately Spotify does not currently support transcripts for this podcast and the transcript length is too long for the description field. A transcript of the episode can be found via link here: Episode 2 Transcript

Episode Mentions, Notes, and Links

Job crafting refers to a proactive process by which workers may redesign their process, relationship, or perception of work (i.e., their own jobs). While the concept of individual-driven work design is older, Amy Wrzesniewski and Jane E. Dutton introduced the term and model of job crafting – which includes three forms (task, relational, and cognitive) – in 2001, which have continued to inspire much thought and research since. 

World Economic Forum 2025 Future of Jobs Report: https://www.weforum.org/publications/the-future-of-jobs-report-2025/

Connect with Elizabeth:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elizabeth-cook-

Web: https://www.elizabethcookconsulting.com

Music: "Feel Good (Instrumental Version)" by PØW⁠ via Epidemic Sound