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Why team silos cause failure (and how to fix your work design)
890. Are your teams clashing instead of collaborating? When balls are dropped and fingers are pointed, the problem usually isn’t your people—it’s your work design. If your team is "crushing it" but still missing goals, your productivity is being throttled by a lack of alignment.
In this episode, Rachel explains why "cascading" directives without cross-functional alignment creates organizational chaos. Using a real-world biotech case study, she reveals how to move from team silos to a high-performing system where productivity and well-being thrive together.
You’ll learn how to:
- Align leadership layers before deploying goals to prevent conflicting incentives.
- Shift from "demanding" to "inviting" to unlock hidden cross-team productivity.
- Turn daily workflows into employee development opportunities without adding more meetings.
Stop blaming the people and start looking at the system. Learn how to Work Better By Design to drive sustainable results.
Modern Mentor is a Quick and Dirty Tips Podcast, hosted by Rachel Cooke!
Have a question for Modern Mentor? Email: modernmentor@quickanddirtytips.com
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914. Five moves to tell a better story in your year-end review
10:23||Ep. 914914. How do you get ready for your year-end review? And should you be starting now? Most of us reduce our professional story to the obvious stuff – titles, job descriptions, the big projects – and lose the truest evidence of how we actually work. Borrowing a page from college-admissions expert Sara Harberson, Rachel walks through five moves to uncover your fuller professional story, with enough time for year-end. Modern Mentor is a Quick and Dirty Tips Podcast, hosted by Rachel Cooke!Find more from Rachel at LeadAboveNoise.com.Have a question for Modern Mentor? Email: modernmentor@quickanddirtytips.com Discover more from Modern Mentor!FacebookLinkedInNewsletterTranscripts available on your podcast app or QuickandDirtyTips.com
913. The unsexy fix for meetings, deadlines, and cross-team conflict
12:16||Ep. 913913. When something's broken at work, we reach for the big fix — the reorg, the new tool, the strategy overhaul. But ask people to describe their perfect coffee and they'll say rich, dark, bold. Put a cup in front of them and they reach for weak and milky. Rachel Cooke applies that same gap to work, where what's holding you back usually isn't strategy. It's the thousand small snags you've stopped noticing. Here's how to find one and ease it from right where you sit.Modern Mentor is a Quick and Dirty Tips Podcast, hosted by Rachel Cooke!Find more from Rachel at LeadAboveNoise.com.Have a question for Modern Mentor? Email: modernmentor@quickanddirtytips.com Discover more from Modern Mentor!FacebookLinkedInNewsletterTranscripts available on your podcast app or QuickandDirtyTips.com
912. How to handle uncertainty at work when your boss doesn't have the answers
10:10||Ep. 912912. Your boss used to have answers. Now they've got questions. It feels destabilizing - but Rachel makes the case that this is the opening of a lifetime. When certainty disappears, the old rules about who has the answers go with it. Four bold moves for a moment that's wide open.Modern Mentor is a Quick and Dirty Tips Podcast, hosted by Rachel Cooke!Find more from Rachel at LeadAboveNoise.com.Have a question for Modern Mentor? Email: modernmentor@quickanddirtytips.com Discover more from Modern Mentor!FacebookLinkedInNewsletterTranscripts available on your podcast app or QuickandDirtyTips.com
911. How to build workplace community in a remote AI-driven world
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910. Billy Eichner on why success comes from love not trauma
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909. Why your hard work isn't paying off and what's really slowing progress
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616. A fresh approach to managing burnout
27:31||Ep. 616On a road trip, tackling a summer cleanup, or just catching up on podcasts? QDT has you covered with Summer Saturday encores from your favorite shows. See the full Summer Saturday lineup on Spotify and enjoy this episode, which first aired in September 2020.Episode 616 - Burnout is more than just a feeling—untamed, it can pose a real medical risk. Dr. Greg Hammer, an intensive care physician, Stanford University professor, and author of the book GAIN Without Pain: The Happiness Handbook for Medical Professionals, shares his simple, medically-backed framework for conquering burnout and finding your healthier, happier place.Modern Mentor is a Quick and Dirty Tips Podcast, hosted by Rachel Cooke!Find more from Rachel at LeadAboveNoise.com.Have a question for Modern Mentor? Email: modernmentor@quickanddirtytips.com Discover more from Modern Mentor!FacebookLinkedInNewsletterTranscripts available on your podcast app or QuickandDirtyTips.com.
697. When it comes to managing, do I do it fast or right? (Reissue)
08:31||Ep. 697697. We get a lot of mixed messaging when it comes to managing the tension between speed and efficiency. We need to be sure—to have the data, to have done the research and the analysis before deciding or implementing. But also, we need to be agile, move quickly, test-and-learn, and not fall into analysis-paralysis. How do we find the middle ground?Modern Mentor is a Quick and Dirty Tips Podcast, hosted by Rachel Cooke!Find more from Rachel at LeadAboveNoise.com.Have a question for Modern Mentor? Email: modernmentor@quickanddirtytips.com Discover more from Modern Mentor!FacebookLinkedInNewsletterTranscripts available on your podcast app or QuickandDirtyTips.com. The episode transcript can be found here.
582. The awesome power of "No"
08:46||Ep. 582On a road trip, tackling a summer cleanup, or just catching up on podcasts? QDT has you covered with Summer Saturday encores from your favorite shows. See the full Summer Saturday lineup on Spotify and enjoy this episode, which first aired in February 2020.Episode 582: Saying "no" is actually makes you more successful at work. These essential strategies will help you set workplace boundaries with grace. Modern Mentor is a Quick and Dirty Tips Podcast, hosted by Rachel Cooke!Find more from Rachel at LeadAboveNoise.com.Have a question for Modern Mentor? Email: modernmentor@quickanddirtytips.com Discover more from Modern Mentor!FacebookLinkedInNewsletterTranscripts available on your podcast app or QuickandDirtyTips.com.