I’m in Ohio this week. This is my first trip back to the office since starting my new job in September. It was timed this week on purpose so I would be here for the Columbus office holiday party. Let’s be honest; the holiday party is where you reconnect with old coworkers and build relationships with new ones.
Welcome to this week’s collection of thought-provoking things. Each week, I’ll share information about careers and workplace culture, mental health in the workplace, talent development, and important information about privacy, security, and legal tech.
You can find out all about me here - Mike McBride Online.
Coincidentally, I also saw an old blog post where I linked to an article about how the holidays are the perfect time to build relationships and network. Think about it: if you’re struggling to find a reason to reach out and say hello to the folks in your network, here’s a season when sending cards and sharing “Season’s greetings” is expected.
We don’t often think about that in networking, but we should.
I’ll be doing plenty of “peopling” today inside of the workplace. I expect I’ll be doing more planning to connect and reach out to folks over the next few weeks. I hope you’ll likewise take advantage of the opportunity the holidays provide for us to connect.
Careers and the Workplace
Managers fail at communication in hybrid and remote work - Unclear communication and managers who aren't available to respond to remote employees will kill team engagement.
Also, start and end your meetings on time - Want to Instantly Become a Better Leader? Science Says Meetings That Don't Start on Time Are a Third Less Effective
Also, about meetings and how we got to this point:
Perhaps an untapped labor market for you? - Building the Neurodiversity Talent Pipeline for the Future of Work
Training and Development
Sometimes you need to do it yourself - What Is Lifelong Learning? (And How to Do it Yourself)
Good storytelling matters in training or sharing knowledge at work - Tell Me a Picture.
Mental Health in the Workplace
Stories Can Help Eliminate Mental Health Stigma, But Is The Workplace A Safe Place to Share Yours?
Bosses, ask yourself the question. Is this a safe place for people to talk about their mental health? If it's not, what can you do to change that? The article above has some advice for you. Maybe it all comes down to the kind of people who work for you and the behavior that you tolerate. If someone is honest about their mental health struggles and then you allow them to be stigmatized by others, it's not a safe place.
And if it's not a safe place, your wellbeing program doesn't matter.
A solid collection of links - Bookmark This! Wellbeing in the Workplace Edition
'Project UnLonely' offers a road map to create connections and combat loneliness.
Also, on loneliness - Why Are We Lonely, It’s Too Easy to Let Things Slide.
Privacy, Security, and Legal Tech
Imagine, if you will, your smart TV or home assistant listening in on conversations you've been having about layoffs in your industry, and that data is shared with a financial institution that then decides that you're not a good credit risk. The AI took that conversation and combined it with a ton of financial information from other people who work in your industry and made that call. Is it accurate? Probably not, but when you start grabbing data from all over the place and building these huge algorithmic models, things can get a little messy. You become less of an individual and more of a conglomeration of all the people who do things like you, and when you add in a little spying, that can lead to all sorts of disastrous consequences.
Do we want governments and corporations to have that much power? No, but as Bruce rightly points out, we haven't done much of anything to stop them from taking it so far.
On eDiscovery Day, thanks to LinkedIn deleting the profile due to a violation of the TOS, we know the truth - Gates Dogfish is Unmasked!
Always interesting - Five Great Reads on Cyber, Data, and Legal Discovery for November 2023
Add another new law to the books - Oregon Passes State Privacy Law.
That’s all, folks. If you found something interesting in this week’s newsletter, please share it with your friends. It’s the best way to help support the effort I put in each week to share this with you.