Speaker 1: You're listening to a Mom with mea podcast.
Speaker 2: Hello, and welcome to Bizz Your Work Life Sorted. I'm
Speaker 2: m Vernon and today we're diving into something that's probably
Speaker 2: made you fear for your life as well as intrigued
Speaker 2: you at the same time. It's the concept of being
Speaker 2: a personality higher. So the personality higher is someone who
Speaker 2: seems to make everything way more fun that the person
Speaker 2: who somehow manages to have the senior leaders wrapped around
Speaker 2: their little finger, and that the person in the office
Speaker 2: that everyone wants to have afterwork drinks with. So, whether
Speaker 2: you are that person, or you're secretly wanted to be
Speaker 2: that person, or you know this person, this episode is
Speaker 2: going to challenge how you think about personality at work.
Speaker 2: Our career coaches are Michelle Battersbee, who founded Sunroom, and Sophrst,
Speaker 2: who runs her own coaching business, Work Baby, and they're
Speaker 2: breaking down the real tension between vibes and product activity.
Speaker 3: God, this is going to piss some people off, but
Speaker 3: I'm gonna say it, personality hires are arguably more important
Speaker 3: than people that do actual work. Let me explain, let
Speaker 3: me explain.
Speaker 1: Let's explain.
Speaker 3: Anyone can do work. Anyone can be a good employee.
Speaker 3: Anyone can go and then send an email. Anyone can
Speaker 3: do that. It takes a specific type of person to
Speaker 3: keep the company culture fun and like funny and keep
Speaker 3: the office like in good spirits. And that's where we
Speaker 3: come in. That's where personality hires come in, because I
Speaker 3: solely got my corporate job from having a good personality.
Speaker 1: Okay, so you just heard from TikTok creator Daniel Bennett,
Speaker 1: who's obviously the personality higher and he has a very
Speaker 1: interesting argument about the role this type of person plays
Speaker 1: at work, and that's part of what we're going to
Speaker 1: get into today. But first, what is a personality higher
Speaker 1: and is it actually a good or a bad thing?
Speaker 1: So right now I could genuinely go both ways on
Speaker 1: this and I'm a little bit confused. So Michelle, can
Speaker 1: you break this down trus What is it?
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 5: So, a personality high is someone who's typically hired for
Speaker 5: their vibe, charisma, enthusiasm, social skills, or their humor over
Speaker 5: qualifications and technical abilities. So those skills that they do
Speaker 5: have can still be amazing in the workplace. They can
Speaker 5: make the workplace very positive and just a fun and
Speaker 5: happy place to be. I do want to emphasize that
Speaker 5: just because they're hired for those softer skills, let's say
Speaker 5: that doesn't mean that they're not competent. And I think
Speaker 5: that sometimes the discourse on social media around personality highs
Speaker 5: has meant that they don't really have real jobs, and
Speaker 5: it's questioned what they actually do. But personality HighRes can
Speaker 5: often be the people that go into leadership roles because
Speaker 5: they are really good at communicating and they have great adaptability.
Speaker 1: Interesting. I think there's so much in this because I
Speaker 1: originally stuck when I saw that video. I remember thinking, oh, like,
Speaker 1: I sort of want to be the personality higher. I
Speaker 1: remember people at work who were so funny in meetings
Speaker 1: and charismatic, and it's like they always had the ear
Speaker 1: of the senior leaders. They just had this like gravitas almost,
Speaker 1: and I was like, I want to be the personality higher.
Speaker 1: And then I started reading some of the comments, and
Speaker 1: a lot of people were saying like, no, this is
Speaker 1: the person in your university working group who is really
Speaker 1: fun to hang out with but then never actually does
Speaker 1: their part of the project. And I was like, oh, okay,
Speaker 1: so it's actually bad, Like these people aren't actually doing
Speaker 1: the work. But I think it's just an interesting point
Speaker 1: that you raise around. It's not that they're not competent,
Speaker 1: it's just that maybe they're some of those skills in
Speaker 1: terms of like how they communicate their presence at work.
Speaker 1: Maybe that's kind of like elevating them to these more
Speaker 1: senior levels. I think there's a lot in it, though.
Speaker 5: And I think you make really good points because sometimes
Speaker 5: a personality higher might have been hired and there is
Speaker 5: a bit of a skills gap, but a hiring manager
Speaker 5: believes that they can train that person up. There's growth,
Speaker 5: there's potential there, and so I think for some personality hires,
Speaker 5: there will be a bit of a steep learning curve
Speaker 5: once they enter the workplace and they'll have to work
Speaker 5: on that. And in today's world in particular, you're not
Speaker 5: going to survive in the workplace if you're not delivering.
Speaker 5: So I think someone who is a personality higher who
Speaker 5: then isn't actually contributing to the organization in their role
Speaker 5: and reaching their KPIs they're not going to survive. But
Speaker 5: the same can be said for people at the complete
Speaker 5: other end of the spectrum as well, Like if you've
Speaker 5: got personality hires over on the left, and you've got
Speaker 5: an ace, all star, technically brilliant person over on the right.
Speaker 5: But maybe they've got a bit of a bad attitude sometimes,
Speaker 5: maybe they have a bit of a negative demeanor. They
Speaker 5: still reach their KPIs, but they're not actually that pleasant
Speaker 5: to be around. I think that kind of employee could
Speaker 5: also see their growth and career advancements be stifled because.
