Google restricting remote work freedoms – Should you?
MarkUp News: Challenging Mainstream Management Advice
Release Date: 04/14/2021
When your Projects are late: Start them later
MarkUp News: Challenging Mainstream Management Advice
When projects are late, we tend to start them earlier. Yet, this type of project management makes matters worse. Find out how to reduce lead time, increase your reliability and improve on productivity by understanding the harbour master principle. 0:00 - Intro 3:09 - Why projects take longer and forecasts fail 5:59 - The Harbour Master Principle 9:29 - Projects are like cars on the motorway 12:06 - Start projects as late as possible 15:28 - I need more focus too 17:51 - Wrap up ************************* Please make suggestions for publications (English only) to deconstruct...
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Project Management: Top 1 Mistake (and an Uncomfortable Truth)
MarkUp News: Challenging Mainstream Management Advice
There's dozens of checklists out there on how to conduct successful project management. You will also find a myriad of mistakes to be avoided. But you rarely get taught about this very crucial ingredient of a project's success. 0:00 - Introduction to the Harvard Business Review article 05:40 - Project Management mistakes that are made according to the HBR 10:43 - A closer look at the nature of a project team 13:00 - Overcoming an organisation's resistance 17:17 - How to balance protection and connection of a project 24:00 - A rare exception in which protection is provided by an emergency 25:37...
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Google restricting remote work freedoms – Should you?
MarkUp News: Challenging Mainstream Management Advice
Google is pushing back on remote work. But not every large business is taking the same approach. What questions should you be asking yourself and what is an effective remote work strategy for your business? 0:00 - Intro 4:18 - How remote work has treated us during the pandemic 6:57 - Decisions large businesses are taking regarding remote work 10:33 - Why hiring a director remote work might not be a good idea 15:51 - How does the place of work influence value creation 19:35 - How to protect employees from overworking themselves at home 22:28 - Do it like Spotify - Here is why 27:00 - Closing...
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How HR leaders could (but probably won't) reclaim their relevance as change agents
MarkUp News: Challenging Mainstream Management Advice
Has Human Resource Management lost its way? Many HR leaders would like to have more impact, yet their true role has become increasingly negligent and almost irrelevant to value creation. But there is a way to fix it both for Human Resource Management as well as for the business as a whole. 0:00 - Intro 04:25 - The surprising way a CHRO expressed his own lack of relevance 08:25 - The status quo: How Human Resource Management is seen today? 11:47 - The slippery slope HR is going down on 17:03 - Have I got it all backwards and is HR on the right track after all? 18:39 - Exploring the true cause...
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Where Simon Sinek gets it wrong with company values
MarkUp News: Challenging Mainstream Management Advice
Don't follow names, follow logic. Simon Sinek is one of the most popular management and leadership thinkers. But when he talks about company values he makes three majorly flawed assumptions. This episode dissects his line of reasoning regarding company values using a talk he gave and published on YouTube. 0:00 - Intro and recap of the last episode about corporate culture 01:56 - Introduction to Simon Sinek's view about company values 03:59 - Dissecting Simon Sinek's reasoning - Part 1: nouns vs verbs 04:39 - Part 2: You can't live by a company value 07:01 - Circular expectations: How company...
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Don't ever try changing your Corporate Culture like this
MarkUp News: Challenging Mainstream Management Advice
If you want to change your corporate culture or core values for the better you are likely to cause more harm than good. Although common wisdom and mainstream management advice suggests that an organizational culture is an object at our disposal, our daily experience should teach us what solid social science has known for decades: You can't manufacture a corporate culture. 0:00 - Intro 3:45 - Corporate culture: Some background information on the topic 6:49 - Introduction to the article that promotes the idea of manufacturing corporate culture 14:40 - The false assumption the article is making...
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Effective Meetings: This important question is rarely asked
MarkUp News: Challenging Mainstream Management Advice
There is a tone of advice out there on how to run effective meetings. Rarely though, does anyone ask what makes meetings so ineffective and even more importantly, why there is such a demand for meetings in the first place. This episode shows you how to tackle the problem by its root. 0:00 - Intro 1:37 - Introduction to the article about banning Wednesday meetings 4:01 - Why we need to rephrase the question about effective meetings 6:24 - What causes meetings in the first place? 12:52 - How successful businesses go about the problem in a different way 15:24 - Summary and final advice Article by...
