Connect with Lottie! Visit her LinkedIn.

You've probably done it today already. Pretended to be confident in a meeting when you weren't. Acted thrilled about someone's idea you didn't love. Celebrated a promotion that stung a little. We don't just manage what we say at work. We manage what we're allowed to feel.

In this Between the Seasons episode of Why Does It Feel So Wrong to Be Human at Work?, Pinaki Kathiari and producer Bree Bartos sit down with Lottie Bazley, internal communications manager and podcast host, to talk about code-switching, emotional labor, and the many versions of ourselves we carry between home and work, and between one work conversation and the next.

Lottie shares what it's like to be both the behind-the-scenes internal comms voice and the out-loud podcast voice (the Kara and Supergirl of it all), how finding your podcast voice can help you find your real one, and why being an oversharer might just be the thing that makes your whole team feel safer. Plus a genuinely useful reframe on the emotional cost of always performing the 'right' feeling instead of the true one.

In this episode, they discuss:
• Code-switching: the different acceptable version of yourself for every person and every room
• Emotional labor, and why we perform the expected emotion instead of the real one
• How you can feel two true things at once, genuinely happy for someone and disappointed for yourself
• Why finding your podcast voice can help you find your authentic one
• Oversharing as a gift: how one honest person makes a whole team feel safe to be human
• Telling your manager 'I'm not at 100% today' and the relief that follows
• The other side of sharing, and being mindful of the weight you hand to other people
• Reading the room: sometimes the kindest thing is not dumping the bad-news article
• The mental palate cleanser and getting from 'crap' to 'okay' a little faster each time

Because the more the human side works, the more the productive side flows.

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Connect with Us

Pinaki Kathiari – LinkedIn | Local Wisdom

Chris Lee – LinkedIn | Gallagher Communication

Bree Bartos – LinkedIn | Local Wisdom

Special thanks to digital communication agency Local Wisdom (www.localwisdom.com) for really believing in our mission and making this podcast possible.

If this episode made you think differently, laugh, or even yell out loud, we want to hear about it! Connect with us on LinkedIn, and don’t forget to rate, review, and share – maybe with your work bestie… or even your boss if you're feeling bold.

We also bring these important conversations to conferences and private workshops, creating space for real, meaningful change. Take the first step at www.whydoesitfeelsowrong.com.