Mental Health at Work Isn’t Just About You. It’s About Your Culture.
We talk a lot about mental health in the workplace. And while these conversations are important, they often focus on the individual: how someone could build their resilience, manage their stress, or ask for accommodation. The problem with this approach is that it implies the problem is you. What people report experiencing at work — […]
Why Wellbeing at Work Is an Organizational Problem — Not an Individual One
In most workplaces “wellbeing” means something like: the individual employee is coping adequately with the conditions of their work. Wellbeing at work isn’t just a nice-to-have or a soft priority. Canadian organizations are facing a growing crisis of disconnection which affects the bottom line. The Scale of the Problem: Burnout and Disconnection in Canadian Workplaces […]
Why do Collaborations Fail?
Collaboration in the workplace is not only necessary, it is paramount. Especially as we are collectively finding our way back to hybrid or in-office working in new ways. That said, many folks find collaborating pretty darn frustrating, and frankly, it’s not uncommon for these processes to go sour. I’ve been privy to quite a few […]
Want Better Collaboration? Start With Workplace Culture
Want to improve collaboration on your team? Or collaboration between teams? Before diving into those team building exercises, or buying everyone donuts (and I do love a good donut…), you might want to take a step back and think about workplace culture. Why Workplace Culture is the Foundation of Collaboration The where and how things happen at work can cultivate […]
How do I make creativity my job? (And Should I?)
Quite a few people have shared with me that they long for creativity to be their central, sustaining effort. My sense is that folks are feeling transactional and burned out in their current employment. Much of traditional work, and employer-employee relationships more generally, aren’t working for them. They’re looking for something more balanced, respectful, human-centred, […]
Thought Leadership for Researchers: How to Share Your Work and Build Trust
We are inundated with misinformation and disinformation, and this is why human-written, research-based thought leadership is crucial. Thought leadership from trusted experts helps us all make sense of how research can be beneficial. Data don’t speak for themselves. We need help understanding, interpreting, and figuring out what to do with it. Thought leadership is about […]
Sometimes ‘less is more’ when designing a good presentation
I was chatting with a former student recently about giving a guest lecture. As a new grad student, he was in the throes of preparing to give his first and was asking for advice (so exciting!). My big overarching message to him: Less is more. For reals. I see a whole lotta “more is more” […]
Design a session that will knock their socks off
You’ve been invited to give a guest lecture/workshop/presentation (yay!) but the prospect causes you to break into sweats (ack!). The good news is that people think highly of you and value your expertise – they have invited you to share your awesomeness! And the other good news is that you don’t have to cram all […]
Calling it Quits?
Some thoughts on decision-making, grit and knowing when to quit Quitting often gets a bad rap. We usually associate greatness with grit, stick-to-it-iveness, persistence. And of course, grit can be useful. But we often overlook the importance of knowing when and how to shift gears and steer towards a new path. Public thinker and former […]
Burnout is not an individual problem: it’s cultural
The way we think and talk about burnout needs to change. As individuals we feel it. And we often think the solutions need to be individual too (more resilience training, anyone?). But it will take a cultural shift to really address burnout, and create sustainable workplaces that are integrated and even connected parts within our […]