Season 3 Episode 30: A Bad Idea That Refuses to Die Performance management systems: the corporate treadmill to nowhere. Organisations preach the gospel of improvement, then build systems so convoluted they’d make Kafka weep. Ratings are political, feedback is a weapon, and calibration meetings resemble gladiatorial combat. The result? A process so dark and detached from reality it should be a corporate snuff movie. Jimmy Barber and James Lawther aren’t here to sugarcoat it. They’re here to dissect why these systems fail: it’s because they’re designed by “Human Resource Professionals” who don’t understand humans. The hosts pull no punches: from the absurdity of ranking employees like … [Read more...]
Everything at Work Is Really About Status
Season 3 Episode 30: With Ceri Newton-Sargunar Ever wondered why your team’s brilliant technical expert turns into a bumbling fool the second they’re promoted? Or why your boss would rather launch a doomed rocket than admit a mistake? Welcome to the brutal, biological truth: status is the invisible force driving every decision, conflict, and ego in your workplace. In this eye-opening episode, Jimmy and James are joined by Ceri Newton-Sargunar—neuroscientist, chaos theorist, and self-proclaimed "ologist"—to dissect how our primal need for status (success, power, or virtue) shapes behaviour, from boardroom power plays to the quiet despair of middle managers. Ceri reveals why even flat … [Read more...]
Fitting In: Is the Corporate Mask Exhausting You?
Season 3 – Episode 21: With Dawn Wray Fitting in at work isn’t just about wearing the right shirt or laughing at the boss’s jokes—it’s about survival. Or at least, that’s how it feels. This week on A Job Done Well, James and Jimmy are joined by Gestalt psychotherapist Dawn Wray to dissect the dark art of "fitting in" and why it’s more psychologically taxing than a Monday morning spreadsheet. It’s not about your social skills. It’s about the ancient, visceral patterns of belonging—or not—that shape how you show up at work, how you hide, and how you might just lose yourself in the process. Dawn pulls no punches: fitting in isn’t just uncomfortable, it’s exhausting. It’s the constant, … [Read more...]
How to Make Difficult Conversations Easy
Season 3 – Episode 7: With Amanda Gilbert In this episode of "A Job Done Well," James Lawther and Jimmy Barber are joined by learning and development expert Amanda Gilbert to tackle a topic we all face but often dread: difficult conversations at work (and beyond).After a quick catch-up (including university choices and Jimmy’s book recommendation for every man who has a mother), the team discuss why tough conversations feel so challenging—and how we can handle them better. Amanda introduces the "Ladder of Inference" model, helping us see how our assumptions and stories can unnecessarily escalate situations (including James’ run-in with a taxi driver!). Amanda shows how quickly we can jump … [Read more...]
Can You Make Work a Source of Vitality?
Season 3 – Episode 5: With Ben Simpson Do you end each day full of energy or drained and in need of recovery? This week's guest, Ben Simpson, believes that our working lives should be a source of vitality, and not something we have to recover from, and he shares his insights on how to achieve that. Ben is the Chair of the Deming Alliance in the UK and co-founder of VitalOrg, so he knows plenty about what makes organisations and people tick. Plus, you hear from hosts James Lawther and Jimmy Barber to see if their working lives were ever a source of vitality. If that isn't enough, James takes a walk down memory lane, visiting universities with his daughter, whilst Jimmy is just back … [Read more...]