Fixable

Remote work is here to stay — but even for companies that did it pre-pandemic, new challenges are popping up. Dean’s accounting firm has 4,000 employees, and people once happily alternated between working from home and the office. But recently there's been a shift, and the once-thriving hybrid environment is not quite as bustling. Afraid of losing the supportive and social in-office culture, Dean turns to Anne and Frances for help. Together, they find a balance between remote flexibility and in-person interaction. Anne and Frances also share tips on making office days not only productive but exciting for everyone who joins.

Transcripts for Fixable are available at go.ted.com/fixablescripts.

Can you make yourself happier at work? Dr. Laurie Santos is a cognitive scientist and psychology professor at Yale University, where she teaches a wildly popular course about the science of happiness, and host of the breakout podcast The Happiness Lab. She joins Anne and Frances to discuss the concept of time famine, why you need a best friend at work, and where your employer is responsible for your wellbeing. Their conversation will show you how to turn your workplace into your happy place.

How can you communicate confidence when the future is uncertain? Claire manages communications at a transportation company that’s going through major changes, and she’s tasked with making sure everyone—from C-level corporate executives to people out in the field—get the information they need. However, she finds herself competing with industry news cycles and word-of-mouth speculation to get people’s trust and attention. Anne and Frances discuss the importance of authenticity and trust at work – and show Claire how to create a clear line of communication at her company.
Transcripts for Fixable are available at go.ted.com/fixablescripts.

Where do bullies go when they grow up? New research shows they just move from the playground to the workplace. This week, Master Fixer and social psychologist Amy Cuddy joins Anne and Frances to walk us through the strikingly stable patterns bullies follow to undermine and ostracize their targets – patterns that are way more common than you might think. Stay tuned for part two where Cuddy details actions you can take to stop bullies in next week’s episode.
What problems are you dealing with at work right now? Text 234-FIXABLE or email [email protected] to be featured on the show.
Transcripts for Fixable are available at go.ted.com/fixabletranscripts
Mental Health at Work Index (https://mentalhealthindex.org/): A partnership of Columbia University’s Mental Health + Work Design Lab (https://www.cugmhp.org/programs/mental-health-and-work-design-lab/) and One Mind at Work (https://onemindatwork.org/). This is an in-depth assessment tool created by a team of psychologists and business leaders to help companies measure and improve their mental health efforts in a scientific and data-driven way.

Do you feel like you’re hitting a wall at work? This week, Anne and Frances are joined by Master Fixers Bob Sutton and Huggy Rao. Bob and Huggy are professors at Stanford University and authors of “The Friction Project: How Smart Leaders Make the Right Things Easier and the Wrong Things Harder”. Together, the four discuss how anyone can eliminate the obstacles to doing their best work—and create constraints that make work even better.
Transcripts for Fixable are available at go.ted.com/fixablescripts.