Thank you for listening to But I'm a Professional!
I'm pleased to have researched, written, recorded, edited, and produced each and every episode.
I'm currently working on two other projects:
1. A new podcast called The Problem With Work, due out later this month. I'll put a link here after the launch of episode one.
2. Professional Development Dialogues for Women. This is a learning series I've designed for small groups. The first set of input sessions is called "I've Got the Power!"
Read more about it here and enroll!
My other long term projects continue:
Writing on Substack
Career Coaching for Women - email butimaprofessional@gmail.com for more information
Good luck out there, Professionals!
In this episode, I attempt to cut through the AI hype and focus instead on practical workplace applications. I explore how professionals can actively incorporate AI into their workflow to reduce hindrance stressors rather than create new ones.
Neither 'doomerist' nor overly optimistic, this episode examines the concept of "Human-AI Task Fit" through an Organisational & Occupational Psychology lens. Learn a three-step approach for evaluating where AI can enhance your work:
Tools Assessment
Task Assessment
Collaborative Effort
I'll discuss the research behind successful AI implementation, common pitfalls including bias, errors, and allure - and how to ensure these technologies serve as resources rather than demands in your work.
Join me to discover how mindful AI integration can free you up for what makes work meaningful: autonomy, collaboration, and demonstrating your uniquely human competence.
Good luck, Professionals!
Buy Me a Coffee if you found this useful.
Works Cited:
Bondanini, G., Giorgi, G., Ariza-Montes, A., Vega-Muñoz, A., & Andreucci-Annunziata, P. (2020).
Mollick, E. (n.d.). 15 Times to Use AI - and 5 Not To. One Useful Thing.
Raisch, S., & Krakowski, S. (2021)
Scholze, L., & Hecker, S. (2024).
What EDI initiative will produce meaningful change in your organisation? Good question.
"Of the hundreds of studies we examine, a small fraction speak convincingly to the questions of whether, why, and under what conditions a given type of intervention works," (Paluck and Green, 2009, p.339).
That was a review published 15 years ago. Surely, things are different now!
"The past decade has seen rapid growth in research that evaluates methods for reducing prejudice," (Paluck et al., 2021, p. 533).
Yay!
"However, 76% of all studies evaluate light touch interventions, the long-term impact of which remains unclear," (ibid. p. 533).
Oh.
So, what does work? For practical (middle-manager layer) applications of a recent meta-analysis by Costa (2024), listen to this episode.
Read my Substack for more links to interventions!
References
Normally stress is something we try to avoid at work. In fairness, some days it feels everlasting. However, are all stressors made alike? Is there any use in some? Does it ever help in our work function?
In this episode, I highlight some of the research on something called 'hindrance stressors' and 'challenge stressors'. I give you examples of both, and discuss how challenge can be helpful in our professional development. As always, I highlight some practical actions that may put those challenge stressors to good use - for managers and for individuals.
References in this episode include:
Good luck, Professionals!
How can you, dear manager, notice performance gains, increase learning, engagement, information sharing, and improve commitment?
I'll give you a hint... the answer does not involve shouts, rants, rages, screams, humiliation, nor punishment.
It happens in spaces where a team feels safe enough to share problems, mistakes, and concerns - and rely on interpersonal exchanges to overcome them.
Tune in to define Psychological Safety beyond the buzzword (buzzphrase?) and back to the brainstorming session, where it belongs.
References in this episode include:
Contemporary careers come with a lot of change. Sometimes we seek out the change ourselves when, for example, we pursue promotion and are successful. Sometimes change happens to us - we're made redundant or the organisation shifts direction and is no longer a good fit.
Changes, shifts, and transitions in a career are challenging. So how do we cope? How do we remain that captain of our ship even in stormy weather?
