Mind Your Work

Time to pull it all together! In this episode, we wrap up our mini-series on data literacy by discussing how to communicate effectively using data. We cover important things to consider when preparing your talk (or write-up), knowing your audience, and effectively structuring your message. We also briefly talk about data visualization as a tool that can be used to augment your delivery.      Timestamps: 0:50: Why is storytelling important? 2:30: Putting data and stories together 4:38: Preparation: Deciding on your purpose 6:30: Preparation: Knowing the context 9:45: Knowing your audience 22:25: Structuring your presentation or message 28:55: The structure of a story 31:30: Data visualization 34:27: Data viz “commandments” (aka basic tips) 36:15: Effective delivery in presentations 39:40: Effective delivery in documents or manuscripts 41:40: Wrap-up   Mentioned This Episode: Cicero Public Speaking Cards Examples of great storytelling: The beauty of data visualization – David McCandless (chosen by Jose) Start with why – Simon Sinek (chosen by Nicholas) [email protected] – Email us your ideas or suggestions here! MindYourWorkIO – Send us a tweet! Mindyourwork.io – Find us here!   Credits: Our intro and outro music is “Ingenuity” by Lee Rosevere, licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC 3.0). You can find more of Lee’s music at https://leerosevere.bandcamp.com/. https://leerosevere.bandcamp.com/. Our transition music for this episode is “Bike ride with you” by Ryan Anderson. Licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC 4.0).   Logo Artwork by Antonella Espinoza. Find her at @ellaspin on Twitter!

Okay, we’ve got a research question and some data! Now what? In this episode, we talk about common analytical techniques used in the social sciences (particularly industrial and organizational psychology) and what questions they can help answer. We also talk about the only “true” way to demonstrate that X causes Y and cover some common things to watch out for when conducting analysis.   Timestamps: 1:00: Statistics and how we’re teaching them the wrong way 6:10: Describing data vs making inferences with data 9:40: Describing survey data with “percent favorability” 13:55: Why Jose thinks (knows) descriptive stats are great 17:08: Let’s talk about correlations and shark attacks 23:05: T-tests 32:23: Experimental design 101 36:13: Statistical pitfalls 40:48: Wrap-up   Mentioned This Episode: Tyler Vigen – Spurious Correlations Science Forum – Ten common statistical mistakes to watch out for [email protected] – Email us your ideas or suggestions here! MindYourWorkIO – Send us a tweet! Mindyourwork.io – Find us here!      Credits: Our intro and outro music is “Ingenuity” by Lee Rosevere, licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC 3.0). You can find more of Lee’s music at https://leerosevere.bandcamp.com/. https://leerosevere.bandcamp.com/. Our transition music for this episode is “Tech Toys” also by Lee; licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC 3.0).      Logo Artwork by Antonella Espinoza. Find her at @ellaspin on Twitter!

Let’s talk about data literacy. Data is already ubiquitous in our day-to-day lives, so even if you don’t work with data directly, it’s still important to understand it. In this episode, we provide a brief introduction to our three part series on data literacy, which spans the issues of data collection, analysis, and communication/visualization. We also cover the first of these three topics.       Timestamps: 1:30: What is data literacy? 2:35: Why is data literacy important? 4:12: A way of thinking about data: Inputs, processes, and outputs 7:05: Inputs: Data collection and measurement 9:40: General pros and cons of measurement instruments 19:35: Collecting data from the right people at the right time 24:05: Statistical power 24:50: Validity (accuracy) and reliability 31:30: Wrap-up   Mentioned This Episode: Gartner - A Data and Analytics Leader’s Guide to Data Literacy   Some episodes covering issues of data literacy: Why Can’t We Hold All These Personality Models? (Validity and personality) Bad Behavior at Work (Measuring and preventing counterproductive work behavior) Of Metrics and Interventions (Examining the “right” metrics and data quality) Of Metrics and Interventions - Part 2 (The danger of focusing on too few metrics and how picking metrics can actually influence human behavior)   [email protected] – Email us your ideas or suggestions here! MindYourWorkIO – Send us a tweet! Mindyourwork.io – Find us here!       Credits: Our intro and outro music is “Ingenuity” by Lee Rosevere, licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC 3.0). You can find more of Lee’s music at https://leerosevere.bandcamp.com/. https://leerosevere.bandcamp.com/. Our transition music for this episode is “Places Unseen” also by Lee; licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC 3.0).   Logo Artwork by Antonella Espinoza. Find her at @ellaspin on Twitter!

