OG Tuesday Issue #153

Start your morning with this affirmation:

Today’s checklist: Learn about the bright side of conflict, befriend your stress, get quick tips for projecting executive presence, and understand noncompete agreements.

Last week, we talked about leaping away from conflict. But here’s the thing: Conflicts come in all shapes and sizes. This week, we want to talk about some of the potential benefits of conflict.

In her article in Contexts sociology magazine, Evelyn M. Perry discusses the upsides of conflict in the context of racially and/or economically mixed communities. Despite this specific focus, many of her broader insights can be applied to workplace communities.

Below, we’ve pulled out some of her ideas about the upsides of conflict and explained how they might be applied to work life.

Conflict inspires collaboration.
Why? Because resolving conflict requires collaboration—the kind that comes along with listening and compromise. Collaboration may be efficient when everyone agrees, but it may be more enriching when it happens despite disagreements.

Conflict clarifies shared expectations. 
You might have team goals clearly spelled out on a vision board, but that doesn’t mean they’re clear to everyone. Conflict spotlights differences in how people process information and also presents an opportunity to accommodate those differences.

Conflict opens opportunities for airing multiple perspectives. 
When everything’s going “just fine,” people don’t bring up little things—what they disagree with, ideas they have for making things better, or fresh ideas for new projects.

Why stir things up? When conflict arises, it may be unpleasant, but it also signals it’s time to rethink, to pivot, and to say what needs to be said.

Conflicts lead to resolutions, compromises, accommodations, and change without erasing difference.
Conflict stops your team from becoming too homogenous or static. People on your team have a wealth of differences. Conflict simply means they’re expressing those differences instead of accepting the status quo. The team will be stronger for it.

Crush Your To-Do List

 

Feeling buried under your workload? Say goodbye to the chaos with monday.com.

Executive Assistants can assign tasks and track progress with ease, while Admin Professionals can streamline workflows and eliminate manual data entry.

Operations experts can access real-time data insights, and HR Gurus can manage their team’s time off, recruitment processes, and employee onboarding all in one place.

Not in one of those job titles? No worries — monday.com is a versatile platform that can be used for all your project management, event planning, content creation, and customer relationship management needs.

💪 Ready to conquer your workload?

👉 Try it out for free

Health psychologist Kelly McGonigal wants you to be friends with stress.

You might be thinking: What? Stress sucks; I don’t want us to be friends.

Just hear her out.

For years, she told her clients stress was bad for them. Then she read a study that changed everything. What it found, more or less, was that:

The study’s authors estimated that just believing stress is harmful could be linked to over 20,000 premature deaths per year, which as McGonigal points out, would make it the 15th largest cause of death in the U.S.

That’s right. Being stressed about being stressed may be more harmful to you than just being stressed.

The silver lining is that you can change your mind about stress, and when you do that, you can actually change your body’s response to stress. McGonigal’s recommendations for achieving this are delightfully simple:

She explains that this works because oxytocin, which most people know as the love hormone, is also a stress hormone. The body releases it when you’re stressed to get you to seek love and support.

“[. . . ] when oxytocin is released in the stress response,” McGonigal says, “it is motivating you to seek support. Your biological stress response is nudging you to tell someone how you feel, instead of bottling it up.”

Watch the complete Ted Talk: How to make stress your friend >

🤢 Seeking relief from gas, bloating, and discomfort?

👋 Say hello to Ritual’s Synbiotic+ Gut Health Supplement!

Their 3-in-1 solution features prebiotics, probiotics, and a postbiotic, neatly packed in a single capsule.

They’ve harnessed the power of two of the world’s most clinically-studied probiotic strains to support a balanced gut microbiome.

Plus, their delayed-release capsule bypasses the stomach, delivering probiotics directly to the colon where they thrive. Vegan-friendly, Non-GMO Project Verified, and with a High Standards sale underway, it’s time to nurture your gut health.

Experience comfort and balance – make Synbiotic+ a part of your wellness routine today! 🌟🌿

❗Take advantage of the discount until 9/5 — applied at checkout.

On July 25, we talked about building executive presence through courses and trainings. What if you don’t have time for all that? What if you just need some quick tips for a meeting this week or even in one hour?

The Corporate Career Girl has you covered. We’ve summarized her tips for building executive presence:

Develop informed opinions and own them. 
Understanding how you feel about something and also why you feel that way will help you share your ideas with confidence, like an executive.

Practice executive swagger.
Body language may seem superficial, but people notice it. Try cultivating the commanding posture and unwavering gaze of an executive.

Act like you own the room, and you will.
Boost your confidence with a little positive self talk: Your opinions are worth their weight in gold. When you talk, people listen. You command the room. You are invaluable.

Having this mindset helps create a matching reality. You’ll speak more slowly and clearly—more confidently. You’ll stop watering down your opinions with qualifiers. You may even, by virtue of your confidence boost, express yourself more frequently and freely.

Speak like you know things.
In reality, you might not be 100% certain that a prospective client is going to sign a contract, but there’s (usually) no harm in acting like you are. This subtle projection of confidence oozes executive authority.

If the client signs with us, we’ll… 

VERSUS 

When the client signs with us, we’ll…

Non-compete agreements have been getting some buzz since January 2023, when the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) proposed a rule to ban them in the United States.

Here are some quick facts to know about non-compete agreements and what’s happening with them.

What is a non-compete agreement? 
A contractual clause that aims to stop an employee from working for or starting businesses in competition with their current employer (when they become a past employer).

Why does the FTC want to ban them?

We’ll let them explain. According to the FTC:

When will we find out if the ban is happening?
Potentially not until April 2024 on a federal level. However, California, Minnesota, North Dakota, and Oklahoma have already implemented state bans.

What should I do if someone asks me to sign one?
“Just walking away” might not be an option if you really want a certain job. Here are some steps to consider:

With BetterHelp, you can tap into a diverse network of over 25,000 licensed and experienced therapists.

Figma has a free meeting notes template to help you get the most out of your meetings.

Morning Brew is one of our fave newsletters — you can get your own copy here.

Bonusly is the top selected platform to keep your team engaged, motivated, and recognized for their hard work.

💻 Need reasons to check out Notion, the productivity app? Start here.

⏳ We’re big fans of time blocking — get tips on how you can start doing this.

🔖 Catch up on all OG Tuesday newsletters here.

🏪 The Assist Store: Check out our Etsy Store or get our most popular templates for free here.

🚨 Job Openings

• Salve Regina University is hiring for an Office Coordinator (Newport, RI/Hybrid).
• Jasmine Star is hiring for a Part-Time Executive Project Manager (Remote).
• University of Virginia Medical Center is hiring for an Executive Secretary (Charlottesville, VA).
• Nasuni is hiring for a Part-Time Executive Assistant (Boston, MA).

❗If you have a job opening at your company that you’d like us to share in our newsletter, please submit it here.

Pssst…If you work in HR, we recently launched a free newsletter for HR Professionals called Human Crapital! Subscribe today before the next issue comes out (Wed morning).