OG Tuesday Issue #189

⚡ Personal Growth: Experts share their favorite behavioral tricks for advancing personal growth.

🗣️ Relationships: Is “sincericide” negatively affecting your work and personal relationships?

😰 Workplace: You can probably guess what SHRM is calling a top workplace issue.

💼 Office Design: What will the offices of the future actually look like?

🏆 Goals: Consider revisiting your goals now that we’re 5 months into the year.

Think about the last to-do list you made.

As you were writing or typing it, how much thought did you give to your work team’s impact on how, when, and if you can scratch off each line item?

Most of us make our to-do lists independently but complete the work in teams.

The teams we belong to influence how many things we get done, how we get things done, and how we feel about all the things we got done.

Understanding Tuckman’s stages of team development and determining your team’s current stage can clarify how your group impacts the work you do.

Stage 1: Forming

During this stage, your team is kind of like a kid just starting school.

All members share a collective sense of excitement, hope, and optimism.

The anything-is-possible feeling, while exciting, also comes with some uncertainty.

You’re not yet sure how the team will work together and may feel some anxiety regarding your performance as a group and your performance as an individual within the group.

In the Forming Stage:

👍 Do:

• Deliberately focus on turning all the possibilities into a ranked list of actionable priorities.
• Create collaborative action plans and processes for pursuing these priorities.
• Assume you can trust everyone on your team.

🚫 Don’t:

• Allow your and others’ excitement to create unrealistic expectations, such as planning too many different projects.
• Assume you know how anyone on your team likes to work. (Instead, take the time to observe and learn.)
• Be so focused on standing out that you forget to be a valuable part of the group.

Stage 2: Storming

During this stage, your team is kind of like a teenager going through puberty.

Goals and dreams that once felt within your reach now seem impossible, and every member of the team feels certain that it’s someone else’s fault.

In the Storming Stage:

👍 Do:

• Revisit your original goals to determine what needs to change.
• Approach discussions with the goal of establishing What can we do better moving forward? instead of What went wrong and who is to blame?
• Pause and take a deep breath before responding to any accusations or criticisms.

🚫 Don’t:

• Throw accusations or criticisms at your team members, even if they did it first.
• Let frustrations about past missteps blind you from what you might learn from them.

Stage 3: Norming

During this stage, your team is kind of like a young adult who’s been at their first job for a few years now.

You maintain your optimism but have grown better at determining what you can realistically accomplish.

You also know the most effective ways to approach what you want to accomplish.

In the Norming Stage:

👍 Do:

• Provide and request constructive criticism.
• Work toward accepting and embracing opinions and ideas you don’t personally agree with but that may be good for the team.
• Establish and communicate boundaries.

🚫 Don’t:

• Forget you can always learn more about your teammates and your work.
• Bottle up true feelings and opinions even if they’re negative. (Now is the time for sharing!)

Stage 4: Performing

During this stage, your team is kind of like a mid-career professional, at the peak of their capabilities.

Team members know and respect each other, understand what they can accomplish together, and can also highlight what they bring to the table individually.

In the Performing Stage:

👍 Do:

• Recognize and celebrate group and individual successes.
• Strategically consider how to build on your past and current successes.
• Consider stretch goals to pursue during this stable time.

🚫 Don’t:

• Neglect to identify constructive improvements simply because they’re not as immediately obvious as problems.
• Compare yourself to teammates. Focus on celebrating differences instead.
• Resent others’ individual accomplishments or measure your worth against them.

Getting our team members to be connected, invested, and engaged at work is more difficult than ever.

This free report, in partnership with Lighthouse Research & Advisory, draws on responses from over 1,000 workers and employers.

Chock full of eye-opening new data, compelling analyses, and powerful company stories, leaders can leverage this report to drive high engagement and meaningful business results.

Key stats:

• 90% of employers acknowledge the importance of understanding which employees are engaged.
• Employees who receive regular appreciation are five times more likely to be highly engaged.
• Supportive management can more than double employee retention.

Get the free report here.

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One TA Subscriber wants to get in on all the AI excitement and potential.

Their biggest challenge atm?

Figuring out a mid-career transition to data and AI.

Dear reader, your biggest challenge is also an admirable and forward-thinking goal.