Data has become increasingly common in our day-to-day lives. It has become easier than ever to collect, analyze, and share data than ever before. What implications does this have for us and how we make decisions in organizations? In this episode we discuss the rise of data in society, some of the ethical implications of collecting and using data in organizations, and preview our mini-series on data literacy coming in 2021. Timestamps: 1:45: Where is data becoming more prevalent in society? 8:35: Increased use of data in organizations 10:45: Is collecting more data a good thing? 14:04: How do we approach collecting and using data? 21:15: How do we consume data as individuals? 27:33: Final thoughts and upcoming mini-series on data literacy Mentioned This Episode: [email protected] – Email us your ideas here! MindYourWorkIO – Send us a tweet! Mindyourwork.io – Find us here! Credits: Our intro and outro music for Unscripted is “Pamgaea” by Kevin McLeod, licensed under licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License. You can find more of Kevin’s music at incompetech.com. Logo Artwork by Antonella Espinoza. Find her at @ellaspin on Twitter!

Essential services ensure that our continues to run, but things are a bit different during a pandemic. In this episode, we talk about some of the occupations that have graduated to essential and discuss how their new “value” has yet to reach employees.      Timestamps: 1:10: What is an essential service? 2:56: The shift in importance of custodial work and other occupations 8:00: Will the perceived value of certain occupations shift? 10:20: Job evaluation 17:45: Are certain essential services now “non-essential”? 22:50: Final thoughts   Mentioned This Episode: NYT article on custodial services Episode of 99pi on Social Infrastructure [email protected] – Email us your ideas here! MindYourWorkIO – Send us a tweet! Mindyourwork.io – Find us here!      Credits: Our intro and outro music for Unscripted is “Pamgaea” by Kevin McLeod, licensed under licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License. You can find more of Kevin’s music at incompetech.com.   Logo Artwork by Antonella Espinoza. Find her at @ellaspin on Twitter!

If you received $1000 per month, no strings attached, how would you spend your time? In this episode, we discuss the concept of universal basic income. We cover some of its potential psychological consequences for the individual and the value of work itself. The conversation turns toward what makes a job viable or not, how to enrich jobs, and the question of whether or not a significant portion of the population would “coast” or spend irresponsibly if given an unconditional monthly stipend.   Timestamps: 1:40: Defining Universal Basic Income 8:52: The future of undesirable jobs under UBI 13:08: Making nonviable jobs better 17:05: Takeaways and overall impressions 21:42: The case against UBI   Mentioned This Episode: [email protected] – Email us your ideas here! MindYourWorkIO – Send us a tweet! Mindyourwork.io – Find us here!   Credits: Our intro and outro music for Unscripted is “Pamgaea” by Kevin McLeod, licensed under licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License. You can find more of Kevin’s music at incompetech.com. Logo Artwork by Antonella Espinoza. Find her at @ellaspin on Twitter!

In this episode, we discuss how the COVID pandemic has affected the way we do our jobs and relate to each other at work. As I-O psychologists, we frame the issue from a human-centered perspective and use a popular (and well-supported) theory of motivation to unpack the challenges (and opportunities).    Timestamps: 1:58: Framing the problem 3:30: Universal human needs and motivation 10:10: New challenges that may threaten our needs 19:45: New opportunities that may help fulfill our needs 30:56: How we’ve been coping   Mentioned This Episode: Living COVID HR Comms & Resources Guide Office 2.0 and Virtual Work Episode Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Self-determination Theory [email protected] – Email us your ideas or suggestions here! MindYourWorkIO – Send us a tweet! Mindyourwork.io – Find us here!      Credits: Thanks to Hannah Soicher for helping with background research for this episode! Our intro and outro music is “Ingenuity” by Lee Rosevere, licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC 3.0). You can find more of Lee’s music at https://leerosevere.bandcamp.com/. https://leerosevere.bandcamp.com/. Our transition music for this episode is “Places Unseen” also by Lee; licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC 3.0).      Logo Artwork by Antonella Espinoza. Find her at @ellaspin on Twitter!

