This Working Life

Saying "yes" too often can leave you feeling overwhelmed and perhaps a bit resentful. You might hear yourself saying "yes of course I can" when your inner voice is screaming "no!"

So here's how you can say "no" more often at work, without feeling rude.

Guests

• Natalie Lue — Author, The Joy of Saying No
• Benjamin Law — Writer and broadcaster
• Hema Kangeson — Founder, The Leaders Circle
• Bruce Tulgan — Author, The Art of Being Indispensable at Work
• Alisha Taylor-Jones — Diversity and inclusion professional

This story was first broadcast on 3rd February 2023

Experts say balance may not be the best thing to aim for. So is the concept of work life balance itself, flawed? 

Learn ways to put life first and make small changes that can help you get more satisfaction in life and work.   

Guests:

Tim Duggan, author, Work Backwards

Dr Stacey Parker, Centre for Business and Organisational Psychology, University of Queensland

Carly Hopgood, engineer and work life coach

You’re doing well in your career and are being steered towards the leadership track.  But it’s a common complaint within organisations that new managers don’t get the right kind of training or support. So how can you prepare?

We dig into the essential skills, and the best ways to learn them.

Guests:

Karina Calder, head of leadership and development, SW Accountants and Advisors 

Dr Stacey Ashley, leadership coach and author, The New Leader

Professor Greg Harper, Pro Vice Chancellor, Centre for Organisational Change and Agility, Torrens University Australia 

Melanie Perkins, Richard Branson, Mark Zuckerberg, and Elon Musk all have one thing in common. They’ve leveraged the entrepreneur mindset to achieve success in business. 

Whether you work for yourself or within a larger organisation, what can you borrow from high achievers that’s relevant to your career? 

Guests:

Rachael Neumann, co-founder, Flying Fox Ventures 

Alex Newman, Professor of Management and Associate Dean (Faculty), Melbourne Business School 

Eleni Dracakis, business psychologist 

You've likely been told to disrupt yourself and get better at dealing with change. But what if rapid change isn’t allowing you to do your best at work?

Leadership expert and co-author of Nine Lies About Work, Ashley Goodall, argues that change, for the sake of it, can be counter-productive. So how can we create more stability at work?

Guest:

Ashley Goodall, leadership expert and author, The Problem with Change

This is a companion story to our episode Uncertainty at work stressing you out? Here’s how to deal with it.

We know that putting up slides with lots of text, and talking about them at the same time, is not a very engaging way to get your point across in a presentation or training session. 

So why is it still happening? And how can we all tell better stories at work?

Awareness of psychosocial safety is growing and we know how destructive bullying can be. Yet incidents continue to occur, with performance management and generational differences creating flashpoints.

Despite decades of research and tighter regulations, many organisations struggle to prevent workplace bullying. We find out why, and learn about a prevention program that is making a difference. 

What if instead of adding tasks to your long to do list, you considered what you could take away? 

Professor Leidy Klotz has a theory that can help and he’ll teach you how to start subtracting at work. And Dom Price gives a coaching session that will help you stop, reflect and figure out what to let go of. 

You have staff who are neurodivergent, and you want to help them do their best work. What do you need to understand, and what supports should you put in place, to make that happen? 

We visit a neurodiverse workplace to find out, and hear from a specialist recruiter who supports neurodivergent employees in large corporate firms.

Have you ever been in a room with a leader who has you hanging on every word, and leaves you feeling inspired? 

Some would say that person has  ‘executive presence’.  But what do they have really?  And are the qualities that make employees willing to really listen to and follow a leader, changing?