The Humanizing Work Show

In this episode, Richard digs into the causes and fixes for burnout and disengagement on Agile (or ostensibly Agile) teams. Agile teams should be the most motivating teams to be on—opportunity for autonomy, mastery, and purpose are built right in. But, too often, that’s not how it plays out. Tune in to learn how to avoid or address some common patterns that create burnout and disengagement. Episode page: https://www.humanizingwork.com/burnout-and-disengagement-on-agile-teams/ Share a challenge or episode idea: [email protected] Connect with Humanizing Work: https://www.linkedin.com/company/humanizingwork https://www.facebook.com/HumanizingWork https://twitter.com/HumanizingWork https://twitter.com/rslawrence/ https://twitter.com/tptman/

When, like the children’s book character Alexander, you’re having a Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day at work, how do you turn things around? In this episode, Peter shares four strategies he used to do just that on what started out as a really tough trail run, strategies that are just as powerful at work. Episode page: https://www.humanizingwork.com/four-trail-strategies-to-transform-a-bad-day-at-work/ Share a challenge or episode idea: [email protected] Connect with Humanizing Work: https://www.linkedin.com/company/humanizingwork https://www.facebook.com/HumanizingWork https://twitter.com/HumanizingWork https://twitter.com/rslawrence/ https://twitter.com/tptman/

How we manage our work has to fit the nature of the work. And, too often, it doesn’t, which leads to waste and frustration. In this episode, Richard and Peter walk through 3 styles of process that go with 4 different kinds of work. Episode page: https://www.humanizingwork.com/make-your-process-fit-your-work/ Share a challenge or episode idea: [email protected] Connect with Humanizing Work: https://www.linkedin.com/company/humanizingwork https://www.facebook.com/HumanizingWork https://twitter.com/HumanizingWork https://twitter.com/rslawrence/ https://twitter.com/tptman/

A great vision statement can create alignment, increase engagement, and improve business outcomes. But too many vision statements are corporate-speak buzzword bingo. And those can be worse than no vision statement at all. In this episode, Peter and Richard explain what makes a vision statement worth writing and share a quick, collaborative process to create one for your product, team, or organization. Episode page: https://www.humanizingwork.com/craft-a-vision-statement-not-corporate-speak/ Share a challenge or episode idea: [email protected] Connect with Humanizing Work: https://www.linkedin.com/company/humanizingwork https://www.facebook.com/HumanizingWork https://twitter.com/HumanizingWork https://twitter.com/rslawrence/ https://twitter.com/tptman/

In this episode, David J Bland, author of “Testing Business Ideas” joins Peter and Richard to talk about how to use Lean Startup-style experiments in any kind of business. Episode page: https://www.humanizingwork.com/tackle-risk-with-david-bland/ Share a challenge or episode idea: [email protected] Connect with Humanizing Work: https://www.linkedin.com/company/humanizingwork https://www.facebook.com/HumanizingWork https://twitter.com/HumanizingWork https://twitter.com/rslawrence/ https://twitter.com/tptman/

One of the trickiest problems leaders face is getting org structure right. This is even harder in Agile orgs because there are strong opinions out there about the perfect team structure that often don’t apply easily in real orgs. In this episode, Peter and Richard share 6 principles you can use to reason about the right team structure for your context. Episode page: https://www.humanizingwork.com/get-agile-org-structure-right/ Share a challenge or episode idea: [email protected] Connect with Humanizing Work: https://www.linkedin.com/company/humanizingwork https://www.facebook.com/HumanizingWork https://twitter.com/HumanizingWork https://twitter.com/rslawrence/ https://twitter.com/tptman/

We all know early feedback on work can be useful, but it’s hard to do. We want to show people things when they’re all polished and when we feel proud of the product. Not to mention, most people don’t know how to give feedback well. In this episode, Richard and Peter introduce an approach to getting feedback that solves these problems and makes early feedback low-risk, productive, and encouraging. Episode page: https://www.humanizingwork.com/getting-feedback-on-wip/ Share a challenge or episode idea: [email protected] Connect with Humanizing Work: https://www.linkedin.com/company/humanizingwork https://www.facebook.com/HumanizingWork https://twitter.com/HumanizingWork https://twitter.com/rslawrence/ https://twitter.com/tptman/

Why is change so hard? Why do we say we want to make changes but then, so often, fail to actually make the change stick? In this episode, Richard and Peter dive into psychologists Robert Kegan and Lisa Lahey’s work on immunity to change and how to overcome it. Episode page: https://www.humanizingwork.com/immunity-to-change/ Share a challenge or episode idea: [email protected] Connect with Humanizing Work: https://www.linkedin.com/company/humanizingwork https://www.facebook.com/HumanizingWork https://twitter.com/HumanizingWork https://twitter.com/rslawrence/ https://twitter.com/tptman/

Typical status reports start out green, go yellow if issues pop up, and only turn red if things get really, really bad. In this episode, Peter and Richard explain why status reports should have to “earn green” and how you can use this mindset to find good places to start on any initiative (even if you’re not actually creating status reports). Episode page: https://www.humanizingwork.com/incremental-small-slice-approach-gives-real-progress/ Share a challenge or episode idea: [email protected] Connect with Humanizing Work: https://www.linkedin.com/company/humanizingwork https://www.facebook.com/HumanizingWork https://twitter.com/HumanizingWork https://twitter.com/rslawrence/ https://twitter.com/tptman/

Conflict is a natural result of trying to get things done with other people–we have different perspectives and want different things. It’s easy for that to turn into a battle of egos, but it doesn't have to. You can move through conflict gracefully, coming out of it with better outcomes, both in terms of the decision and the relationship. In this episode, Peter and Richard share the 3 tools they find most useful for resolving conflict and producing great outcomes. Episode page: https://www.humanizingwork.com/3-tools-to-resolve-conflict/ Share a challenge or episode idea: [email protected] Connect with Humanizing Work: https://www.linkedin.com/company/humanizingwork https://www.facebook.com/HumanizingWork https://twitter.com/HumanizingWork https://twitter.com/rslawrence/ https://twitter.com/tptman/