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You can’t throw a stone on LinkedIn without hitting at least one post about return-to-office policies. From CEOs to employees, from thought leaders to maybe even your mayor, everyone is taking a side, doubling down, and yelling into the void as loud as they can. Where people work is being treated as the most important issue—the existential sea change that will either make or break a company. In reality, the RTO debate is the superficial fight we have instead of addressing the deeper, tougher, and way more complex issues that really matter (think questions around purpose, trust, "productivity", and communication). And here’s a fun fact: You can’t work well anywhere (in person or remotely) if confusion and misalignment is swirling around your company. In this week’s episode of At Work With The Ready, Rodney Evans and Sam Spurlin unpack why we’re still debating where people work, what that obsession costs our organizations, and how to start breaking free of the cycle. Mentioned references: BNW’s first RTO/hybrid work episode: Ep. 79 Erin Grau’s Fortune article “Flexible work is feminist” "Theory Y" Brian Elliott's previous appearances on our show: BNW Ep. 129, BNW Ep. 162, and FoHR Miniseries Ep. 9 "Return-to-Office Mandates" from Mark Ma and Yuye Ding of the University of Pittsburgh's Katz Graduate School of Business "Lessons Learned: 1,000 Days of Distributed at Atlassian" "Basecamp": BNW Ep. 4 with Dan Kim Mural Miro Children of Time Previous episodes about retreats and in-person gatherings: BNW Ep. 64, BNW Ep. 82 with Lindsay Caplan, and BNW Ep. 94 We’re on LinkedIn! Follow Rodney, Sam and The Ready for more org design nerdery and join the conversation around episodes after they air. Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com Want future of work insights and experiments you can try delivered to your inbox twice a month? Sign up for our newsletter. We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com.

1:1s (or one-on-ones) are a ubiquitous part of our daily working lives. These two-person meetings (a manager + a direct report = a classic 1:1) are meant to be a space for diving into individual challenges, fostering trust, building stronger relationships, and providing a forum for feedback and recognition. When designed with intention, they can be great. But at some point, 1:1s jumped the shark. Today, we see more and more companies with an overwhelming “1:1 culture,” where calendars are packed with a million two-person meetings (on top of lots of other meetings), leaving precious little time to get work done. Worse still, most 1:1s include our worst meeting habits: over-indexing on status updates, information hoarding, and bureaucratic theater. What gives? In this episode of At Work with The Ready, Rodney Evans and Sam Spurlin meet one-on-one (see what we did there?) to explore why 1:1 cultures take hold in organizations, the cost that comes with doing them poorly, how to rely on them less, and how to start making the ones you do keep count. Mentioned references: “Tear and share roll” “op rhythm”: BNW Ep. 118 A Beautiful Mind, movie from 2001 “default stack of pancakes” : At Work With The Ready Ep. 2 “Action Meeting”: BNW Ep. 80 with Sam Spurlin “retrospectives”: BNW Ep. 10 with Jordan Husney “Donut meetings” “Ali’s 1:1 article” “Lean coffee/OS Coffee”: BNW Ep. 144 We’re on LinkedIn! Follow Rodney, Sam and The Ready for more org design nerdery and join the conversation around episodes after they air. Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com Want future of work insights and experiments you can try delivered to your inbox twice a month? Sign up for our newsletter. We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com. Read the book that started it all at bravenewwork.com.

