[00:00:00] **Andrew:** Hi, I am Andrew. Welcome to the Work Unravelled podcast. In each episode, we break down a piece of the workplace puzzle, providing practical insights, fresh perspectives, and actionable solutions to help you navigate the ever-changing world of work. 

[00:00:15] **Scott:** And I'm Scott, whether you are a leader, a professional, or simply curious about what makes organizations tick, this show offers strategies to think smarter, work better, and lead boldly join us as we turn workplace complexity into clarity.

One episode at a time.

[00:00:32] **Andrew:** Of all the episodes that we've covered and we've covered, and I'm sure somebody listening to this, if anybody is listening to this, won't remember everything we've covered.

Should we, should we work, should we just explain some of the things we've covered? We've talked about fixing workplace meetings was a very recent one. We talked about job insecurity. We've talked about boosting productivity, agility. Are there any other topics for you that have been. The most interesting or the most sort of thought provoking from, from your perspective that we've talked about, you've learned the most or changed your thoughts on or

[00:01:03] **Scott:** Yeah, I, I think there's, there's definitely been a theme that I've run through a

[00:01:07] **Andrew:** Hmm.

[00:01:08] **Scott:** which has been around like leadership style. We've also touched on AI a lot that's come through a

[00:01:13] **Andrew:** Yeah.

[00:01:14] **Scott:** Our most popular episode, just looking at the stats, has been the work-life balance

[00:01:18] **Andrew:** Yes.

[00:01:18] **Scott:** and that's probably no surprise in hindsight. That that is gonna have struck a chord of people

[00:01:23] **Andrew:** I think so,

[00:01:24] **Scott:** we know, many people are struggling. They don't feel they've got balance. And I think things have probably got worse in recent years. You

[00:01:31] **Andrew:** yes.

[00:01:32] **Scott:** mindset of more with less. And I think with the, the pressure of AI and the uncertainty around the future of work for many people, think it's, it's probably going to get worse. that's kind of my first reflection really, I think.

[00:01:47] **Andrew:** Yeah, I think you're right. I think work life balance has been a big topic for a long time. People feeling stressed. The levels of burnout in, in society, if you look at the statistics around burnout, they're just appalling. Um, and if anybody listening to this and, and we should suggest that they, you know, seek some help if they really need it.

But burnout is so common. People are exhausted by work, they're tired, they're fed up. They feel stressed, they feel as they can never get everything done that they need to. They're, they're really up against it. So you mentioned things like ai. Do you think there are any other reasons why work feels so crappy for people?

[00:02:27] **Scott:** Well, we know that in a lot of organizations are cutting spending,

[00:02:31] **Andrew:** Mm-hmm.

[00:02:32] **Scott:** uncertain uncertainty. In the uk there's uncertainty around, you know, there's, there's taxes, there's implications due to government change, there's, feels like uncertainty in the job market, from what I understand as well. There's. There's not a lot of hiring going on compared to where it used to be. I think as we touched on in the AI episode, I think a lot of companies are thinking, oh, I can just use AI to replace my employees so I can just throw money at that, and so I don't need to hire people. As we said in that episode, I think that's a dangerous approach.

[00:03:02] **Andrew:** Yes.

[00:03:03] **Scott:** because really what we need to be doing is thinking of AI as a companion and a partner rather than I can just get rid of my staff. It should be actually, how can it help support them? So I think, yeah. It feels like a lot of companies are kind of on pause in that regard. They're maybe dabbling with ai.

They're not hiring new staff. They're probably putting a, certainly I know that someone I know quite well, there's just been a freeze on any spend whatsoever. It's a public sector organization there's just been suddenly out the blue, right? We're freezing everything, any travel claims and everything you need to avoid traveling.

So kind of things going on is going to obviously. Make people worried it's gonna slow down in certain industries. I think it just feels like there's this kind of pause going on in some areas. I dunno if that's, it's just a feeling I have. I don't have a lot of data to back that up. It's more anecdotal

[00:03:56] **Andrew:** I think, I think you're right. Certainly in the UK there's a recruitment slowdown. Definitely the number of jobs being advertised has declined, and there's all sorts of reasons for that, which, you know, this podcast is not about, but we need to remember. Then things like the post COVID effect, there's the sort of, um, pressure on prices, inflation, oh gosh.

All these different, you know, geopolitical factors. The war in Ukraine, the tensions in. You know, between China and Taiwan, there's all sorts of things going on in the wider world. And then you mix in things like, I dunno, political changes across Europe and the United States. You've got tariffs, Trump and so on.

It's, it's a toxic mix actually. It's a really toxic mix, but I think for me, there is definitely, and maybe just a British thing, maybe it's just something in the UK work isn't fun. For a lot of people. I don't think there's a general sense, and I know that certain individuals would enjoy their jobs, but there's this general malaise, it seems.

This is why I'm picking up of work is hard. Work is a grind, work is challenging. I've got too much to do. Do you know there's that sense of work isn't something people look forward to now. Maybe they never did, but I think that's definitely got worse. Over the last maybe 20 odd years. Do you feel that, do you feel that sort of, is that what they call it, the vibe, don't they now, the general vibe?

Would you agree with that one? I'm being too pessimistic and too negative.

[00:05:22] **Scott:** Yeah, I think, you know, it's always been, it feels like it's always been like people weren't gonna come in. I love my job. I'm so happy I can't wait to go to work tomorrow. I dunno how some people are very lucky to have that, I'm sure.

[00:05:33] **Andrew:** Yes.

