People shouldn’t have to hide their uniqueness when they’re at work.
In this week’s podcast episode of Managing Well, Tonya talks with creative strategist Natalie Nixon, PhD, CEO of Figure 8 Thinking, about how leaders can benefit from embracing their team’s differences to solve problems and produce meaningful work.
Key Takeaways:
- Joy at work comes from connecting with others, generating new ideas, and problem-solving for innovative solutions.
- Toggling between wonder and rigor is the sweet spot of productivity.
Reflection Questions:
- Imagine creating time on a weekly basis for uninterrupted, deep-focus work.
What would you do with that time? How do you feel envisioning this time? - Consider emotions as valuable data points.
When do you feel the most joy or creativity at work? - Discipline and rigor rather than rigidity turn ideas into actions.
Describe how you distinguish between rigor and rigidity for yourself and your team.
Action Items:
- Review your calendar and block out 5-10 percent of your time to engage with the creative process of inquiry and wonder.
- Dedicate time for your team to individually do deep focus work on a regular basis.
- Identify an activity (e.g. movement, music, meditation) that honors the invisible work of thinking, processing new information, and problem-solving. Create time on your calendar to engage with the activity on a daily basis.
Additional Resources:
- 7 Rules for Improvising at Work | Dr. Natalie Nixon TEDx Philadelphia Talk
- Five Things to Know About Developing Curiosity at Work
- The AI we didn’t see coming: Artificial Imagination
- Your “invisible work” is key to your most productive self
In the Managing Well podcast, host Tonya Ladipo talks about wellness in the workplace with people leaders, mental health professionals, HR experts, and more. Click the link to subscribe to the podcast and get the latest episodes.