In this episode I'll take you through three areas of focus:
Cited work in this episode include:
- Protean Careers at Work: Self-Direction and Values Orientation in Psychological Success (Hall, Yip & Doiron, 2018)
- Online identities in and around organizations: A critical exploration and way forward (Barros, Alcadipani, Coupland & Brown, 2022)
- Crafting networks: A self-training intervention (Wang, Demerouti, Rispens & van Gool, 2024)
- Enhancing job seeker self-efficacy, use, and benefits: Effects of an online training program (Wanberg, Van Hooft, Liu & Csillag, 2020)
- Cultivate Self-Efficacy for Personal and Organizational Effectiveness (Bandura, in "Principles of Organizational Behavior: The Handbook of Evidence‐Based Management 3rd Ed., 2023)
- Building Relationships and Improving Opportunities (BRIO) online course - Goal setting frameworks
- Developing Career Resilience Open Uni course
Good luck, Professionals!
According to a recently published report in McKinsey on Women in the Workplace (2024), men continue to significantly outnumber women at the manager level, making it difficult for companies to support sustained progress at more senior levels like the C-Suite.
In a bizarre twist, research tells us that Organisations with women in leadership positions are more likely to be innovative and to have improved firm performance (Joecks et al., 2023; Sieweke et al., 2023).
How do we make changes to shift away from this illogical incongruity in order to bask in fulfilling our potential?
What are some practices we can put into place to evolve our future and current space for Women in Leadership?
This episode features references to:
- "Which organisational context factors help women to obtain and retain leadership positions in the 21st century?" (Gierke, Schlamp & Gerpott, 2024) - "Validation and Measurement Invariance of the German and Spanish Gender Bias Scale for Women Leaders" (Algner, Fay & Lorenz, 2024)
- Gender Bias Scale for Women Leaders by Amy Diehl, PhD
- World Economic Forum - Global Gender Gap Report 2022 - "How Women Manage the Gendered Norms of Leadership" (Zheng, Kark & Meister, 2018) - Guardian article on Eindhoven University of Technology
- A meta-analysis on gender and leadership with findings on agentic traits (Bandura et al., 2018)
- The Authenticity Paradox (Ibarra, 2015)
Don't worry, there is no management guru snake oil here. This is a broad topic with many facets. It also turns out it's a topic rife with paradox. Not a great surprise, I will say. I imagine this is not the final episode I shall create on Women in Leadership.
Good luck out there, Professionals!
p.s. 1943 Guide to Hiring Women
Employees working later into life (and as a result, teams becoming more age-diverse) may be something you're seeing more of in your Organisation. If you haven't yet, you will before too long.
So, how do we create environments and improve teamwork to benefit the best from this diversity?
In this episode, I'll take you through some practical ways you can help an inter-generational team thrive. Some of the following are referenced:
- A Multimethod Examination of the Benefits and Detriments of Intragroup Conflict (Jehn, 1995)
- Fostering intergenerational harmony: Can good quality contact between older and younger employees reduce workplace conflict? (Drury & Fasbender, 2024)
- Knowledge Sharing in Times of a Pandemic: An intergenerational learning approach (Singh, Thomas & Numbudiri, 2021)
Good luck, Professionals!
How is it that so much resource is spent on training, and yet behaviour remains unchanged?
We can look to the extensive research done on the topic of training transfer and find several reasons why. And, even better, find recommendations for potential ways to make that transfer have more of an impact.
If you would like to read some of the academic articles referenced in this episode, here they are:
- 100 Years of Training and Development Research: What We Know and Where We Should Go
- Work factors influencing the transfer stages of soft skill training: A literature review
- The differences between hard and soft skills and their relative impact on training transfer
- Transfer of Training: A Review and Directions for Future Research
Also, here's a way to improve the interactive nature of your online check-ins with your team -> Mentimeter
Good luck, Professionals!
The relationship between attitudes and behaviours is complex. Perhaps you can immediately bring to mind some examples of how attempts to implement change at work were a major flop.
So.
How do we engage in the process so that change does in fact come?