[00:05:33] **Scott:** yeah, I do agree though. I think that work has changed, you know, since COVID again, Switch to hybrid working and that's created a new dynamic in terms of pressure on people or maybe people self imposing pressure that they're expected to do more hours 'cause they're working from home. And we, we talked again about the psychological impact of losing the commute. There's benefits, but there's also negatives in terms of that cognitive switch off from away from your desk in your bedroom to the living room. Um. Bringing work home, it just feels like there's lots going on and it

[00:06:13] **Andrew:** I,

[00:06:14] **Scott:** has this impact on work. Doesn't feel as good as it used to do for a lot of people.

[00:06:18] **Andrew:** I think, I think that's probably the better way to describe it. It doesn't feel as good as it used to. Um. For so many reasons. And like we've talked about, like boosting productivity, we've talked about effective meetings. I feel, and, and the research does stack this up in the uk there's a, there's a lack of training and management education in the UK now, one of the things that you and I we're probably guilty of is always giving leaders and managers a hard time.

And we've both been leaders and managers, so we both know that it's not easy. Always to be a leader or a manager, although I think it's the best job. 'cause you can delegate everything. You can delegate to people, but there is definitely a lack of management and leadership training. I think I read somewhere, this is, this figure just blows my mind.

We may have covered this in a previous episode. I think some in the uk, 82% of leaders and managers have had no zero or little leadership and management training. 82% and you get this what we call the accidental manager phenomenon. Have you heard of this idea?

[00:07:22] **Scott:** Hmm.

[00:07:22] **Andrew:** You know, I think we talked about this, where you might have been quite an effective sales person.

You might have been quite an effective coder. You might have been quite an effective customer service person at the front desk or something. And then because of time served, there's a job opportunity comes up and you apply for it, and now suddenly you are. The manager, you're the leader of the team, fantastic.

And you may naturally know how to manage people. You may naturally know how to lead people, but often you don't. You know the technical aspects of the job. You know what it's like to do that job that you used to do at a lower level, but you've never been taught or shown how to motivate people or how to run an effective meeting, or how to communicate with people how to give feedback.

You just dropped into it.

[00:08:05] **Scott:** yeah. And then you've suddenly got five to eight very unhappy people at

[00:08:08] **Andrew:** Yeah,

[00:08:09] **Scott:** because the new boss hasn't got a clue how to be a leader.

[00:08:12] **Andrew:** they might. Yeah. They know the job. And this is where I think micromanage management can come in, is I think you've, you've talked about in a previous episode is that you've been that person in that role. So now you are the manager. This junior person comes to you and says, how do I do this? And you think I know how to do that.

I can do that in five minutes. Let me do it. You tell them rather than coach them what to do. So I think one of the many, many issues in the world of work is a lack of leadership and management education. And I suppose in a way, and this might be bigging us up, Scott, in a way, but I think that's what we're trying to do on this podcast is, is try and make short, highly practical, useful episodes that people might go.

I didn't know that. That's, that's my ambition for this podcast. Is that, is that yours? I think it probably is.

[00:08:58] **Scott:** Yeah. Yeah. And likewise, and think it's trying to cut through. I mean, we, we'd be remiss to not mention, part of the other problems that people are faced with is the busyness, is

[00:09:08] **Andrew:** Yes.

[00:09:10] **Scott:** The overload of inbox emails, the pointless meetings. That's why we've touched on these, which we, we call the, the show Work Unraveled

[00:09:18] **Andrew:** Mm-hmm.

[00:09:19] **Scott:** unraveling the complexity of work.

The, you could call it the chaos of work, the dysfunctions that are within organizations that are. Making work. That is what, making work much harder for people than it needs to be.

[00:09:34] **Andrew:** Yes.

[00:09:35] **Scott:** absolutely, as you said, our hope is that this show helps pick that apart for leaders listening, but also for, um, people who aren't leaders to hopefully realize that there are better alternatives

[00:09:51] **Andrew:** Yeah.

[00:09:51] **Scott:** know, we, people are, we need to say to people, you aren't stuck in your job just because. You're not happy,

[00:09:59] **Andrew:** Yeah.

[00:09:59] **Scott:** don't be afraid to look elsewhere. We've talked on other episodes about side hustles, those kind of things.

[00:10:05] **Andrew:** Mm-hmm.

[00:10:07] **Scott:** in summary, I think hopefully in our first season we've achieved that in terms of a wide range of topics that hopefully can give people hope, give people tools, practical techniques and steps make work better, but also know that they're not alone

[00:10:23] **Andrew:** Indeed. Yeah. I think you've, you've nailed that beautifully, Scott. I think my ambition as well for this podcast is if you've listened to some of these episodes, and, and thank you if you have, is I hope that you and I have given people some ideas. They, they not come across before. We've given them a fresh perspective.

We've given them, we always try to give them practical things to do and what I'd finish off with Scott, is I would love if people gave us some feedback.

On what we've covered. If they could comment, if they got in touch with us, you know, even just direct messages to us on LinkedIn or, or our email addresses or something, and, and tell us what they think . But also are there any topics and areas that we should cover next and in the next season of the, of the podcast.

[00:11:06] **Scott:** Yeah. And every episode has a send us a message link in it as well, which you can do, which is free. yeah, we'd, we'd like to say thank you all for listening to season one. This is not the end. We will be taking a brief

[00:11:18] **Andrew:** It.

[00:11:18] **Scott:** before we return with season two, but as Andrew said, definitely give us your feedback and any suggestions on topics you'd

[00:11:25] **Andrew:** We'd love that. Only positive comments of course.

Thank you for listening to the Work Unravelled podcast. We hope you enjoyed this episode. Be sure to subscribe to the show so you don't miss the next one. If you'd like Andrew or me to help you or your business, whether it is for team productivity, leadership, coaching, or communication skills, our website addresses are in the show notes.

[00:11:49] **Scott:** Thanks, and until the next time.

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