『Workplace Stories by RedThread Research』のカバーアート

Workplace Stories by RedThread Research

Workplace Stories by RedThread Research

著者： Stacia Garr & Dani Johnson
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Workplace Stories is a podcast for HR and people leaders who are tired of noise and need clarity that actually holds up. It is hosted by Stacia Garr and Dani Johnson of RedThread Research.

Each episode features candid conversations with practitioners, thinkers, and executives who are navigating real decisions inside complex organizations. Not hypotheticals. Not vendor promises. Real tradeoffs, real experiments, and real lessons learned along the way.

You’ll hear how leaders are making sense of skills, AI, organizational design, and culture when there’s no clear playbook and pressure to show progress is high. The focus is always the same: what’s actually working, what isn’t, and what leaders are doing next.

Workplace Stories helps you make sense of complexity, build credibility with evidence, and move from ideas to action with more confidence.

Want to be part of the conversation? Join our community for free and connect with others shaping the future of work.

Learn more about RedThread Research here: https://redthreadresearch.com/homeRedThread Research 2026 マネジメント マネジメント・リーダーシップ 経済学
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  • Why Pulling Beats Pushing in the Modern Workplace: Benjamin Granger

    Why Pulling Beats Pushing in the Modern Workplace: Benjamin Granger
    2026/08/05
    Leadership is often the deciding factor in whether organizations thrive or falter, but the way we lead matters even more. In the latest episode of Workplace Stories, Dr. Benjamin Granger, Chief Workplace Psychologist at Qualtrics and author of A Leader Worth Following, explores why so many organizations still default to dominance-based leadership, and what it means to build cultures that reward prestige-based approaches instead. Blending insights from evolutionary psychology, neuroscience, and years of workplace research, Ben shares his thoughts on how leadership styles shape employee experience and business success. You will want to hear this episode if you are interested in...00:00 Discussing Leadership Challenges and Trust06:21 Understanding organizational psychology07:30 Balancing theory and practical application14:50 Playing the power politics game20:00 Discussing organizational power shifts22:36 Operating under dominant leaders35:12 Handling Uncertainty as a Leader37:46 Influence of environment on behavior40:58 The impact of physical environment50:44 Focusing on honest feedbackThe Evolutionary Roots of LeadershipMost social animals, including humans, establish hierarchies where certain individuals rise to the top. In non-human species, this rise is usually based on dominance: the biggest, strongest, or most aggressive become the alphas by imposing their will on others. Humans, however, have developed an alternative: prestige. Prestige-based leaders earn followership by demonstrating genuine competence and contributing to the group's well-being, prompting others to follow willingly rather than out of fear or obligation.Prestige is one of the things that makes us the most evolutionarily distinct. But despite its clear advantages, modern organizations too often favor dominance. Dominance works in the short term, it gets quick results, especially in high-pressure situations, but, like alphas in the animal kingdom, it’s always temporary and can be overturned by newer, stronger rivals.Why Organizations Default to DominanceDespite prestige-based leadership delivering better outcomes, structural pressures and cultural inertia mean that organizations still often rely on dominance. Environments that obsess over immediate results—hitting quarterly numbers, quick responses to crises—inevitably reward those who can “get it done now,” even if it means sidelining empathy, trust-building, or transparency.Organizations often pay lip service to soft skills, layering emotional intelligence and empathy expectations over systems fundamentally designed for command-and-control. This is backward, though, every organization exists to meet the needs of other people, and if it doesn't do that, it doesn't exist. Building Prestige-Based CulturesChanging leadership norms starts with both organizational systems and individual behaviors. Audit Your Core Values: Are they truly reflected in observable behaviors and environmental cues—from glass doors symbolizing transparency to real open Q&As in all-hands meetings? Measure What Matters: Don’t just reward outcomes; examine how results were achieved, looking for consistency with your stated values.Foster High-Fidelity Communication: In an age of automation and AI, preserve spaces for genuine human dialogue to counteract the erosion of trust and connection.Invest in Leadership Skills: Require training in rhetoric, body language, and executive presence for all leaders—not to polish surface impressions, but to deepen real influence and trust.The Future of Leadership in an AI WorldAI and automation are accelerating every aspect of business, but they also risk stripping away the very things that make organizations human. Rigid digital systems (like micromanaged expense policies) can signal distrust as surely as an angry boss. If organizations lean too heavily on these tools, they may unwittingly degrade the high-trust, collaborative communication on which true prestige-based leadership is built.As Benjamin says, “Mankind's greatest achievements have come about by talking, its greatest failures by not talking. All we need to do is make sure we keep talking”. Leadership for the future is about mastery of self and service to others, pulling people forward by example, not pushing them down by force. Resources & People MentionedDr. Steve Hunt Josh Bersin Edgar ScheinStephen Hawking A Leader Worth Following: How to Master Yourself, Influence Others, and Create Exceptional Experiences by Benjamin GrangerSapiens by Yuval Noah HarariAn Integrative Model of Organizational Trust Connect with Benjamin GrangerBenjamin Granger on LinkedIn Connect With RedThread ResearchWebsite: RedThread ResearchOn LinkedInSubscribe to WORKPLACE STORIES
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    1 時間
  • Driving Workforce Agility at Scale: Maryjo Charbonnier