It's January! New beginnings? Ambitious plans? Giant commitments to change? They’re on everyone’s mind. Companies included—since now’s the time when glossy PowerPoint decks are so eagerly rolled out. And those PowerPoints? They’re always brimming with promise for the year ahead. But there's a glaring disconnect between those slides (all 73 of them) and eventual success we often don’t address. Because how frequently do those meticulously crafted plans pan out? Does the new agenda account for the day-to-day running of the company? Is the plan flexible enough to handle economic curveballs? (We remember 2020, right?) The reality is that “traditional strategy” often resembles New Year's resolutions; they’re imbued with good intentions but ultimately destined for disappointment. In this episode of "At Work with The Ready," (new year, new podcast name!) co-hosts Rodney Evans and Sam Spurlin explore our deep-rooted conditioning toward conventional planning methods (despite their shortcomings), share what a more complexity conscious approach to strategy looks like, and give you moves to start busting up the annual cycles of frustration, stagnancy, and finger-pointing. Mentioned references: "Getting Things Done and David Allen": Brave New Work Ep. 39 with David Allen "90% of leaders admit strategies fail based on implementation": Closing The Gap: Designing and Delivering a Strategy That Works - The Economist's Intelligence Unit Essential Intent Japanese pancakes, straight from Sam's Instagram algorithm Even/overs: Brave New Work Ep. 44 Weighted Shortest Job First (WSJF) Looping Red Teaming "Scenario planning": Brave New Work Ep. 34 with Kevin Kelly Adjacent possible Op rhythm "mango sorbet": Brave New Work Ep. 163 Check-In Round Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com Want future of work insights and experiments you can try delivered to your inbox twice a month? Sign up for our newsletter. We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com Read the book that started it all at bravenewwork.com.

Whether it’s in front of clients or in front of a mic, we talk about change all day long. Having fewer, better meetings; learning to productively disagree; overhauling and evolving the HR function; exploring four-day work weeks—the podcast has covered miles and miles of transformational ground in 4 years. However we don’t often talk about how we’ve changed. And after six seasons and 162 episodes, how could we not be different? We used the show’s hiatus to reflect on where we’ve been and where we want to go—and we reached some bittersweet conclusions. But if we resisted change and all the learning and joy that can come with it, we wouldn’t be The Ready. In this very special episode, Aaron Dignan, Rodney Evans and Sam Spurlin talk about Brave New Work’s origin story, what they’ve learned making all these episodes (it was 162, right?), and what the show’s future may hold. Trust us, you won’t want to miss it. This episode was recorded with video, so you can see our smiling faces on The Ready’s Youtube channel. Mentioned references: Imoyoshi, home of the purple sweet potato soft serve Ira Glass The Ready's Spotify Wrapped LinkedIn post "Pop up and do less" scene from Forgetting Sarah Marshall Supermanage, from Murmur Labs The File Drawer Fields of Work The Future of HR miniseries "the Panera days": The Ready's first "office" was in a Panera near Bryant Park in NYC! Hear more about The Ready's early days in BNW Ep. 158. ------------------ Looking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com We want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.com Our book is available now at bravenewwork.com

In July, we began exploring what HR’s current reality looked like and how People teams could evolve into a better, brighter, more adaptive future. Thirteen episodes, three guest interviews, a record breaking AUA, and lots of unexpected hot dog talk later, we’ve reached the end. And while endings can be bittersweet, this miniseries, proudly co-hosted by two org design nerds, is transforming that feeling into a sweet retrospective. In today’s final Future of HR episode, Rodney Evans and Sam Spurlin look back on the three months they spent in the deep end of the HR pool and talk about they’ve learned, what’s surprised them, and where their opinions have shifted. Plus, we pull out all the stops with one of the funniest check-in rounds of the series and a little something extra at the end as a thank you for tuning in. Buckle up, brave listeners. Because this isn't really an ending; it's a launchpad for all the exciting adventures HR is truly ready for. Mentioned references: Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971 film version) Kids Incorporated Kids Incorporated theme song (we listened to it, even though Sam wouldn't) The Boxcar Children School of Rock -------------- Learn more about The Future of HR at our website. Curious where your company sits on our 5-stage maturity model? Take our assessment and find out! Have a burning HR question for Rodney and Sam to answer? Email us at fohr@theready.com. Ready to get started moving your HR department into the future? Email us at fohr@theready.com or hello@theready.com. --------------- 00:00 Intro + Check-In: When you were a child, what TV show or movie do you wish you could have been a part of in real life? 05:04 Goals of the FoHR miniseries 12:44 Reception of the miniseries from HR folks 16:51 How Rodney and Sam’s views have changed (or not) since episode 1 25:48 Convictions that are stronger now than when we started 29:52 Final takeaways: If you remember nothing else, remember this one thing 32:38 What’s next on your FoHR journey 34:42 Thank-you 35:31 Blooper + humor reel