The International Monetary Fund estimates that AI may impact at least 60% of all jobs in advanced economies.

While we can’t be sure, we can confidently guess that percentage will only increase as AI becomes more advanced and massively adopted. (In other words, finding work in AI seems like a thoroughly future-proofed plan.)

As far as figuring out how to make the transition, we recommend starting from the same philosophy at the core of rapidly growing AI innovation:

Get started right now and trust yourself to figure out the finer details as you go.

What exactly does it mean to start right now.

The answer depends on your personality, situation, comfort levels, experience, and skills.

Working through these prompts will help you identify your own ideal starting spot on the AI career game board.

Save your answers to reference when completing job applications and preparing for interviews.

1. Why do you want to work in AI?

2. Where does the transition you envision fall on a “change intensity” scale of 1 to 10?

• 1 = pivoting your current role to focus more on AI.
• 10 = getting a new AI-focused job in a new organization and maybe even a new industry.

3. If you’re not already, start using AI in personal and professional capacities every day.

Keep track of what you’re doing, the results you see, and insights you’re picking up.

4. What specific AI job title or career path appeals to you?

Popular options right now include:

• Data scientist
• AI ethicist
• Data analyst
• Research analyst
• Conversation designer
• AI project manager

5. After you identify an appealing job title, search for openings.

Pick 1 – 3 and study the responsibilities and functions in detail.

What AI-driven projects might you pursue personally or in your current professional role to demonstrate your ability to meet or surpass the employer’s expectations?

6. Speaking of jobs — do you want to work within the field of AI or directly with AI?

Job opportunities and functions will expand with the industry.

That means there will soon be more jobs in AI that support the technology but don’t necessarily work directly with it, such as project managers and PR specialists.

It’s important for you to know where you want to be within this broader landscape.

7. What kind of employment set up are you hoping for?

For example…

• Would you consider staying with your current employer if they created or allowed you to create an AI-focused position?
• Would you potentially even consider staying in your current role and simply pushing to add a few formalized AI functions to your job description?
• If you want to find a different employer, consider what kind of organization you want to work for and what industry you want to work in.
• If you’d rather be a freelancer, entrepreneur, or independent contractor, consider what that setup might look like.

8. Keeping your desired job function and org type in mind, consider…

• What experience might you discuss to demonstrate your AI potential to future employers?
• List 5 or more skills you have and that will translate to success in AI and explain why.
• What unique value can you bring to your future AI employers?

9. Learn as much as you can.

We pulled some resources for you to pick and choose from:

• Professional Certificate in Computer Science for Artificial Intelligence (Harvard Online)
• Cheat sheet: AI glossary (The Enterprisers Project)
• Generative AI with IBM
• Artificial Intelligence: Implications for Business Strategy (MIT Online)
• Data Science & Artificial Intelligence Program (Institute of Data)
• Machine Learning Specialization (Stanford online via Coursera)
• AI Essentials (Grow Google)
• AI Trainer Toolkit (Microsoft Learn)
• School of Core AI
• How to Use ChatGPT in Business (edX)
• AI for Good Research Lab (Microsoft)
• Competing in the Age of AI—Virtual (Harvard Business School Virtual)

Discover the secrets to creating impactful mentorship initiatives from experts at Hubspot, Affirm, and Cooley.

Join industry-leading L&D professionals on May 8th at 1 PM EST / 11 AM PST for “Mentorship Mastery: Strategies for Starting and Scaling Successful Programs.”

Gain insights on building effective programs and overcoming common challenges in an hour-long virtual event, including a 40-minute panel discussion and 10-minute Q&A.

What You’ll Learn:

This session is ideal for HR and L&D professionals looking to create meaningful career development for employees, managers, and leaders!

Register for free today.

(Not sure you can make it? Register to receive a recording.)

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🪜 Looking to climb the career ladder? CareerAddict has you covered with a 5-step guide to career planning. With tips and tricks on advancing your career, plus templates to jot down your bright ideas!

📚 Never Split The Difference reveals the secrets of expert negotiation from an FBI pro.

✅ This stylish Weekly To-Do List is your perfect productivity partner, helping you stay organized.

☕ Add elegance to your morning routine with a personalized Monogram Ceramic Mug.