Unlimited vacation! Sounds great, right? Not so fast. There are definitely upsides, but with greater freedom comes some potential disadvantages for both employees and organizations. In this Unscripted, Jose and Nicholas discuss some of these pros and cons, and talk about their own experiences with unlimited PTO and flexible work arrangements.   Timestamps: 1:45: Unlimited Vacation? PTO? What’s the difference? 3:15: Perhaps the biggest downside of “unlimited” PTO 6:00: Vacation time as a reward, PTO as flexibility 9:50: Unlimited PTO in practice - how to support it with other policies and processes 12:40: Should you still track vacation with unlimited PTO?   Mentioned This Episode: [email protected] – Email us your ideas here! MindYourWorkIO – Send us a tweet! Mindyourwork.io – Find us here!      Credits: Our intro and outro music for Unscripted is “Pamgaea” by Kevin McLeod, licensed under licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License. You can find more of Kevin’s music at incompetech.com. Logo Artwork by Antonella Espinoza. Find her at @ellaspin on Twitter!

Back in Season 2, Jose and Nicholas talked about what the science says about sleep and work. They also committed to tracking their sleep and coming back to discuss their experiences in the future. In this Unscripted, Jose and Nicholas discuss their experiences with various sleep apps, whether they’ve seen any improvement, and the kinds of features they wish these apps had. Timestamps: 1:10: A call-back to Season 2 and the importance of sleep. 2:21: Our mini-reviews of different sleep tracking apps. 7:08: Have we gotten anything out of tracking our sleep and general concerns 11:55: What additional data and features do we wish we had 14:30: Do we recommend you track your sleep  Mentioned This Episode: [email protected] – Email us your ideas here! MindYourWorkIO – Send us a tweet! Mindyourwork.io – Find us here! Sleep Tracking Apps SleepScore Sleep Cycle Sleep for Android Credits: Our intro and outro music for Unscripted is “Pamgaea” by Kevin McLeod, licensed under licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License. You can find more of Kevin’s music at incompetech.com. Logo Artwork by Antonella Espinoza. Find her at @ellaspin on Twitter!

Performance appraisals are something most of us are familiar with and probably don’t really enjoy (unless you’re accustomed to getting great appraisals!) – that said, there have recently been more widespread grumblings about this organizational tradition. Is a shift in the fundamentals of performance management upon us? Are there compelling alternatives to performance appraisals? In this episode, we discuss some of the fundamentals of performance appraisals, cover the recent debate about their effectiveness, and share our own views on the topic. Timestamps: 1:54: The basics of performance appraisals 8:40: The trouble with performance appraisals – two conflicting purposes 15:53: The debate about performance appraisals 18:37: Alternatives to performance appraisals 28:12: Shifting the burden of appraisals from people to machines 32:24: Additional readings and wrap-up Mentioned This Episode: Open-access article – Performance appraisal debate Open-access article – Performance evaluation will not die, but it should HBR – Deloitte’s alternative to traditional performance management Video – Big Ideas in Performance Management [email protected] – Email us your ideas or suggestions here! MindYourWorkIO – Send us a tweet! Mindyourwork.io – Find us here! Credits: Our intro and outro music is “Ingenuity” by Lee Rosevere, licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC 3.0). You can find more of Lee’s music at https://leerosevere.bandcamp.com/. https://leerosevere.bandcamp.com/. Our transition music for this episode is “New Day” also by Lee; licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC 3.0). Logo Artwork by Antonella Espinoza. Find her at @ellaspin on Twitter!