HR departments struggle to be all things to all stakeholders while delivering on the most strategic priorities of the business. But when we dig into the OS of HR, we find a resource-constrained function that contains multitudes. Long range people priorities are deemed negotiable, HR’s domain expertise isn’t respected, and the function acts as a service-provider when it should be guiding the organization's evolution. This week, Rodney Evans sits down with HR industry giant Josh Bersin to discuss his book Irresistible: The Seven Secrets of the World’s Most Enduring, Employee-Focused Organizations and dig into how HR must transform itself to enable a shift to more profitable, resilient, human organizations. They explore what makes a company “irresistible,” the tidal wave that is AI, and the critical role HR plays in shifting a workplace’s culture. (Editor’s note: This episode was recorded in July, so many things Josh talks about as “upcoming” are already out in the world! Look below for a full list of current references.) Learn more about Josh Bersin on his website, LinkedIn, and Twitter (X). Learn more about Josh’s book here. Learn more about the Josh Bersin Company at their website and explore the courses offered in Josh Bersin Academy. Mentioned references: Josh Bersin’s Systemic HR model Microsoft research about employees thinking they are productive vs what their leaders think Study about managers feeling more stress than employees W. Edwards Deming The AI episode of Josh’s podcast Rodney refers to: AI Deep Dive: Three Generations of HR Tech AI Solutions in the Market (May 15 2023) -------------- Learn more about The Future of HR at our website. Curious where your company sits on our 5-stage maturity model? Take our assessment and find out! Have a burning HR question for Rodney and Sam to answer? Email us at fohr@theready.com. Ready to get started moving your HR department into the future? Email us at fohr@theready.com or hello@theready.com. --------------- 00:00 Intro + Check-In: What’s something that you’re trying to learn right now? 03:33 Story behind the origins of Josh’s book 09:58 The shift behind “Coach, Not Boss” 16:17 Concept of “success” in Irresistible companies vs traditional companies 21:20 How irresistible companies are transforming their HR departments 30:11 HR leader Interview tips to identify an irresistible company 33:49 HR and AI and how to think about it 40:23 Where HR should start engaging with AI 43:04 Wrap up: Share this episode with your HR friends!

“Ask Us Anything” episodes are some of the most fun to make, so we knew we had to include one in our Future of HR miniseries. In the spirit of a well-meaning (but often toothless) HR feedback box, all the questions are anonymous. On today’s episode, Rodney and Sam look at what arrived in our mailbag and try to solve listener questions. But did they beat the Brave New Work record of answering more than four questions in a single episode? You’ll have to tune in to find out. Some of today’s questions include: Will Mission-Based Teams make Platform Teams feel “less than”? How do I make HR my career without any formal training? How can we change our HR department’s perception within our own company? How do I identify a toxic boss or workplace during interviews? Will Agile HR ever be a thing?!? Mentioned references: Liberty Belle, from Glow Tobias Fünke, from Arrested Development Ron Swanson, from Parks and Rec "Jets and the Sharks": Westside Story "Contracting episode" : FoHR Miniseries, Episode 3 Jason Beck, PhD, Partner at The Ready -------------- Learn more about The Future of HR at our website. Curious where your company sits on our 5-stage maturity model? Take our assessment and find out! Have a burning HR question for Rodney and Sam to answer? Email us at fohr@theready.com. Ready to get started moving your HR department into the future? Email us at fohr@theready.com or hello@theready.com. --------------- 00:00 Intro + Check-In: What is a favorite Halloween costume of yours from the past? 03:21 Question 1 - How do you get Finance and Strategy teams to collaborate in Level 4? 07:17 Question 2 - How does HR engage with higher FoHR levels without making Platform Teams feel “less than”? How do you plan budgets for this? 13:53 Question 3 - How can we change the current perception of HR within an organization? 16:22 Question 4 - How can I sell the value of creating more transparency and inviting more non-management team members to participate in this? 21:45 Question 5 - How do you get a leadership team to truly work together if their remits are very different? 26:43 Question 6 - We’re having trouble identifying our shared work, often popping in and out of silos. Can you help us get unstuck? 30:53 Question 7 - How do you enable collaboration and drive accountability in a fast-paced matrix company? 33:47 Question 8 - We have a traditional HR team with defensive processes. How can we start to shift that into a service mindset? Will Agile HR ever be a thing? 37:55 Question 9 - I have lots of experience in operational leadership and company culture roles, but no formal training. What should I do if I want to make this my career? 41:39 Question 10 - I’m working in a toxic work environment with a bad manager and I didn’t see this during my interview. What questions should I ask in future interviews to uncover this? 46:27 Wrap Up: Share this episode with your HR friends!