How do we avoid putting good resources in bad places and then have a collective panic when the same old problems persist?
This episode features references to the following:
- The Role of Attitudes in Work Behavior
- Intervention Preparedness Tool - VIA Character Strengths Survey
- Reflected Best Self exercises
- Feedforward Interviews (follow Table 1 for instructions)
Getting people to change their behaviour(s) is difficult - but communicating well, creating a space for concerns, identifying shared goals, promoting autonomy, and having a Before, During, and After plan for the change will greatly improve its viability. Good luck, Professionals!
Hello Professionals!
How's it going at work these days?
What's that - not well? Not being well nor working well?!? Oh, dear.
Sounds like we could use another season of some evidence-based potential solutions to the challenges many of us face in our working lives.
Sounds like you need my dulcet tones to walk you through some new practices and reflect on their impact.
Sounds like it's time for Season Four!
Woo! Talk to you soon, Professionals!
It's time to circle back. We've put a pin in it and we're circling back!
Actually, to be completely honest, your organisation failed to put a pin in it to begin with and that's half the problem. You became a manager one day and everyone moved on with their lives. No training, no development, no new skill set. Eek!
We shall right that wrong on today's episode as we go back to The Basics and talk about four good working habits that will stand you (and your team) in good stead for future challenges.
What are The Basics, you ask? Being composed, kind, clear, and conscientious. Let's get those right, Professionals.
My dearest Managers, would you like to hear the good news or the bad news first?
The bad news is: you're missing a powerful component from your tool kit.
The good news: you've got a tool kit! And you've got me.
Yes, we've been doing Learning a real disservice, I'm afraid. We've limited it to inadequate spaces, left it for someone else to deal with, and not sharpened our skills to make better use of it on our teams. Dear, oh, dear. Let's fix that, shall we?
In this episode, I'll outline common pitfalls we encounter when engaging with the concept of Learning and set you on the path to righteousness. How am I going to do that? With our best friend, evidence-based practice from that light in the professional storm - Organisational Psychology.
Find me
How, exactly, does one make a team work?
It turns out - common assumptions that have been allowed to fester in the ol' organisational spaces aren't exactly super duper. You may be well aware of that if you look at your particular crack squad of slightly less than savvy, motivated personnel and think, "Oh, dear." Never fear, though - help is on the way!
In this episode, I'll outline some common errors we make as managers and why they are less helpful. After that, I'll share some evidence-based solutions to these problems in the shape of real, practical changes you can start making today.
Here are some promised links:
(Lacerenza et al., 2018) Teamwork Development Interventions: Evidence-based approaches for improving teamwork
(Woolley et al., 2010) Evidence for a Collective Intelligence Factor in the Performance of Human Groups
The Recruitment Show - Attract and Retain People with Psychology with Dr Susie Phillips-Baker
Flight of the Conchords - Business Time
I'm sometimes here:
This mini mini series is for the managers out there who are confounded, bemused, and perplexed at the state of affairs within their motley crew.
The basics of solid, non-trend-chasing manager skills is still something we get wrong - despite having a large amount of evidence to help us get it right.
So let's do that in this series - let's get some of the major wrongs right and let science lead the way.
This episode is about resilience and how our language, perceptions, and work design is standing in the way of making it happen. I'll offer you some ways to make small but effective changes to your team so that they can develop and deploy resilience, rather than succumbing to burnout and exhaustion.
Sorry for the background noises. Can someone send me a soundproof recording booth, please? Thanks.
The artist formerly know as Twitter: @butimaprofesh
Substack: nancyelizabeth
Either passively or intentionally, we mere overworked and underpaid mortals consume a fairly consistent feed of extraordinary claims from one day to the next.
"Social media is a great place to connect with others!" - Is it?
"We're reducing our carbon footprint and making real changes around here!" - Oh, are you?
