The job market these days is tumultuous to say the least. Large employers are making huge cuts to their staffing and operating models. AI and automation technologies threaten to displace some jobs. And wage growth just isn't keeping pace with increased employer demands for productivity and worker output.

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the job market, the skilled trades are booming. Demand for jobs like construction are on the rise, and those jobs aren't easy to offset by outsourcing or technology implementations. The skilled trades offer rewarding work, skill development, a fulfilling career path and competitive compensation.With the best of intentions, we as a society have pushed the corporate, cubicle-dwelling life as a significant piece of the American dream. But is it time for us to paint a different picture of a new dream?

This week on the podcast, we're excited to introduce Shannon Kahn as our guest. Shannon founded SMK Consulting to “Create Profit and Prosperity for Staffing Firms.” With over three decades of staffing industry experience, Shannon has a history of leading teamsthat deliver exceptional results with a focus on driving revenue and profitability, operationalexcellence, and leadership development. Working for both large public companies and nichefirms, she held many executive leadership roles throughout her career. Shannon spent morethan sixteen years working in the skilled trades sector where she developed a passion for theblue-collar workforce and is committed to creating awareness and appreciation for the tradesand other blue-collar professions.

You won't want to miss this enlightening discussion.

Sometimes you don't have to look very far to find the inspiration you need to take your leadership to the next level. Lessons about life and leadership are everywhere in the world around us.

In business and in life, change is the only constant. But sometimes, even with the best of intentions, leading a group of people through change can wind up being a traumatic process. In this week's episode of The Workplace Therapy Podcast, our hosts Scott Arrieta (CEO of Unity & Company) and Skylar Lewandowski (Director of Special Programs at Unity & Company) share their experiences with organizational change management initaitives and highlight some things that organizations can do differently to ensure their change efforts are successful.

Join us as we discuss:

- Specific tips on how to prepare the company, management and individuals to lead through change effectively

- Why creating an "army of emissaries" is vital to helping change efforts succeed

- Why training leaders on emotional regulation, service and compassion is a necessary component of enabling change that is often overlooked.

- Why leaders should embrance anonymous feedback and use it as an opportunity for personal and company growth

- Why some companies fail to train their managers on change management and what to do instead

Change is inevitable. It is the only constant. It's said that we're always either growing or dying. Both of these processes are driven by change. But despite how ubiquitous the force of change is in our lives, we still haven't mastered how to lead through change at the organizational level. As a result, many internal change management initiatives fail to deliver the intended results. Instead of being a driver of innovation and growth, change initiatives often end up leaving a trail of trauma in their wake.

Over the course of his life, Blake Kasemeier has been many things. A loving husband, an attentive father, a devoted athlete, a touring musician and a freelance copywriter and talented marketer. But one thing he has always been is an amazing storyteller.

Here at Workplace Therapy, we talk a lot about toxic workplace experiences and how organizations, leaders and individuals can invest in the work of charting a different path.

In today’s session, we’re fortunate to have an expert who has devoted her life to this work, and brings a unique set of skills, techniques and perspectives to bear in her mission to help organizations develop a talent strategy that enables their business strategy.

Michelle Alexandrowicz is CEO of Engage, a consulting firm that helps organizations make data-driven decisions about how talent impacts business strategy. Michelle is an organizational psychologist by training and uses her deep knowledge of what makes people tick coupled with quantitative rigor and business acumen to help her clients fully utilize their most powerful asset: their people.

In this week's Workplace Therapy session, we’re going to be discussing something that we’ve all come to accept as a standard part of the corporate experience - performance reviews. Performance reviews are supposed to be an opportunity to recognize and reward people for their efforts and to coach people to higher levels of performance and personal growth.

This episode concludes a two part series.

In this series, Scott is joined by his wife Monica Arrieta to discuss how the lessons they've learned in the workplace have impacted how they show up as parents and partners to each other. Monica is a strategic advisor to Unity and Company, where she brings invaluable experience as a global program manager for some of the world’s leading technology companies to help us provide leading edge perspectives and strategies to our clients. She’s an experienced performance coach and plays a vital role in facilitating Unity’s signature training and executive coaching engagements.

Join us as Monica and Scott reflect on their own upbrignings and how the lessons they've learned in the workplace have helped them to challenge their own assumptions on what is best for their kids. If you're a working parent - you definitely won't want to miss this discussion!

In this week's episode, Scott is joined by his wife Monica Arrieta to discuss how the lessons they've learned in the workplace have impacted how they show up as parents and partners to each other. Monica is a strategic advisor to Unity and Company, where she brings invaluable experience as a global program manager for some of the world’s leading technology companies to help us provide leading edge perspectives and strategies to our clients. She’s an experienced performance coach and plays a vital role in facilitating Unity’s signature training and executive coaching engagements.

Join us this week as Monica and Scott reflect on their own upbrignings and how the lessons they've learned in the workplace have helped them to challenge their own assumptions on what is best for their kids. If you're a working parent - you definitely won't want to miss this discussion!

We've talked a lot about the benefits of working in a culture that values psychological safety. On today's episode, we're joined by Jake Herway, a Partner at Gallup and a seasoned expert at driving cultural transofrmation. In today's episode, Jake shares his experience working with executive teams to drive cultural transformation. We discuss how he's successfully used a strengths-based approach to foster trust and psychological safety within teams. We also discuss an article he published for Gallup entitled How to Create a Culture of Psychological safety where he explores some of the research behind psychological safety, delves into what it is and how organizations can begin to cultivate it.