• Linked – Research: Asynchronous Work Can Fuel Creativity

    ByMike McBride Reading Time: 3 minutes

    Have you ever been in a brainstorming meeting, in person or on Zoom, and walked away thinking it was great? The ideas were flowing, and people were expanding on each other’s ideas, professionally disagreeing constructively, and bringing energy to the discussion. It was great, all of our meetings should look like that.

    Except that’s not really what happened. At least it’s not the whole picture. Yes, perhaps there was a good exchange of ideas, and perhaps some of the folks on the call brought their energy and passion to the discussion. The key word there is “some”. The important thing to remember is that those people who did bring that energy also probably made it really difficult for other voices to be heard. The science would tell you that the straight white men on the team probably spoke up, while others did not speak up. (In the experiment that is detailed in the article, it was men and women singers who were compared.) In my experience, it’s a little more complicated than that. Yes, a small group of white guys can absolutely drown out all of the other voices, but so can a small group of extroverts.

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    DE&I is More Than Race and Gender – Neurodiversity in the Workplace

    ByMike McBride Reading Time: 2 minutes

    We have so many companies complaining about finding talent, and we also have a massively underemployed group who could be great at these jobs with some small accommodations. I’m no data scientist, but this seems like an opportunity. The article above lists some considerations that could make a huge difference and help you find and retain talented people who need someone to understand that their brains work differently.

    This is what inclusion looks like too.

  • Remote Work Hurts Young Workers? There’s an Important Caveat

    ByMike McBride Reading Time: 2 minutes

    We expect our managers not to be biased when it comes to the people who work for them regarding race, gender, and sexuality. Why do we accept that proximity bias cannot be overcome, so you’ll have to come to the office?

    The conclusion to be drawn from this research is that we need better managers. Period.

  • Are Micromanagers Lazy?

    ByMike McBride Reading Time: 2 minutes

    Personally, I wouldn’t use the term lazy. I don’t think they are just being lazy, I think parents and managers default to this approach because they don’t know any better. They haven’t been given clear direction on how to parent or manage, and they’ve been overwhelmed with the variety and often conflicting information they can get. Without clarity, they’ve defaulted to the simplest solution – do it yourself.

    For managers, that looks a lot like Jake describes it. Fixing the work of your reports instead of providing feedback, reminding them repeatedly about deadlines, needing to see them in the office working, being CC’d on every email, and generally just looking over their shoulder at every turn. I don’t know many managers who want to work that way, yet we all know there are plenty of managers who do. As I said earlier, I don’t think they want to be lazy, I think they lack the proper training and clarity about managing. How much better could they be, and in turn the people who report to them be, if our organizations provided that?

  • Linked – The cost of tolerating underperformance — and overlooking your high performers

    ByMike McBride Reading Time: 2 minutes

    The most engaged and productive people in your workplace also need room to grow and develop. Not offering that to them is inviting them to go elsewhere. Not offering career development to your high performers because you are wasting all of those resources to fix your lowest performers will not cut it. They deserve more than that, and someone will give it to them.