    Driving Workforce Agility at Scale: Maryjo Charbonnier
    2026/07/22
    When IBM spun off its infrastructure services business into Kyndryl, it created the largest public company spin in New York Stock Exchange history—launching with 90,000 employees and a daunting reality: 60% of customer accounts were unprofitable, and revenues were shrinking. Amid intense pressure to reset the trajectory, Kyndryl’s then-CHRO Maryjo Charbonnier architected a workforce strategy that prioritized people, data, and adaptability. On the podcast this week, Maryjo shares her expertise on how to build a skills-centric enterprise ready for an AI-powered future. You will want to hear this episode if you are interested in...[04:22] Overcoming workforce skill challenges at Kyndryl[13:51] Defining company culture and values[16:45] Reducing and restructuring the workforce[24:58] Improving employee redeployment rates[31:05] Tackling vended labor challenges[38:21] Managing skills across job families[42:49] Finding allies in unexpected departments[52:10] Improving Kyndryl resource planning[53:02] Future workforce tracking challengesBuilding a Culture First, Systems SecondWhile it may be tempting for HR to leap into systems and processes, Maryjo insists that everything should begin with culture and purpose. Kyndryl first articulated the culture they wanted to be by conducting research with customers and employees to distill the company’s values. These values of kinship, growth, restlessness, empathy, and devotion to shared success shaped the Kyndryl way and anchored every subsequent transformation, from talent architecture to performance management.Shaping the Workforce with Skills Data—Not Just HeadcountMaryjo describes her central CHRO responsibility as keeping as many people employed as possible through responsible enterprise stewardship. That means managing the direct workforce and aggressively addressing contractor and vended labor. Instead of allowing easy backdoor entry for outsourced services when headcount was reduced, Kyndryl prioritized retraining and reallocating internal employees—a strategy that cut the vended workforce by 50% and drove up redeployment to nearly 80%.Critical to this approach was creating a unifying global job architecture and skills taxonomy, merging inventory across employees, contractors, and service vendors. This required overcoming system fragmentation and forging new alliances with procurement, IT, and legal to track all labor, however it came in, and create transparency across all workstreams.From Data Layers to Business ImpactWhile a single-pane-of-glass HR system was the dream for Maryjo, the reality meant integrating financial, HR, procurement, and vendor management systems and building semantic layers that could track, reconcile, and translate skill data at scale. No single software suite could do it all, so success depended on building partnerships with IT and developing custom layers, predictive tools, and AI agents for matching talent to customer needs.Kyndryl anchored its use of AI in solving real business and customer problems rather than tracking individual productivity. The most important thing is to have someone ready to go with the skills that the customer needs to do that piece of work. Resources & People MentionedEightfoldSkyHiveTechWolfWorkdayDave Ulrich Connect with Guest NameMaryjo Charbonnier on LinkedIn Connect With RedThread ResearchWebsite: RedThread ResearchOn LinkedInSubscribe to WORKPLACE STORIES
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    59 分
  • Preparing Students for the AI-Driven Workplace: Michael Noble

