At Work with The Ready

Rodney Evans and Sam Spurlin
  • 4.7 (22)
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  • UPDATED FORTNIGHTLY
At Work with The Ready

Rodney Evans and Sam Spurlin have helped teams around the world adopt more modern ways of working and on At Work with The Ready they’re sharing the inside scoop with you, too. Whether you’re struggling with a carousel of ineffective meetings, annual strategy sessions that go nowhere, or decision-making churn that never ceases, they’ve seen it all and are here to help. In each episode, they'll break down common workplace challenges and show you the moves—both big and small—to start making real, lasting change. (Formerly “Brave New Work” with Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans)

  1. 25. 1M Downloads and Counting: Looking Back on 2024

    4 DAYS AGO

    25. 1M Downloads and Counting: Looking Back on 2024

    2024 felt like a bit of a rollercoaster—and while we’re ready to close the book on this year, we wouldn’t be first-class org designers if we passed up the chance to hold a retrospective. Add in the fact that this is Rodney’s 200th episode and BNW + AWWTR have crossed the one million download milestone, and a little celebration feels like the right thing. In today’s episode, Rodney and Sam reflect on the show’s 2024 season—including the episodes they loved, the episodes they want a do-over on, and what they hope for the show in 2025. We want to know what you think! Take our 2024 Listener Survey. -------------------------------- Want future of work insights and experiments you can try delivered to your inbox? Sign up here. Follow us on your favorite platforms for more org design nerdery: LinkedIn Instagram -------------------------------- Mentioned references: The Future of HR Miniseries The Ready's OS Canvas RACI episode: AWWTR Ep. 10 Leaders as org designers episode: AWWTR Ep. 13 "McGillicuddy" All the small things episode: AWWTR Ep. 19 "video about the woman who doesn't use a calendar" Jason Fox episode: AWWTR Ep. 17 with Jason Fox Dual Transformation, book from 2017

    35 min
  2. The Future of HR: Giving HRBPs the Future-of-Work Makeover They Deserve [Rebroadcast]

    9 DEC

    The Future of HR: Giving HRBPs the Future-of-Work Makeover They Deserve [Rebroadcast]

    Rebroadcast note: We're hard at work recording a brand new miniseries for January, so this week we're resharing one this episode from our Future of HR miniseries. As we've worked with companies over the last year to reimagine their HR departments, we've seen this episode's ideas and lessons about evolving the HRBP even more important in practice. So take a listen with some fresh ears, and we'll see in two weeks with a brand new episode. The role of HR Business Partner is often a tale of two experiences. On the one hand, HRBPs are some of the most empathetic and passionate people you’ll ever meet. On the other hand, they’re stuck on the hamster wheel of busywork, bouncing from crisis to crisis without the authority to prioritize their energy—and without the respect from leadership to make a real difference. Look up “burnout” in the dictionary and odds are you’ll find a picture of an HRBP. 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 5, they explore how this critical role took a hard left turn from it’s intended purpose, what its future-of-work glow-up (hello, HR Business Coach) could look like, and how HR Business Coaches + Mission-Based Teaming = unlimited potential. References mentioned: Mister Rogers' Neighborhood Episode 1481 "Talks about Competition" (1981). "How People Make Crayons" begins at 05:20. American Gladiators Dave Ulrich, of the Ulrich HR model -------------- 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.

    39 min
  3. 24. Ask Us Anything No. 3

    25 NOV

    24. Ask Us Anything No. 3

    It’s mailbag time! And while we know we said this last time, we really mean it that this was probably the hardest group of questions we’ve dealt with on the show yet! Rodney and Sam get out their thinking caps and answer some questions from listeners like you about non-traditional organizational leadership, workplace dynamics around project capacity planning, and more. Questions tackled: Are great teams and strategies impossible without traditional leadership? Can project capacity planning be done in a people-positive, complexity conscious way? Why do traditional orgs bias towards convergent thinking, especially around annual planning? How do you prioritize cross-functional initiatives between leadership and teams that avoids zombie projects and mutual disappointment? -------------------------------- Want future of work insights and experiments you can try delivered to your inbox? Sign up here. Follow us on your favorite platforms for more org design nerdery: LinkedIn Instagram -------------------------------- Mentioned references: the LinkedIn post asked about Rube Goldberg machine "midnight zone" - Depthfinding "MBT" (mission-based team): FoHR Miniseries Ep. 1 "DAO": BNW Ep. 96 with Chase Chapman "product mindset episode": AWWTR Ep. 23

