#10: What have we learned? Reflecting on Questioning Work.

In this final episode of Season One of Questioning Work, Terri, Maxine, and Ciela reflect back on lessons learned in 2021. They discuss their major takeaways from the first season of the podcast, and how things have changed for them and the world since the project's first inception.

Topics Include:
- Connection, and the need for connectivity
- Polarities and paradoxes
- The changing role of leadership in organizations
- Agency in the workplace
- Responsibility
- What matters at work
- Balance diverse values
- And other topics...

Want to connect? Reach out to us online!
https://www.questioningwork.com

How are ideas of culture changing as we enter a new era of work? What does it mean to be part of a collective that does not share spaces?

Terri, Maxine, and Ciela explore these questions and more in this episode of Questioning Work. They ask what the relevance of company culture will be in a world of remote work, and how we might build a company culture in a remote environment.

Topics Include:
Definitions of culture. The juxtaposition between the individual and the collective. Reconciling individual agency and collective wellbeing. Differences between culture and purpose. Creating connection in a remote environment. How culture spreads through an organization. The role of managers in remote or hybrid environments. And other topics...

Want to connect? Reach out to us online!
https://www.questioningwork.com/

Ciela, Maxine, and Terri are joined today by Terrence Taylor to talk about inclusion and exclusion in organizations and in the workplace. They discuss the academic environment, how institutions can create a feeling of belonging, and how leaders can embrace the need for more equitable systems.

Topics include:

• What does it take to create an inclusive organization or workplace?
• Is inclusion always a good thing?
• What does exclusion look like in the organization?
• Inclusion and exclusion for large organizations
• Creating incentives
• The courage of inclusivity
• Speaking up and being vocal
• Cancel culture
• And other topics...

Want to connect? Reach out to us online!
https://www.questioningwork.com/

What is work? Is work a noun or a verb? What does it mean to question work? In this episode, Terri, Maxine, and Ciela explore these questions and the mental constructs we have around work as organizations and as individuals.

Topics Include:

• Individual conceptions of work
• Eastern and western visions of what work should feel like
• Work as a source of purpose and meaning
• Defining "essential work"
• Work as a contribution, not a burden
• Work and identity
• Visibility as a worker
• Changing the world of work
• And other topics...

Resources Mentioned:
Your Reflected Best Self – https://hbr.org/2005/01/how-to-play-to-your-strengths

Want to connect? Reach out to us online!
https://www.questioningwork.com/

What does it mean to wake up in the workplace and in our personal lives? What has COVID taught us about work and our relationship to work? What do we mean by "the new normal", and how might we shape these new norms consciously? In this episode, Terri, Maxine, and Ciela explore these questions and much more.

Topics Include:

• Bringing consciousness and self-reflection to the workplace
• What the "new normal" may be for various groups and organizations
• The possibility of maintaining a "work culture" when working from home
• What it means to have agency in the workplace and in your career
• The recent trend of "career portfolios"
• Courage and risk-taking at work
• And other topics...

Resources Mentioned:
Forbes Article – Why It’s Time To Consider A Portfolio Career

Want to connect? Reach out to us online!
https://www.questioningwork.com/

Ciela, Maxine, and Terri discuss why being a part of an organization often feels dangerous and the feelings of fear and anxiety that can result. They explore the changing expectations of leaders and organizations in a post-COVID world, why kindness is key at the individual and collective level, the problem with blurry lines between professional and personal relationships, and more.

Topics Include:

• Vulnerability in the workplace
• Changing expectations for leaders and organizations
• Objective truths vs subjective human experiences
• Diversity and inclusion
• Personal growth as an organizational goal
• Belonging–knowing that you are cared for and a part of
• Balancing safety and risk
• Appropriate levels of connection and intimacy with your team and advisors
• The problem with "family" as a core value in the workplace
• Kindness as a balm for fear and anxiety 
• Being nice vs being kind
• The need to ask better questions
• And other topics...

...

Resources Mentioned:
Immunity to Change by Robert Kegan
Better Listening by Jack Zenger and Joseph Folkman

Want to connect? Reach out to us online!
https://www.questioningwork.com/

Ciela, Maxine, and Terri discuss the role connection plays in an organization. Together, they explore why connection is important but can also feel dangerous, differences between connection, collaboration, and trust, intentionally connecting with those who hold differing opinions, and more.

Topics Include:

• Trust within an organization
• What it means to feel "connected" in the workplace
• The shadow side of connection or trust
• The theory of Dunbar's Number
• The relationship between connection and competition
• Connecting with yourself to connect with others
• Fostering connections with people who think differently than us
• An "I see you, and I am here" attitude
• Seeing the person, not the role
• And other topics...

...

Resources Mentioned:
How to Build Trust? Break it First. by Julia Diamond
Dunbar's Number - BBC

Want to connect? Reach out to us online!
https://www.questioningwork.c

Ciela, Maxine, and Terri meet to discuss identity in the workplace. In this conversation, they explore the difference between resilience and resourcefulness, 2020 as a mindset reset, investigating our scope of influence in the workplace, and more.

Topics Include:

• Adaptive resourcefulness
• Blurred lines between home and work during COVID
• Identity and work
• Resilience vs resourcefulness
• Adaptation–leaving behind that which no longer serves you
• Mindsets and how they can change
• Slowing down to co-create with others
• An individuals scope of influence in the workplace
• And other topics...

...

Resources Mentioned:
Ikigai by Chris Myers
Deliberate Practice by James Clear

Want to connect? Reach out to us online!
https://www.questioningwork.com/