    Preparing Students for the AI-Driven Workplace: Michael Noble
    2026/07/08
    Artificial intelligence is transforming not just our workplaces, but the very nature of education and professional development. Our guest this week, Michael Noble, Vice President of Academic Program Development at Western Governors University (WGU), shares his views on how higher education can rise to the current moment, bridging the gap between academic learning, employable skills, and the changing needs of the workforce. We also dig into how WGU’s innovative approach might become a template for organizations and educational institutions navigating the AI era. You will want to hear this episode if you are interested in...[00:00] Upskilling entry-level talent with AI[03:59] Integrating liberal arts with tech skills[09:34] Discussing higher education trends[15:36] Creating personalized skill-based curriculums[26:13] Leveraging WGU's alumni network[29:14] Challenges in employee development[31:43] Impact of AI on job training[35:17] Integrating philosophy into the curriculum[48:40] Specialization vs. flexibility[55:28] Finding fulfillment through creative workFrom Degree to CompetencyHigher education is experiencing a moment of reckoning around its relevance for today's job market. Traditional models have long focused on grades and credit hours, but WGU centers its model on competency-based education. Students demonstrate mastery of validated competencies—skills verified through rigorous assessment, rather than simply accumulating classroom hours or participation credits. This approach better aligns with employer demands, emphasizing what learners can actually do rather than what they have passively experienced.WGU’s adaptability has enabled it to cater to working adults seeking career advancement, and to students entering directly from high school, who now make up over 40% of its enrollment. By focusing on practical skills and direct assessment, WGU is closing the gap between academic learning and the immediate needs of employers, allowing for more individualized and efficient upskilling.The Power and Challenge of University-Corporate PartnershipsWith AI and automation taking over many entry-level tasks, companies and universities face a new imperative: how do we prepare new hires for roles that require immediate impact and advanced judgment, skipping the traditional ramp-up provided by routine tasks? We discuss WGU’s partnerships with companies like CVS Health, where tailored programs help pharmacy techs advance within the organization and are supported by real-time competency and skills data.Internships, micro-internships, and simulated externships emerged as critical solutions for giving students hands-on, relevant experience. Aligning incentives between corporations seeking skilled workers and universities eager to prove their graduates’ real-world readiness could radically reshape how both sectors approach workforce entry.AI as a Catalyst for Change in Learning and DevelopmentAI isn’t just changing what skills are needed, but how learning itself happens. WGU is embracing AI-native tools—virtual assistants for students, personalized learning feedback, and AI-assisted evaluation—to both scale quality learning and support the work of instructors and curriculum developers.This technological shift is also transforming the structure of learning and development teams. Specialists are becoming “augmented generalists,” using AI tools to speed up design, delivery, and personalization, but the need for deep expertise and sound judgment remains crucial. Just because something looks polished doesn’t mean it’s fully accurate or effective.Recognizing that many students lack the networking advantages of elite institutions, WGU is using its growing alumni network, piloting programs that help students connect with industry veterans, and offering achievement “wallets” to showcase their skills and experiences—key ingredients in leveling the playing field for career advancement. Resources & People MentionedOffice of the President Scott Pulsipher Bryan Alexander: Georgetown University Ruth Bader GinsburgMidwest Innocence Project Connect with Michael NobleMichael Noble on LinkedIn Connect With RedThread ResearchWebsite: RedThread ResearchOn LinkedIn
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    58 分
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