    48 min
  4. 23. Adopting a Product Mindset in Organizations

    11 NOV

    23. Adopting a Product Mindset in Organizations

    There are plenty of organizations that say they want to be “customer-focused”—but in practice? It’s easy to fall back on leader-driven opinions and assumptions about what customers really want. That’s especially true in big companies with entrenched processes and hierarchies that prioritize internal agendas. In those environments, staying aligned with customer needs can be an uphill battle—and organizations instead get stuck building solutions based on what leaders think customers should want, rather than what they need, leaving exciting opportunities on the cutting room floor. In this episode, Rodney and Sam dig into what it actually takes to adopt a product mindset. From navigating a “hammer looking for nails” ethos to designing flexible solutions that adapt to actual user behavior, they unpack how to bring customer-centricity into daily practice—and what to do when you start to veer off course. -------------------------------- Want future of work insights and experiments you can try delivered to your inbox? Sign up here. Follow us on your favorite platforms for more org design nerdery: LinkedIn Instagram -------------------------------- Mentioned references: Depthfinding psych safety ep: AWWTR Ep. 20 experimentation ep: BNW Ep. 62 founder mode ep: AWWTR Ep. 22 Josh Bersin ep: The Future of HR Ep. 12 with Josh Bersin revealed preference

    47 min
  5. 22. Founder Mode vs. Manager Mode is the Wrong Question

    28 OCT

    22. Founder Mode vs. Manager Mode is the Wrong Question

    If you’ve been on LinkedIn this past month, you’ve likely seen at least one post (or more than you’d care to) about “founder mode.” Presented as a counter to “manager mode” (meant to represent highly bureaucratic leadership rife with micromanaging and delegation), “founder mode” is all about championing the pioneering, hands-on behaviors of startup founders scaled to organizations of any size. And sure, when these are the only choices, anything that’s not “manager mode” sounds like a good option. But show us a binary, and we’ll respond by asking tough questions. This week Rodney and Sam dig into how “founder mode” actually shows up in practice, whether it causes more organizational harm than good, and what it means when real leadership seems to be left out of the discussion entirely. -------------------------------- Want future of work insights and experiments you can try delivered to your inbox? Sign up here. Follow us on your favorite platforms for more org design nerdery: LinkedIn Instagram -------------------------------- Mentioned references: Diane from Cheers Founder Mode, article by Paul Graham either/or thinking Kim Scott's op-ed about founder mode "people positivity episode": AWWTR Ep. 21 "strategy episode": AWWTR Ep. 2 "futures thinking" BNW Ep. 34 with Kevin Kelly Depthfinding John Cutler Ashby's Law of Requisite Variety Andon cord

    46 min
  6. 21. From Control to Trust: The People Positivity Journey

    14 OCT

    21. From Control to Trust: The People Positivity Journey

    Over the last nine years, The Ready has seen firsthand how organizations designed to be people positive (a.k.a. a foundational belief that people are eager to contribute and capable of change) outperform those that aren’t. Turns out when you treat people like adults, it boosts your team’s motivation, adaptability, and contribution. The only catch? Unlearning nearly everything traditional leadership and management science has taught us for decades. Once beliefs like “People are lazy,” “People can’t be trusted,” and “People will actively abuse any flexibility they get” get baked into an organization’s culture, it’s tremendously hard to change. But not impossible. In this episode, Rodney and Sam get candid about the fears that come with letting go of control, offer real-world examples to help skeptical leaders flip the script on trust, and explore how people positive principles can lead to long-term benefits. -------------------------------- Want future of work insights and experiments you can try delivered to your inbox? Sign up here. Follow us on your favorite platforms for more org design nerdery: LinkedIn Instagram -------------------------------- Mentioned references: "the tower" Theory Y vs Theory X "Dan Pink stuff" mastery: BNW Ep. 63 "psychological safety episode": AWWTR Ep. 20 "nature vs nurture" "complexity conscious" "discretionary spending discussion": AWWTR Ep. 16, question 3 negativity bias