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How not to address mental health at work & Naive leadership communication
MarkUp News: Challenging Mainstream Management Advice
When employees seem unaligned, mainstream management advice calls for over-communication. However, most often disalignment is an optical illusion. Mark points to a better place to start looking for solutions. Story #2 of this episode addresses mental health at work and makes a case for less intervention and explains why encroaching on employee's privacy can have detrimental consequences. 0:00 - Intro 1:16 - Story #1: Article claims leaders should over-communicate to the extreme 3:00 - Conclusions drawn from anecdotal evidence and why they are insufficient 7:37 - Challenging the assumptions of...
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How to handle a bad boss | Reducing bureaucracy
MarkUp News: Challenging Mainstream Management Advice
Why are bosses toxic in the first place? What makes them bad? And how can we change it? In this episode Mark proposes an unconventional but effective perspective. He also looks at the connection between their behaviour and bureaucracy at work. 0:00 - Intro 1:27 - Story #1: What we learned about bureaucracy from 7,000 HBR readers 2:55 - Diseconomies of scale: What they are and how they come about? 4:33 - Why is bureaucracy so prevalent and why is it increasing? 7:45 - How can bureaucracy be overcome? 9:55 - Story #2: Article claiming how toxic behaviour of bosses should be addressed 11:43 -...
info_outlineGoogle is pushing back on remote work. But not every large business is taking the same approach. What questions should you be asking yourself and what is an effective remote work strategy for your business?
0:00 - Intro
4:18 - How remote work has treated us during the pandemic
6:57 - Decisions large businesses are taking regarding remote work
10:33 - Why hiring a director remote work might not be a good idea
15:51 - How does the place of work influence value creation
19:35 - How to protect employees from overworking themselves at home
22:28 - Do it like Spotify - Here is why
27:00 - Closing notes
Article laying out Google’s remote work strategy: https://www.cnbc.com/2021/03/31/google-speeds-partial-office-reopening-and-puts-limits-on-remote-work.html
Article reporting on Amazon’s new headquarters: https://www.forbes.com/sites/jackkelly/2021/02/02/amazons-new-massive-second-headquarters-sets-the-stage-for-employees-returning-to-an-office-setting/?sh=3dd594e96076
Article referring to Twitter, Square and others: https://www.forbes.com/sites/jackkelly/2021/04/01/google-wants-workers-to-return-to-the-office-ahead-of-schedule-this-looks-like-a-blow-to-the-remote-work-trend/?sh=500494f61575
Study conducted by the German IFO-Institute: https://www.ifo.de/en/node/56686
Article about the new role director remote work: https://www.fastcompany.com/90573992/more-companies-are-hiring-a-director-of-remote-work
Article about Spotify’s strategy: https://www.forbes.com/sites/jackkelly/2021/02/12/spotify-will-let-employees-work-from-anywhere-they-do-their-best-thinking-and-creating/?sh=6dc0ed2ae046
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Please make suggestions for publications (English only) to deconstruct in the comments section or via email to mail@markup.news.
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About MarkUp News: Challenging Mainstream Management Advice
As a leader, how do you know if the mainstream management advice you consume is reliable? And if everyone follows the same opinion, how do you avoid mediocracy? In this show Mark Poppenborg dissects mainstream publications on management, organisational change and work as a whole. Train your critical thinking, get practical inspiration and benefit from an unconventional and highly successful perspective on leadership and organisational design. Mark is the founder and creative force behind intrinsify, a group of companies that leads businesses towards modern leadership, post-bureaucratic organisational design and purposeful work by advising and educating decision makers in key roles.
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How to follow and connect to Mark Poppenborg
Mark's website: https://markup.news/websiteen
Mark's website in German: https://markup.news/websitede
Mark on LinkedIn: https://markup.news/linkedin
Mark on Twitter: https://markup.news/twitter
Mark on Instagram: https://markup.news/instagram
intrinsify: https://markup.news/intrinsify