"We need to raise your heating/electric/food bill!" - Do you now? Sorry, you'll have to speak up - I can't hear you over the CEO banking his bonus.
At the risk of upsetting the ghost of Carl Sagan, sometimes extraordinary claims are made without extraordinary evidence to back them up. Other times, extraordinary evidence inexplicably does not seem to beget extraordinary claims - even when well deserved. What are some claims you hear at work and see no evidence to support it?
In this episode, I'll give you some examples of claims that do not match their evidence with a desperate imbalance on one side or the other. I'll also give you some considerations for work that are bizarrely not extraordinary claims.
The citation for the article I quote is: Julian Decius, Michael Knappstein & Katharina Klug (2023): Which way of learning benefits your career? The role of different forms of work-related learning for different types of perceived employability, European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, DOI: 10.1080/1359432X.2023.2191846
Follow me:
https://twitter.com/butimaprofesh
https://nancyelizabeth.substack.com/
What would you say your character strengths are?
Do you have any idea or does that question lead to a lot of blinking, frowning, and random adjectives spewing forth from your unsure self?
Fear not, dear Professional. In today's episode, I'm going to talk you through the very useful work done by some psychologists who were interested in developing a list of good character traits (24 of them, in fact!) that we all possess to varying degrees. I'll tell you how you can learn about your traits, why it's useful to apply in the workspace, and some practical ways you may be able to do so.
We're talking self-reflection, introspection, goal setting, job crafting and much much more. Come along, Professionals - we've got some wellbeing to foster!
Twitter: @butimaprofesh
Substack: /nancyelizabeth
Email: butimaprofessional@gmail.com
Did you have to do a personality test on your last Team Building Exercise day? Ew.
Are you in the habit of saying the phrase, "I'm a ___(zodiac sign)___, I'm no good at ___(skill)___"? Sigh.
Does your Org hire, manage, and lead people by putting a lot of weight on their personalities being an issue rather than doing the much more useful work of building a learning culture? Boooooo!
Labels are usually unhelpful and limiting. They hold back growth and perpetuate phenomena that is often entirely constructed. We can do better as colleagues, managers, leaders, and humans by dropping the labels and applying an evidence-based understanding of ourselves and others.
Your 'personality' is a complex blend of environmental influence, learned behaviour, cultural norms, habits... and on and on. So, rather than adhere to the fixed mindset of a limiting label - let's learn how we can grow and evolve within the complex continuums we encompass.
Twitter: @butimaprofesh
Substack: nancyelizabeth
Are you a woman who has the audacity to exist in a professional space? Well. You'll be all too familiar with interruptions and being 'mansplained' to on a regular basis, no doubt.
Why does this happen?
How does it negatively impact your professional development?
What can you do about it?
In this episode I'll give you some potential reasons why we experience this type of behaviour at work. Research on this topic suggests that we perceive women in a way that doesn't always match the reality. While that is unfair and further complicates the issues, we mustn't despair. It is our collective responsibility to do better and to reshape how we communicate with each other in our professional spaces.
Please enjoy this episode featuring a lot of me sighing because women having to find ways of functioning in the face of micro-aggressions is some tedious bullshit. *sigh* Many thanks to a listener in Australia for requesting this topic!
Twitter: @butimaprofesh
Substack: /nancyelizabeth
Email: butimaprofessional@gmail.com
This episode I shall talk - at some length - about where I think the future of leadership is headed. Namely, into the welcoming bosom of positive psychology.
I know... you got a lot of questions. Questions like, what's positive psychology? What's it got to do with leadership? Why is this episode so long?
All will be revealed, dear Professional. I'll give you some background on the research surrounding positive leadership, how you can take those research outcomes and apply them to your work, and to formulate an action plan to set yourself up for improved leadership efficacy!
Please enjoy my guest speaker, the washing machine, as it vibrates through my home office floor and into your headphones.
Twitter: @butimaprofesh
Substack: nancyelizabeth.substack.com