    41 min
  7. 20. Psychological Safety Starts With Your Leadership Team

    30 SEPT

    20. Psychological Safety Starts With Your Leadership Team

    Psychological safety is a buzzy topic every company claims to want—but only a handful actually achieve. Sometimes, it’s misunderstood as being about “niceness” or “politeness”, but real psychological safety is deeper and more complex than that. It’s an ecosystem of behaviors that add up over time to impact how your team shows up day after day. Unfortunately, this misconception has a stranglehold on most leadership teams as well, who spend more time talking the talk than walking the walk. We’ve seen and worked with many executive teams over the years where people didn’t feel comfortable speaking up, challenging ideas, admitting mistakes, or sharing concerns without fearing retribution or embarrassment. When that’s happening inside the team responsible for some of a business’s biggest decisions, there are big consequences. In today’s episode, Rodney and Sam break down why leadership teams often feel the most psychologically unsafe, how to move the needle on developing trust, and why a ropes course can’t solve a team or organization’s culture problems. (Producer’s note: Ok, so we're zero for two this week with Sam's mic going rogue after Rodney's mishap last episode. Taylor's been working some major magic lately. Hopefully third time's the charm with episode 21 🤞) -------------------------------- Want future of work insights and experiments you can try delivered to your inbox? Sign up here. Follow us on your favorite platforms for more org design nerdery: LinkedIn Instagram -------------------------------- Mentioned references: What Google Learned From Its Quest to Build the Perfect Team (NYT, 2016) ”emperor has no clothes” ”leaders as org designers episode”: AWWTR Ep. 13 ”hard vs soft power” team charter working agreements ”mundane episode”: AWWTR Ep. 19

    44 min
  8. 19. All The Small Things: The Power of Good Habits

    16 SEPT

    19. All The Small Things: The Power of Good Habits

    While exploring bad meetings a few episodes ago, Rodney and Sam hit on something that doesn’t often get a lot of air time: the power of good habits and the discipline to care about the small things. Because when we’re trying to change companies on an atomic level, it can feel like small potatoes to focus on check-in rounds, or writing Slack messages, or how we compose to-do lists. But you can’t run toward the future of work at full speed when your shoes aren’t properly tied. Here’s what we know: High-performing teams—from ice hockey to symphony orchestras—all prioritize the fundamentals. So why don’t we do that in the workplace? In this episode of At Work With The Ready, Rodney Evans and Sam Spurlin dig into why building strong work habits are more important than you might think and the mundane but fundamental practices they start with. (Producer’s note: We had a tech mishap during recording, so this week’s episode might sound a little different. We blame Rodney’s lake house ghost (more on that in the SXSW episode). We’ll be back to our usual sound next episode.) -------------------------------- Interesting in hearing more about the zones of the ocean? We've got stuff coming soon! Sign up here for first access: https://theready.ck.page/newvision Want future of work insights and experiments you can try delivered to your inbox? Sign up here. Follow us on your favorite platforms for more org design nerdery: LinkedIn Instagram -------------------------------- Mentioned references: "op rhythm": BNW EP. 118 "all work is now meetings": White-Collar Work Is Just Meetings Now, from The Atlantic, 2024 John Madden (the hockey one) John Madden (the football one) John Wooden, UCLA basketball coach Atomic Habits, book by James Clear Sunsama 80/20 rule "5:1 praise to criticism": The Ideal Praise-to-Criticism Ratio, HBR, 2013 action meeting: BNW Ep. 80 with Sam Spurlin retrospective meeting: BNW Ep. 10 with Jordan Husney check-in rounds "don't say hey website": https://nohello.net/en/ inspired by https://www.nohello.com/ "Amazon memo meeting" "silent meeting"

    56 min
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Trailer

4.7
out of 5
22 Ratings

About

Rodney Evans and Sam Spurlin have helped teams around the world adopt more modern ways of working and on At Work with The Ready they’re sharing the inside scoop with you, too. Whether you’re struggling with a carousel of ineffective meetings, annual strategy sessions that go nowhere, or decision-making churn that never ceases, they’ve seen it all and are here to help. In each episode, they'll break down common workplace challenges and show you the moves—both big and small—to start making real, lasting change. (Formerly “Brave New Work” with Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans)

Information

  • Creator
    Rodney Evans and Sam Spurlin
  • Years Active
    2019 - 2024
  • Episodes
    219
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2024 The Ready Company, All Rights Reserved.
  • Show Website
    At Work with The Ready

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