Linked: What If We Just Stopped Being So Available?
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Linked: What If We Just Stopped Being So Available?

ByMike McBride Reading Time: 2 minutes

This is really the thing. We all know that our devices are with us all the time, and we all know that everyone else knows. So when the notification pops up, there’s an instantaneous thought process that we all go through.

And no, it’s not is this important or can it wait? The actual thought process is “they know I see this and are probably expecting a response”

However the article below also points out that much of the time, that’s isn’t true. Someone was just reaching out and there is no hurry or even an expectation of immediate response but we don’t know that. So, we either drop everything to reply or we apologize for any delay in replying.

Which makes no sense.

I’ve been involved in direct work with clients in half-day training, or multi-hours long workshops and replied to an email afterwards with an “I’m sorry, I was tied up” opening.

Yes, I’m apologizing for doing my job and paying attention to it.

How dumb is that?

Linked: One in two employees reluctant to disclose a mental health condition at work

Linked: One in two employees reluctant to disclose a mental health condition at work

ByMike McBride Reading Time: 2 minutes

Through all of this, we still haven’t addressed the tough parts.

Sure, we’ve offered time off. We’ve told people it’s OK to not be OK. We’ve offered mental health apps for free. Maybe we’ve even offered more significant mental health benefits, or done sessions during the workday on stress and burnout.

What we haven’t done in many cases are the harder things, like creating a culture that is not rewarding all of the things we encourage employees not to do.

Linked: Cybersecurity Trends | 25% of Law Firms Have Been Breached
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Linked: Cybersecurity Trends | 25% of Law Firms Have Been Breached

ByMike McBride Reading Time: 1 minute

Law firms are an attractive target because of the data, but also because it might be easier to breach a firm than it would be to hack the clients they represent. As the rest of the article goes on to describe, there are still too many firms without cybersecurity training, proper policies, or incident response plans. That is not going to keep things secure.

On top of that, as I’ve written before, the whole culture in firms is a problem. Anytime you have a large group of people in charge, (partners), who are often not to be questioned, social engineering gets a whole lot easier, and the likelihood that even some policy that exists might get ignored is pretty high.

What’s Your Definition of What a Job Should Be?

What’s Your Definition of What a Job Should Be?

ByMike McBride Reading Time: 3 minutes

That’s it. I know there are some who will tell you that they are passionate about their work, and they “never work a day in my life”. Good for them, but we have to start admitting that is a very small, select, group of people in a very small, select number of jobs. There are not billions of jobs out there like that for everyone to just go get. There are not even millions of them. Maybe I’m not going to change the world by doing just interesting work with people I don’t hate. That’s OK because I have the time to change the world in my own little way when I’m not working instead.

We Should Stop Equating Being Busy With Being Important

We Should Stop Equating Being Busy With Being Important

ByMike McBride Reading Time: 2 minutes

It grabbed my attention because it’s something I hear quite often, often in combination with the other, more obvious, “complaint” about working long hours.

And yes, the word complaint is in quotes because we all know that when we mention the hours or the back-to-back meetings, we complain about it, but we are really bragging about how busy we are for one simple reason. Busy people are in demand, they are important.

But, are they really?

Linked: Does your remote team really need an in-person offsite?
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Linked: Does your remote team really need an in-person offsite?

ByMike McBride Reading Time: 4 minutes

As the future of work settles in a bit, in the sense that we are now working remotely by choice more than by COVID requirement, we are seeing a large shift toward the desire to work remotely. I believe that shift is everyone listed above. For introverts, people with disabilities, people with adult or child care requirements, working remotely is bliss. (I did it even before COVID.) We can still do the other things that are important in our lives without being forced to a specific location, and we can do it without being forced to be in the same physical space as people we may or may not like.

The problem is, and we see this clearly in the discussion below, doing things in-person is how we’ve always done things. The custom of having a quarterly or annual offsite was designed in a workplace that has always catered to extroverts and people who were available to be at the office for longer and longer hours. That culture has always excluded people. Think about the after-work drinks custom. How many moms got to attend instead of hurrying home to their kids, and how many men got to attend simply because somewhere there was a mom hurrying home to take care of the kids instead of them? How many introverted employees never showed up, or showed up out of a sense of guilt, quietly sipped their drink, and left as soon as it seemed polite to do so? And don’t even get me started on the number of employees in recovery who cannot, and should not, go out drinking with the group. 

But, what did you hear about these events? They were great, we had a blast, we really got to bond with other folks from the team, etc. That feedback all comes from the minority that actually gets to go, and enjoys being in a group setting.