Ways of Working

Ways of Working is a Substack focused on enhancing work environments and experiences through better operational strategies, company culture insights, and career advice. It explores the interplay between human behavior and organizational structures, advocating for efficiency, creativity, and satisfaction in professional settings.

Company Culture Career Development Operations Management Organizational Behavior Leadership and Management Productivity and Efficiency Goal Setting and Achievement Workplace Dynamics Decision Making Teamwork and Collaboration

The hottest Substack posts of Ways of Working

And their main takeaways

What is Operations?

196 implied HN points • 16 Mar 23
💼 Business Operations
  1. Operations is the internal operating system of a company, involving people, technology, and processes intersecting to get work done.
  2. Operations can involve customer impacting workflows delivered repeatedly at scale, impacting the customer experience.
  3. Operations can also refer to the physical component of product or service delivery in some tech companies.

How Process Impacts Your Culture

98 implied HN points • 19 Jul 23
💼 Business Organizational Culture Decision-making Workflow Employee engagement
  1. Our personal relationship with process can impact how we work and interact with others, showing our organizational culture.
  2. Processes are applied in organizations in areas like people processes, team-level processes, company-level processes, and customer processes.
  3. Processes in organizations aim to facilitate work, reduce risk, ensure consistency, but can also hinder creative thinking if taken too far.
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The Alchemy of an Unhappy Job

78 implied HN points • 06 Aug 23
🏥 Health & Wellness Work-life balance
  1. Our relationship with our jobs can change over time and can vary from person to person.
  2. Identify workplace poisons like toxic environments and misalignment with personal values that can lead to discontentment.
  3. Look for super-enhancers like alignment with purpose to combat workplace negatives and enhance satisfaction.

Why do companies over-hire?

137 implied HN points • 06 Dec 22
  1. Organizations can unintentionally over-hire without a deliberate strategy to stay lean.
  2. Over-hiring can happen due to factors like hiring for growth, operational challenges, and non-optimal organizational structures.
  3. Performance issues and an incremental flywheel effect can also lead to over-hiring in companies.

Unpicking Perspectives

39 implied HN points • 19 Sep 23
🚌 Education Values Motivation
  1. Perspective influences our actions and communication.
  2. Understanding different perspective influencers is key for empathy and influence.
  3. Unpicking your own perspective can help achieve goals more effectively.

On Career Decisions

39 implied HN points • 18 Jun 23
🏥 Health & Wellness
  1. Career decisions should align with long-term priorities and values.
  2. Seeking advice is useful but should be personalized to your needs.
  3. A career is something you have, not something you are; find work that fulfills your purpose.

The Talent Wasteland

39 implied HN points • 17 Apr 23
💼 Business Management Workplace culture Talent Management Employee Development
  1. Talent is often wasted within organizations due to internal dynamics like bureaucracy and bad incentives.
  2. Excessive work-around-work can hinder productivity due to low trust culture, friction, and rewarding optics over delivery.
  3. Lacking an appreciation for good management can lead to demoralized teams and talent being overlooked for opportunities within the organization.

Strategy for Startups

19 implied HN points • 08 May 23
💼 Business Entrepreneurship Strategy Startups Leadership Management
  1. Strategy is the plan for an organization to achieve its vision.
  2. Startups go wrong by mistaking mission, vision, and goals for strategy, not eliminating options, and inducing strategy whiplash.
  3. Creating a strategy requires identifying the starting point, assessing company stage & purpose, gathering inputs, soliciting feedback, going on a PR tour, and executing & iterating.

Want to change company culture? Start by changing communications.

58 implied HN points • 30 Sep 21
  1. How you communicate as an organization influences your culture.
  2. Consider the balance between synchronous and asynchronous communication for decision-making.
  3. Transparency in communication and documenting actions can improve accountability and trust within teams.

Career Satisfaction: Identifying the Components that Matter

39 implied HN points • 08 Dec 21
  1. Connection, contribution, and competence are key components for feeling happy at work.
  2. Feeling a connection to your team and the mission, having a sense of accomplishment, and growing in skills are crucial for career satisfaction.
  3. Assessing the value you feel, deliver, and care about in your work can help determine if you're on the right career path.

How your decision making approach is impacting your company's velocity

19 implied HN points • 31 Oct 21
  1. Velocity in business is not just about speed, but also about the direction you are moving in.
  2. Key factors you control for increasing velocity are the market you target and how quickly you bring products to market.
  3. Barriers to decision-making and a culture that values speed are critical factors in enhancing a company's velocity.

Hybrid vs Remote Working: Defining the Right Solution

0 implied HN points • 30 Aug 21
  1. Covid-19 has shattered the office illusion, showing that remote work is possible and accepted.
  2. Remote work is now the default choice for many, improving access to jobs and talent.
  3. There is no one-size-fits-all solution in the office vs hybrid vs remote debate; individual needs and circumstances vary.