Spooky season is here, so it seems fitting to share a horror story. Because there’s a monster draining time and energy from most of our organizations. This sneaky shapeshifter can take any form, show up at any time, and is one of the more destructive, chaotic forces we’re forced to deal with at work. We’re talking about the monster that is org debt—and HR has been trapped in a maze with it for decades. Worse still, the maze’s towering walls and serpentine corridors come from outdated policies and processes HR largely built themselves. And it’s historically been impossible for many leaders to find the time to clean up org debt—or even know where to look for it. In this miniseries, Brave New Work’s Rodney Evans is joined by friend-of-the-pod and Ready OG Sam Spurlin to dive into how HR can become more resilient, efficient, and equitable. Today on episode 10, they help you learn how to identify org debt, shine a light on its hiding places, measure what it’s really costing us, and start eliminating it from your organization for good. Mentioned references: The Ready's video about Org Debt Marie Kondo Murmur Meg's episode about centralization/decentralization: FoHR Miniseries Ep. 3 Zapier "MBT" (Mission-based Team) "MVP" (Minimum Viable Product) Ali Randel, partner at The Ready Gary Hamel and Michele Zanini, authors of Humanocracy, where the org debt annual cost is attributed -------------- Learn more about The Future of HR at our website. Curious where your company sits on our 5-stage maturity model? Take our assessment and find out! Have a burning HR question for Rodney and Sam to answer? Email us at fohr@theready.com. Ready to get started moving your HR department into the future? Email us at fohr@theready.com or hello@theready.com. --------------- 00:00 Intro + Check-In: Do you remember the first CD you ever bought, and if so, what was it? 03:20 Intro to org debt 06:41 Why companies struggle getting rid of it 13:36 Clear examples of org debt in HR 20:10 Why org debt is such an issue now 25:51 Stopping the cycle of org debt and creating capacity 33:05 Nipping new org debt in the bud 35:14 Psychological behaviors behind types of org debt 41:43 Financial costs of org debt 42:45 Wrap up: Leave us a review and share this episode with your HR friends!

