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    Linked – The Productivity-Trust Paradox

    ByMike McBride Reading Time: 4 minutes

    As I read over the list of six conditions that Drucker believed enabled productivity, I came to the conclusion that I have never worked in a place that provided all six. Usually that last one, being seen as an asset as opposed to a cost, is the easy one to see. Management loves to remind you that you are a cost, especially if you work in a tech or training position. Heck, anything other than a sales position in some organizations is a “cost”, and we all know anyone who isn’t directly billing more hours to a client than they get paid in legal is a cost. As we have seen over the last year, you can do great work, but when shareholders and Boards decide it’s time to cut costs, that great work won’t grant you immunity from mass layoffs.

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    Asking for Help is a Skill You Should Learn

    ByMike McBride Reading Time: 2 minutes

    What I am starting to learn, and Gary writes as well, is that asking for help isn’t a sign of weakness but it might very well be an opportunity. It’s an opportunity to connect with other human beings at a personal level, it’s an opportunity to learn from the expertise of others, and an opportunity for them to put that knowledge to good use. It’s an opportunity to use that combined skill to create a better solution than I would have created by myself.

    Most of all hard problems are an opportunity to work as a team or a community, something that we all need as human beings. Whether you are anxious and need a friend to support you, or you can’t find the answer to a vexing technical issue, or you simply need some help learning a new skill, it helps to have people around.

  • An Example of M365 Constantly Changing and an Offer For Those Impacted by Layoffs

    ByMike McBride Reading Time: 2 minutes

    You can sign up for a 7-day trial and see all of the paywalled content to see what you’d be getting for your $7 per month subscription. If you’ve been impacted by layoffs, I want to make an offer to you, as someone who’s right there with you. Sign up for a free subscription, and send me an email with your LinkedIn Profile link so I can verify that you have been impacted by layoffs, and I’ll comp you 90 days of a paid subscription.

  • Linked – Managers Need a Toolbox for the “Post-Everything” Era

    ByMike McBride Reading Time: 3 minutes

    Continue to be great at what you do and hope for an opening in management is not a career plan. That is what appears to be on offer at many companies though. They aren’t preparing anyone to be a manager in the future, and they aren’t increasing headcount that might require more team leads and managers, so how long do we expect people to wait? Add in the number of “senior” folks with higher salaries who find themselves part of a reduction in force, or the number of people who’ve watched their current job change over and over until they find themselves doing work they never signed up for in the first place, and it’s no wonder that workers are taking responsibility for their own growth, by choosing workplaces that give them better opportunities.

    No one has to stay and work for you for the next 20-25 years. They can, and will, go elsewhere if there’s no clear path forward. I don’t blame them.

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    Linked – What If the Next Big Social Media App Is … Nothing?

    ByMike McBride Reading Time: 3 minutes

    At some point, everyone who wants to have an Instagram account has an Instagram account and is using it as often as they want to. You can’t have huge growth spurts. You can only play around the edges and manipulate users to stay online to grow and that’s not a winning strategy. Yet it’s what shareholders and venture funds require. They’ve created a world where growing less than 20% per year might as well be failing. It’s sure going to look like failing when you start cutting jobs and doing stock buybacks. Those used to be desperate measures, but now they’re just a Tuesday at the office.

  • The Gap Between What Management Thinks about Mental Health and what Employees Experience

    ByMike McBride Reading Time: 2 minutes

    Leaders often throw benefits out to solve the problem, when work might actually be the problem. A great employee assistance program, health insurance that fairly covers mental healthcare, heck maybe they even threw in a few meditation app subscriptions for free. “See, we care!”

    But the employee is quietly suffering from a lack of any connection to coworkers, poor communication with their boss, workplace stress, or even bullying and harassment, with no one in leadership to talk to. That’s not going to make them feel like you care.