The hottest Workplace dynamics Substack posts right now

And their main takeaways
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Top Business Topics

Open Doors in Your Career by Unlocking the Dark Side of Your Superpower

The Skip • 1 HN point • 20 Aug 23
💼 Business Career development Leadership Professional Growth Workplace dynamics Skill development
  1. Every superpower has a weakness that needs to be overcome.
  2. Feedback on your strengths can be inconsistent and subtle, making it challenging to identify and address your weaknesses.
  3. To advance in your career, you need desire, self-awareness, and humility to tackle and eliminate your shadows.
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Relentless Rescoping & Saying "NO"

Thinking Through • 1 HN point • 20 Feb 23
💼 Business Productivity Management Leadership Career growth Workplace dynamics
  1. Relentless rescoping and saying "NO" can help in delivering what matters without burning out.
  2. When rescaping work, focus on impact sizing and say "NO" to items that do not provide significant impact.
  3. Teams often struggle to reduce scope due to company incentives, difficulty in distinguishing busy work from impactful work, and a fear of reallocating team members.

Lies We Tell in Leadership, Part 3: Polite Fictions

Adventures in Leadership Land • 0 implied HN points • 23 Jun 23
🎭️ Culture Leadership Workplace dynamics Social Interactions Human behavior Relationships
  1. Polite fictions are lies we tell each other to maintain gaps between ideals and behaviors.
  2. Organizations often create polite fictions to mask dysfunctional behaviors and maintain social cohesion.
  3. Maintaining polite fictions in leadership can involve pretending to follow all rules, treating everyone fairly, and suppressing personal influences in the workplace.

Season 03 - Newsletter 2 --> 5 Hacks to Create a Super Team via Collaboration and Shared Ownership

Product Hustle Stack Newsletter • 0 implied HN points • 30 Jul 23
💼 Business Team Collaboration Product Management Decision-making Workplace dynamics
  1. Encourage all team members to be designers and product owners for meaningful collaboration.
  2. Focus on understanding the problem space before jumping into solutions.
  3. Utilize techniques like 'How Might We' and 'Crazy Eight exercises' to foster creative collaboration.

Do you want to work in wartime or peacetime?

Kartick’s Blog • 0 implied HN points • 20 Apr 23
💼 Business Workplace dynamics Startups Job security Bureaucracy
  1. Working in wartime often involves working with lower quality but not zero quality, unlike in peacetime where quality can be excessively high and unnecessary.
  2. In wartime situations like startups, there's a sense of urgency and willingness to take risks for the sake of innovation, unlike in peacetime setups where conflict avoidance and complacency can prevail.
  3. Balancing safety and risk is crucial in work environments - too much safety can lead to complacency while too little safety can cause unnecessary stress and burnout.

Getting Promoted in Your Rookie Year as a PM (Without Becoming the Office Coffee Runner)

Pragmatism • 0 implied HN points • 04 Apr 23
💼 Business Career growth Management Professional development Workplace dynamics
  1. Execution and excellence are key to earning trust and credibility as a product manager.
  2. Deliver impactful results by setting clear goals and celebrating wins along the way.
  3. Demonstrate readiness for promotion by taking on more responsibilities and building influential relationships.

GRANTED: The creative power of misfits

Granted • 0 implied HN points • 05 Mar 19
🎙 Podcasts Creativity Teamwork Innovation Workplace dynamics
  1. Bringing in a team of misfits can lead to incredible creativity and success, as seen in Pixar's story with an outside director
  2. Innovation and shaking things up are most effective when things are going well, allowing for time, energy, and freedom to explore new ideas
  3. Encouraging dissent and allowing people to voice problems, even without solutions, can lead to valuable insights and improvements in the workplace

It could be his head wasn't screwed on just right

Links I Would Gchat You If We Were Friends • 0 implied HN points • 11 Mar 23
🎭️ Culture Twitter Cults AI Romance Workplace dynamics
  1. Twitter is going through a tough time with outages, controversial decisions, and Elon Musk considering the fate of the platform.
  2. There is a growing interest in AI relationships from different perspectives, such as to cope with personal issues or explore different experiences.
  3. Companies are using personality tests for remote work decisions, but the effectiveness and accuracy of these tests are uncertain.

Conflict Resolution For All

PeopleStorming • 0 implied HN points • 13 Feb 24
💼 Business Conflict resolution Training Management Workplace dynamics
  1. Conflict resolution is becoming a crucial skill in the workplace due to various crises and the impact of interpersonal conflicts on organizational performance.
  2. All professionals can benefit from conflict resolution training to effectively handle disagreements that often stem from mismatched expectations.
  3. Conflict can often be resolved by clarifying shared definitions and addressing the root cause of miscommunication.

No Time To Do My Job ⏰

PeopleStorming • 0 implied HN points • 25 Apr 22
💼 Business Productivity Management Workplace dynamics Collaboration
  1. Work coordination consumes a significant amount of time, with middle/senior managers spending 60% of their time on tasks related to synchronization and collaboration.
  2. Efficient collaboration is crucial for organizational success, with a focus on minimizing overhead and maximizing productivity.
  3. To optimize productivity in a team setting, individuals should focus on allocating time effectively, communicating boundaries clearly, and elevating the impact of their work.

