Work Life by Design

Today I'm joined by Dr Meg Hooper, Organisational Psychologist and change specialist. Meg is a registered psychologist with a PhD in organisational psychology and she brings an academic thought process to a very similar world that I tend to work in.

Meg looks at work and our work lives from a very different angle, but with the same intentionality around what the outcome should be. Today, we have a really interesting conversation around how systems within our organisation support the type of work that we need to do and us as individuals, how we can promote self-leadership and self-determination so that we can really start to build our own ways of working and how that actually needs to feed into our individual resilience responses.

So the context of what we discussed today is around what can be described as 'Choose Your Own Adventure'; how can we enable, support and empower our people to determine how and where they work and within the predefined parameters of the organisational culture and policies?

We also discuss:

• What is organisational psychology?
• Individual resilience vs team resilience
• The importance of boundaries in the workplace
• Understanding practical elements of cross-functional collaboration

I thoroughly enjoyed this chat; Meg and I have very similar ideas about how our world of work can operate in a very positive and proactive manner. I hope you enjoy listening as much as I enjoyed recording it.

Dr Meg Hooper

LinkedIn | Carousel Consulting | Facebook

Melissa Marsden

Instagram | LinkedIn | Facebook

"People will forget what you said, they will forget what you did, but they will never forget how you made them feel" Maya Angelou

In today's episode, I delve into the relationship between clients and designers and why a fundamental connection is essential for success.

This is a topic I'm incredibly passionate about and one of our core values at COMUNiTI is "it's all about the Chemistry". Essentially, that means we seek to work with people we gel with; people who get us, what we do and how we do it.

We've been tested on these a few times and we've had to make some tough calls, but I've learned that trying to make chemistry work on a job is far harder.

I'll touch on:

• Why chemistry is crucial
• The difference between negative and positive conflict
• Communication breakdowns
• Outcomes and relationships
• What you as a client should look for when selecting a team to work with
• Communicating your unique chemistry - the experience of doing business with you.

I'll also touch on how chemistry in your business translates into your customer experience, an exceptional example of this I recently experienced and how important this is when designing your space.

Ready? Let's jump in!

Melissa Marsden

Instagram | LinkedIn | Facebook

As Australians we have been relatively insulated from the impact of COVID unlike the rest of the world, so as part of this season and understand the future of work, I was keen to understand what "work life" looks like on the other side of the globe.

In today's episode I chat with Kursty Groves a workplace strategist and innovation consultant based in the UK. Kursty helps workplace leaders reinvent the future of work and spaces that support connected cultures. With a background in innovation consulting, capability development and design, Kursty's approach to workplace is grounded in coaching and co-creation, putting people at the heart.

Her passion lies in seeking to understand what makes work work, and how environments can inspire people to perform their best and you will hear this shine through in this conversation.

She is also the author of two books, a postgraduate professor and an award-winning designer with over 20 years experience facilitating innovation and design thinking, as well as the host of The Office Chronicles podcast.

I feel very privileged to have been able to have this conversation with Kursty, to understand her perspective as a fellow workplace strategist and advisor to some of the worlds largest brands.

In today's chat we discuss;

• What work and life looks like in the UK right now
• The work that she does and how it supports organisations to create enhances workplaces
• How the work and the conversations she is having with organisations has changed over the past 12-18mths
• How organisations that were more innovative and creative in their workplace design faired better through the pandemic and what underpinned that
• Designing intimacy and professional relationships in a world where proximity is no longer the norm
• The question that everyone is asking "is the office dead"
• How Kursty has intentionally and consciously designed her life to work for her

Kursty Groves

Podcast | Website | LinkedIn

Melissa Marsden

Instagram | LinkedIn | Facebook

When we talk about persona profiling, we usually think of psychometric testing and other sorts of personality profiling tests. In the workplace, we generally use these in the context of recruitment and understanding a candidate's personality before we hire them to understand if they are a cultural fit for our organisation.

What you may not have thought of is personality profiling is incredibly useful from a workplace design perspective. Understanding personal preferences of teams, and individuals within those teams allows us to design a workplace that aligns with different ways of working.

Join me as a break down how we can use persona profiling to make workplace design intelligent. I'll go through the four role types that exist within organisations, how each role behaves and how you can navigate the opportunities that exist in the design of your workplace to enhance your employee experience and commercial outcomes.

If you are interested in beginning this journey in your business, you can join the Your Workplace Future Ready Program and begin to transform your workplace from the inside out.

Melissa Marsden

Instagram | LinkedIn | Facebook

Work is an incredibly important aspect to the lives of many of us and finding a workplace that enables us to thrive and to contribute forms a large part of our personal feeling of purpose and of belonging.

Rhonda Brighton-Hall is CEO of mwah. Making Work Absolutely Human, Chair of the AHRI Institute, National D&I Advisory Panel, a Patron for ASPECT (Autism Australia) and recognised as a game changer in the future design of organisations, HR, leadership, diversity and inclusion and work.

Having worked, lived and lectured in Asia, Europe and the USA, Rhonda is a former AHRI HR Leader of the Year and Telstra Businesswoman of the Year.

Launched in 2017, mwah. is a determinedly optimistic Think Tank about the future of work, a growing community, and a tech and analytics business changing the way we understand people and culture; designing a future of work that works for more of us.

Rhonda is a beautiful soul with an obvious passion for disrupting workplace with the intention of helping them be better so they can do better.