We’re living in a data-rich time. Searching for a study or report on, say, the benefits of a three-day return-to-office policy? You’re mere clicks away from convincing arguments with shiny graphics and spicy pull-quotes to post on LinkedIn. But there’s also never been a worse time for data, with a glut of conflicting information being confidently shared from unreliable sources. Most frustrating, even if you find all the trustworthy data needed to craft a watertight argument for burning your performance management program to the ground, all the numbers in the world don’t seem to be enough to change a single executive’s rigid opinion, let alone an entire C-suite. HR has never had more data at their fingertips—so why does that data often feel useless? To explore this data dilemma, we brought back friend-of-the-pod Brian Elliott to unpack what’s stopping HR departments (and let’s be real, most organizations writ large) from turning this mountain of information into meaningful action. In this episode, Rodney and Brian talk about: The top headaches facing HR leaders around the globe Why change efforts for problems with clear supporting data often fail to get moving How to source and interpret external information, as well as gather it from within your company How to meaningfully engage with entrenched opinions and make change Learn more about Brian and what he’s up to on LinkedIn. Mentioned references: Future Forum Muriel Bowser, mayor of DC inaugural address (actually said in her third, not her second) Helena Gottschling, Former CHRO of Royal Bank Canada Tsedal Neely, Harvard Business School professor and author Future of HR AI episodes: Part 1 & Part 2 Brainwriting eNPS (Employee Net Promoter Score) Erin Figueroa, former VP, Operations at Slack Dawn Sharifan, former SVP, People at Slack Nadia Rawlinson, former CPO at Slack Boston Consulting Group Future of HR Hebba Youssef episode: Episode 6 -------------- Learn more about The Future of HR at our website. Curious where your company sits on our 5-stage maturity model? Take our assessment and find out! Have a burning HR question for Rodney and Sam to answer? Email us at fohr@theready.com. Ready to get started moving your HR department into the future? Email us at fohr@theready.com or hello@theready.com. --------------- 00:00 Intro + Check-In: Who is your more interesting relative? 03:35 What Brian’s been up to since SXSW 04:58 Top of mind concerns Brian hears from CPOs/CHROs: #1 - Burnout, #2 - Return to Office 11:09 #3 - Generative AI 16:09 HR leaders feeling “not ready” and “too busy” to change 18:52 You can’t be a strategic partner if you don’t want to/can’t change 20:31 What keeps people from acting on data and research that contradicts the status quo 28:16 Timeline and subtlety of change and the temptation to snap back 31:06 Organizational metrics Brian keeps an eye on 33:35 Cross-functional solutions to data driven problems 39:08 C-suite not supporting HR when they do bring a data backed case for change 41:59 Sourcing and interpreting external and internal data 45:13 How HR can combat entrenched opinions with data 48:17 Wrap up: Leave us a review!

Was it ever possible for our first AI episode to not be a two-parter? Probably not. So we’re back today with more thoughts on AI and the Future of HR. In this miniseries, Brave New Work’s Rodney Evans is joined by friend-of-the-pod and Ready OG Sam Spurlin to dive into how HR can become more resilient, efficient, and equitable. Last week, they dove into the AI pool to begin filtering out the noise about how this coming wave will impact all of us. Today on episode 9, Rodney and Sam keep swimming around the deep end. Which reminds us: If you haven’t yet listened to last week’s episode, do that first for some important context (and jokes)! On Part 2, they discuss: How AI tools could help HR finally make progress on historically un-winnable battles What automation really means for most jobs and how we perceive our value and identity in the workplace Experiments you can run on your own if your company isn’t already playing around with AI Mentioned references: "Meg's episode" (discussion actually takes place in Hebba's episode, starting at around 44:27) HR's new future of work skill episodes: Part 1, and Part 2 ChatGPT Midjourney -------------- Learn more about The Future of HR at our website. Curious where your company sits on our 5-stage maturity model? Take our assessment and find out! Have a burning HR question for Rodney and Sam to answer? Email us at fohr@theready.com. Ready to get started moving your HR department into the future? Email us at fohr@theready.com or hello@theready.com. --------------- 00:00 Intro + Check-In: You’re going for a walk through the forest and see a big rock and flip it over. What are you hoping to find? 02:37 HR’s historically unwinnable battles AI will help with 08:53 Facing fears over your job being automated 14:14 Being “busy” and “productive” as avoidance to doing real work 17:40 Experiments to run on your own, independent of your company 21:15 Wrap Up: Share this episode with your HR friends!