A Tool For Getting Clearer Expectations 🏆

PeopleStorming • 0 implied HN points • 12 Apr 22
💼 Business Team Management Communication Conflict resolution Leadership Workplace dynamics
  1. Unhealthy workplace conflict often stems from mismatched expectations.
  2. Teams should be intentional about establishing shared expectations through activities like team chartering.
  3. Using an expectations scale of deficient work, adequate work, and great work can help clarify commitments and prevent misunderstandings.

Innovating Means Harnessing Predictability ⌚

PeopleStorming • 0 implied HN points • 15 Sep 21
💼 Business Innovation Product Management Workplace dynamics Value Creation
  1. Product-oriented work requires creating space and time for innovation by understanding and modeling work mix within a team.
  2. Investing time in the innovation quadrant is crucial as it focuses on creating new value for customers, ensuring relevance and competitiveness.
  3. To prioritize product-oriented work, teams can progress by retro-ing emergencies, automating ops tasks, and streamlining housekeeping activities.

The Truth Is Out There 👽

PeopleStorming • 0 implied HN points • 09 Aug 21
💼 Business Workplace dynamics Team Building Communication Feedback Coaching
  1. Organizations are defined by the conversations they can and can't have - communication is key.
  2. Constructive workplaces emphasize shared challenges, transparency, direct feedback, blameless retrospectives, and stating the obvious - these principles promote a culture of openness and growth.
  3. Avoiding conflict can lead to more conflict - addressing issues directly is crucial for progress and change.

When does Win-Win compromise the greater good? 🤔

PeopleStorming • 0 implied HN points • 09 Nov 20
💼 Business Workplace dynamics Team Collaboration Strategic Planning
  1. Win-win solutions may not always serve the greater good because they could lead to suboptimal results for all parties involved.
  2. Optimization comes from maximizing 'winning' for all parties over time, not just at a single point in time. Wise compromises consider consequences in the long run.
  3. Teams facing conflict in prioritization may benefit from zooming out and strategically considering trade-offs holistically to resolve conflicts.

Are your decisions above or below the water line? 🚢

PeopleStorming • 0 implied HN points • 08 Sep 20
💼 Business Decision-making Team Dynamics Conflict resolution Workplace dynamics
  1. Decisions can be categorized as above or below the waterline, where those below may have more damaging consequences that are harder to fix.
  2. Teams and individuals often exhibit biases towards either high-speed or high-quality decision-making, which can lead to conflicts that need to be addressed.
  3. It's important for teams to embrace diversity in decision-making styles and biases to ensure healthy debates and respect for each other's differences.

We Are Not Family

The Radar • 0 implied HN points • 13 Sep 23
💼 Business Leadership Organizational Behavior Workplace dynamics Employee Relations Ethics
  1. Organizations are not families - they don't operate in the same way. While workplace bonds may feel strong, the dynamics are different.
  2. Leaders should avoid likening professional settings to families to prevent manipulation. Loyalty in a work setting should be earned, not assumed like in a family.
  3. Work decisions can have lasting effects on trust within an organization. Actions that prioritize business interests over personal connections can lead to disillusionment.

"Here's a Different Idea"

The Radar • 0 implied HN points • 02 Sep 23
💼 Business Leadership Workplace dynamics Corporate culture Employee engagement Decision-making
  1. Agency is powerful - When people have ownership in decisions, they are more motivated to prove them right.
  2. Persuasion is effective - Giving individuals a choice empowers them, leading to better outcomes and increased effort.
  3. Data-driven decisions - Using data and evidence in leadership makes decisions more rational and invites respect, fostering loyalty and team camaraderie.

Alternate Titles

QUALITY BOSS • 0 implied HN points • 25 Oct 23
🎭️ Culture Gender Issues Workplace dynamics Identity Leadership Social Commentary
  1. Starting with a placeholder title can help you launch faster. It’s okay to choose something that captures your message, even if it feels temporary.
  2. The word 'boss' can have mixed feelings, especially for women. It's important to think about how a title reflects your values and the message you want to share.
  3. Trusting your instincts is key. Ultimately, you should choose a title that feels right for you and aligns with your identity and goals.

Deconstructing cultural divides

Logos • 0 implied HN points • 11 Sep 20
🎭️ Culture Cultural analysis Communication styles Workplace dynamics
  1. Cultures communicate in different ways. Some cultures are very direct, while others rely on subtle hints. It's important to understand these differences to avoid misunderstandings in conversations.
  2. Feedback styles vary by culture. Some people give direct criticism while others are more indirect and polite. Recognizing this can help you better understand the opinions and suggestions of your colleagues.
  3. Different cultures value relationship-building differently. Some prioritize personal connections before trust, while others focus on skills and achievements. It's beneficial to adapt your approach to build rapport with people from different backgrounds.

Weekly Notes

Rethinking Software • 0 implied HN points • 16 Sep 24
🕹 Technology Software Development Productivity Engineering Culture Project management Workplace dynamics
  1. Software engineering often feels like assembly-line work, where programmers are given tiny tasks with no time for deeper thinking or creativity. This can be frustrating for those who want to tackle bigger projects.
  2. There is a growing idea that people should focus on fewer tasks and prioritize quality over just being busy. This philosophy encourages a more balanced and thoughtful approach to work.
  3. Many people dislike strict management practices like Scrum, feeling they limit creativity and autonomy. They prefer a work environment where they can work freely on projects without constant oversight.