In today's chat we discuss:

• What is culture and how do you define it?
• Is there such a thing as a good culture or a bad culture?
• Why is belonging important and what can we do to support it?
• What impact has remote working had on culture and belonging?
• As organisations where are the opportunities for us to learn from the great social experiment of COVID and intentionally create our experience of work into the future

A passionate yet light-hearted conversation, Rhonda is a joy to speak to and you will glean an alternative lens through which you can begin to look at your organisation.

Rhonda Brighton-Hall

MWAH | LinkedIn | MWAH LinkedIn | Newsletter

Melissa Marsden

Instagram | LinkedIn | Facebook

Taking over the lease on a fitted out workplace to support your organisational growth often makes sense on paper however, I often see the intangible costs of this decision realised down line.

In this episode I'll share with you how these intangible costs show up and the impact on the performance of your business and how you can begin to build the capability internally to transform your business.

Your Workplace Future Ready Program

https://www.melissamarsden.com.au/your_workplace_future_ready

Melissa Marsden

One of the things that I observed during the last 12mths was how we likened the experience of the pandemic to the themes and realities of science fiction movies. Some more positive experiences such as the opportunities that technology has enabled to connect us into a global community, and others less so, as we navigated the changes to our realities with the introduction of a virus that was beyond our ability to control.

Today's guest is Futurist and Founder of the think tank and trend analysis firm, Thinque, Anders Sorman-Nilsson. Thinque provide data-based research, foresight and thought leadership assets for global brands across 4 continents with a vision to disseminate and decode "avant garde ideas which expand minds and inspire a change of heart.

Working with clients such as Microsoft, Apple, Facebook and McKinsey to name a few, Anders is an awarded keynote speaker, author and the host of the 2nd Renaissance Podcast.

Through our conversation today we explore

• what is a futurist and the role that they play in supporting organisations to navigate the future.
• How decentralised work will continue to evolve and the impact that this will have on our cities and CBD real estate
• The blend of the physical and virtual work environment
• The skill sets that we will need to harness as Artificial Intelligence and Virtual Reality become more prominent in our worlds
• The role of creative thinking and innovation in our work
• Anders insights on how we can prepare ourselves for the future

As someone who likes to explore the opportunity the future presents with my clients as we reimagine the work environment, I found this conversation both insightful and human.

Anders Sorman-Nilsson

Thinque | LinkedIn | Podcast

Melissa Marsden

Instagram | LinkedIn | Facebook

There has been much discussion about what the future of work will look like and the decisions that some organisations have already taken, and some at the extremes; to remain working remotely for good or mandated returns to the office.

In this episode I'm taking you through Matt Mullenweg's, 5 Levels of Autonomy. As the Founder of Automattic, the creators of Wordpress and a fully distributed workforce of over 1200 people in 57 countries, he has a clear view of these 5 levels that organisations can move through to achieve what he describes as Nirvana.

I'll then share with you my thoughts on some of the considerations that we will need to contemplate and potential hurdles that we will need to overcome as we move through these 5 Levels from our previous IRL [in real life] workplaces.

This is a new landscape for us all and I'd love to know what conversations you've had in your workplace as you begin to navigate the way forward and the future of work in your organisation.

LINKS

Naked Ambition Podcast

Matt Mullenweg

Making Sense Podcast

Gitlab – The Drawbacks of Remote Work

Melissamarsden.com.au

The global pandemic has had a significant impact on the way we all work and live, and this impact has had a flow on effect to our wellbeing; physically, mentally and emotionally.

As you'll hear in this conversation, its not only our work and life that we need to be considering its also our wellbeing and performance.

Today's guest is Dr Adrian Medhurst, the co-founder of Benny Button a work-life wellbeing and performance business. Adrian explains the inherent link between our wellbeing and our performance and how this impacts our ability to perform at work.

Adrian is a Doctor of Organisational Psychology, a speaker, author, educator and thought leader on a mission to optimise performance and wellbeing for people and organisations. He specialises in performance psychology, wellbeing science, stress mastery, mindfulness, behavioural change and innovation.

The conversation around wellbeing in our workplaces is not a new conversation however what we have observed is that it is now a more prominent one.

In today's chat with Adrian we discuss;

• The impact that COVID has had on the wellbeing of our people
• How organisations can begin to understand and address this impact with their people and 5 questions to help you start the conversation
• The reframing of resilience to resourcefulness
• The concept of "experimentation" and the change of mindset that it brings
• The tools that organisations can use to support the wellbeing of their people in the workplace
• How Adrian, personally, took the adversity of COVID and turned it into adventure

Benny Button

Connect with Adrian on LinkedIn

Melissa Marsden

We have recently celebrated International Women's Day with the theme #choosetochallnenge and I had the pleasure of sitting on the panel at Orange Digitals recent event, alongside Nicolette Baker and Brooke Jamieson moderated by Liz Ballantyne.

This is a collection of my takeaways and thoughts from the event of where we could continue to choose to challenge and what this looks as both men and women in our organisations from;

• Starting the conversation and how we can all begin to manage up
• The importance of co-creation and inviting different perspectives to the conversation
• Balancing opportunity and the impact of male parental leave
• Onsite Childcare
• What success looks like for you?

Plus I also share a section from Glennon Doyles book Untamed, around how as women we can have an instinctual response that we can choose to challenge. You can find the book HERE

How can you continue the conversation?