One midnight scroll through LinkedIn is all it takes to be overwhelmed with AI stories and hot takes. There’s a massive amount of confusion, apprehension, excitement, and just general noisiness to make sense of, some which is created by AI tools themselves. But as more and more AI-powered solutions promising to revolutionize HR flood the market—and as more and more employees spiral with worry that the’ll be automated out of their jobs—how are we supposed to get caught up on some AI basics? Let alone actually use these tools at work? In this miniseries, Brave New Work’s Rodney Evans is joined by friend-of-the-pod and Ready OG Sam Spurlin to dive into how HR can become more resilient, efficient, and equitable. Today on episode 8, they explore how AI will help the most advanced HR teams move from Level 4 to Level 5 of our maturity model—and how it can be a positive force for change if we’re asking the right questions and trying to solve the right problems. In fact, Rodney and Sam had so much to digest, this episode became a two-parter. Today on Part 1, they dig into: How cultural takes on AI are already falling into old patterns Rodney and Sam’s own personal AI journeys How to start small and begin your AI exploration in a Mission-Based Team The AI-powered upgrades that take HR from Level 4 to Level 5 of our maturity model Mentioned references: Oops! All Berries (the Cap'n Crunch cereal variant) "Betamax vs VHS" ChatGPT MidJourney Law of requisite variety ("Ashby's Law") MBTs (Mission-Based Teams) Early AI research into Go and Starcraft The DAO arc: BNW Eps. 105-107, 109-111, 113-115, and 124-125 -------------- Learn more about The Future of HR at our website. Curious where your company sits on our 5-stage maturity model? Take our assessment and find out! Have a burning HR question for Rodney and Sam to answer? Email us at fohr@theready.com. Ready to get started moving your HR department into the future? Email us at fohr@theready.com or hello@theready.com. --------------- 00:00 Introduction & Check-In: What is your favorite evidence that you have had a successful time off? 04:05 Level setting for the AI conversation 08:57 Rodney and Sam’s personal AI adventures 14:16 Exploring AI in Mission-Based Teams 20:01 Knowledge barrier to begin experimenting is low 22:12 AI and counterintuitive moves 25:41 AI’s role in the move from Level 4 to Level 5 30:59: Impact on human beings from atomized marketplace roles 32:40 AI in industrial-era org vs AI in evolutionary org 35:59 Wrap up: leave us a review and share with your HR friends

Stop us if you’ve heard this one before: A company hires a change agent (think anyone with “org effectiveness,” “change management,” or “strategy and efficiency” in their title) with promises of how they’ll be the one to revolutionize the company’s future. Several months later, the change agent realizes the company is fighting them at every turn. Despite all the talk, these roles often have minimal authority and autonomy, so those lofty dreams of change? They end up unfulfilled. But for HR departments heading toward Level 4, The Marketplace, of our maturity model, these roles need to step off the sidelines and into the game as Market Designers. In this reimagined role, they facilitate a dynamic network of talent and Mission-Based Teams that enables HR to get after its thorniest and most valuable business objectives. And this transformation isn’t one-and-done: Newly empowered Market Designers continually change and evolve the company to meet new moments and challenges 🚀 In this miniseries, Brave New Work’s Rodney Evans is joined by friend-of-the-pod and Ready OG Sam Spurlin to dive into how HR can become more resilient, efficient, and equitable. Today on episode 7, they explore why Market Designers are ready to make the change their predecessors couldn’t realize, what their relationship with HR Business Coaches looks like, and how they’re instrumental for building the HR marketplace of the future. Mentioned references: Valve, the video game developer Haier, the appliance manufacturer “Chapter of market designers” “Volun-told” DAOs Brave New Work’s episodes on Talent Marketplaces: BNW Ep. 160 & Ep. 161 -------------- Learn more about The Future of HR at our website. Curious where your company sits on our 5-stage maturity model? Take our assessment and find out! Have a burning HR question for Rodney and Sam to answer? Email us at fohr@theready.com. Ready to get started moving your HR department into the future? Email us at fohr@theready.com or hello@theready.com. --------------- 00:00 Intro + Check-In: What’s an award you received as a child you were prouder of than you probably should have been? 04:26 Why change agents have trouble changing the organization 07:43 Changing the org chart first usually isn’t the right move 12:25 Day-to-day of a Market Designer 15:11 Transferring skills from consultants to Market Designers 18:15 Difference between HR Business Coach and Market Designer 20:29 How many Market Designers does a company have? 24:17 Future of CPO/CHRO in Level 4 and beyond 27:56 What a healthy HR talent marketplace looks like 33:26 Sam’s adventures into DAOs and unregulated marketplaces 38:32 Why HR is ideal for a talent marketplace 40:54 Wrap Up: Send us your burning HR questions!