Are we overhyping the future of work?

An article was published this week in the Wall Street Journal about the end of annual performance reviews:

The alternatives presented in the article, linked here, vary from mid-meeting sticky note evaluations, direct everyday feedback with no structured performance reviews, AI-video and email assessments, and managers asking for feedback.

👀

I don’t know about you, but pausing a meeting to be scored on my collaboration skills sounds more demotivating than anything else. 

For constant feedback to work, you need a culture where:

👉 Trust is omnipresent
👉 Feedback is neutral/not personal
👉 Expectations for success are clear
👉 Workers are rewarded for contributing to community norms
👉 Workers are trained on giving, receiving, and actioning feedback

Have you ever experienced that culture?

I’m going to guess not (prove me wrong, send the receipts!).

This is a representation of what most “future of work” conversations get wrong.

They idealize a future that is solved by changing processes instead of changing focus.

The focus now:

• How will AI change the way we work?

• Where will people work?

• What benefits will make people most fulfilled?

Where I think the focus needs to be:

Developing people.

This might look like:

• Conflict-management - learning how to resolve issues with direct reports without needing HR to handle it for you

• Communication in a distributed world - learning how to triage the appropriate information consistently and effectively 

• Accountability and awareness - learning how to take radical ownership of your actions

• Change management - learning how to shepherd change and how to be okay with moving in a different direction

• Negotiation in stakeholder relationships - learning how to influence outcomes by being a Supercommunicator

• Empathy in collaboration - learning how to understand the needs and situations of others to do their best work

My take: the soft skills that make workplaces effective are the next frontier of work.

In the world of Talent

❤ ️ Inclusion is intersectional: Reminder from Paul Ladipo this week that inclusion needs to be intersectional to be effective.

📚 The revolution of work is here: Anessa Fike’s debut is here (and already a Top New Release in business books!) and I'm putting together a book club to discuss. Read, “The Revolution of Work. Fuck the Patriarchy and the Workplace it Built” with me. Reply if you're interested in joining!

Kat’s corner

💪🏼 Proud vibes: this weekend I finished my second workout program in 12 weeks. That's 12 consecutive weeks of working out 5-6 times/week for the first time in my adult life. To say I'm proud of myself is an understatement! If you're having a hard time at the gym or finding motivation, this is the trainer that's been working for me.

🎵 Music I’m looking forward to: Fletcher’s “doing better”, which comes out 3/1. She’s most recently known for writing a song about her ex-girlfriend’s girlfriend called, “Becky’s So Hot” and this new verse she shared on Instagram is giving ‘I’m still not over it’:

Your girlfriend never thanked me
For making her go viral
F*ck it I’m her idol
I get sad and spiral
Yeah I’ll buy a new whip
But you’ll never see me take the high road

WOOF. I have thoughts! Go live your life, Cari. But also, dang! 

🫶 Special shout-out: this week’s shout-out goes to my friends, Carissa and Joey, who have honestly changed how it feels to be a parent in Los Angeles. They took my kids for a playdate when Jordan was traveling so I could have a morning to myself 😭 and I'm just saying, find your village! 

💔 On IVF and Nex: two events of the week are pulling at my heart. Alabama ruled that embryos are children, which for anyone who's had to rely on IVF to get pregnant will tell you, is absolutely ridiculous. The ramifications for reproductive rights could be devastating. In Oklahoma, a non-binary indigenous teenager was beaten to death by their peers. Many are linking their death to the radicalization of anti-trans laws in the state. In both cases: it's never been more important to pay attention and vote. We are not powerless to enact change.