Speaker 1: It's not just you as an individual delivering your individual
Speaker 1: piece of work. It's actually like an organization is a
Speaker 1: big collection of people, and it's actually part of your
Speaker 1: job to help the whole collection of people also be
Speaker 1: good at their job. It's not just about your little piece. Okay,
Speaker 1: So you also went out on your DMS Michelle, What
Speaker 1: did you get back from the poll that you put up?
Speaker 5: Yeah, so one of my socials because I was just curious,
Speaker 5: like how many people actually consider themselves to be personality highers?
Speaker 5: I mean that could be a completely different conversation, like
Speaker 5: are their people out there that were hired because of
Speaker 5: their personality as opposed to technical skills? Do they even know? Anyway?
Speaker 5: So I went out on my story and I asked,
Speaker 5: do you consider yourself a personality higher twenty eight percent
Speaker 5: said outright yes, forty percent said partially, and thirty two
Speaker 5: percent said no, So the majority of people believe that
Speaker 5: their personality played some part. And then I did ask
Speaker 5: them a question which was, if you answered yes or partially,
Speaker 5: how does your personality show up at work? Which I
Speaker 5: think we'll get into a bit later. And then I asked,
Speaker 5: if you answered no, do you want to bring more
Speaker 5: of your personality to the workplace? And forty six percent
Speaker 5: of people said that they do want to bring their
Speaker 5: personality the work to the workplace. Others said I like
Speaker 5: to keep my personality a secret, and others said I
Speaker 5: don't feel safe to bring my personality to work, which
Speaker 5: I think is also something worthy of consideration.
Speaker 1: Oh man, this is so interesting. Okay, so half people
Speaker 1: actually want to have more personality at work. The piece
Speaker 1: around feeling safe is really important too, So we'll get
Speaker 1: into some of these. It does remind me of a
Speaker 1: post it note that I had on my desk at
Speaker 1: work and it just said don't be boring, and that
Speaker 1: was sort of my reminder to myself, like, bring your
Speaker 1: personality to work. Okay, so this episode is more than
Speaker 1: just another career trend. It is about personality and vibes
Speaker 1: and specifically how to make vibes at work so you're
Speaker 1: happier and your job is easier. There is some science
Speaker 1: behind why vibe is important, so you know. Also, the
Speaker 1: workplace is really changing. Whether you're a gen Z just
Speaker 1: starting out, or you're a millennial manager managing a team,
Speaker 1: or you're running a business, this episode's for you. Okay, Michelle,
Speaker 1: I'm actually very interested to note. Do you consider yourself
Speaker 1: to be a personality higher?
Speaker 5: Yes, I think I'm a personality higher. Can you be
Speaker 5: a personality higher in your own company that you found?
Speaker 1: Why do you think you're a personality higher?
Speaker 5: Like I've been given feedback along the way in my
Speaker 5: career that's led me to think I'm I can deliver
Speaker 5: technically in my area. But I also have been told
Speaker 5: that I bring like a positive attitude. I'm enthusiastic. I
Speaker 5: try to like lighten the mood in stressful situations and
Speaker 5: like remind everyone that this isn't life saving work that
Speaker 5: we're doing here.
Speaker 1: Interesting, So yeah, I think where it was. So and
Speaker 1: then part of this episode is redefining what a personality
Speaker 1: higher actually is and it doesn't mean that you're not
Speaker 1: delivering and doing your job, all right. So I mean
Speaker 1: before starting this episode, I was a bit conflicted because
Speaker 1: I sort of wanted to be a personality higher, but
Speaker 1: I was also sort of judging them as being a
Speaker 1: bit of a joke. So you might be sitting there
Speaker 1: thinking the same thing, but there is something deeper. So, Michelle,
Speaker 1: why is building rapport and vibes at work actually important?
Speaker 5: I'm still just stuck on what you said, because I
Speaker 5: feel like you'd be part personality higher as well.
Speaker 1: Do you feel like you would be? I feel like
Speaker 1: I wasn't funny enough to be a personality higher, so
Speaker 1: I was like, I'm not funny, and I had a
Speaker 1: lot of self doubt around that. I wanted to be
Speaker 1: the person in the room who was like bringing it,
Speaker 1: you know. So I never felt like I was a
Speaker 1: personality higher. But then I started thinking, well, I wasn't
Speaker 1: actually that good at marketing, so was I a personality high?
Speaker 1: And then I went down a shame spiral of imposter syndrome.
Speaker 1: So I'm not going to talk about that anymore.
Speaker 5: You give fun vibes, though, like you bring fun energy
Speaker 5: to working hard, which I also think is what you know,
Speaker 5: bringing your personality to work can also look like so
Speaker 5: maybe that's also another way to think about it. Okay,
Speaker 5: So why this is important. I think there are many
Speaker 5: advantages to being a bit of a personality higher, the
Speaker 5: first one being it's a very competitive hiring market out
Speaker 5: there at the moment in particular, so being likable and
Speaker 5: showing how you aligned to a company's mission can really
Speaker 5: put you ahead of other candidates. So I think it
Speaker 5: can help get you in the door. It also can
Speaker 5: help if you vibe with a hiring manager, you know,
Speaker 5: when you leave an important meeting and you know, I
Speaker 5: think that went well because we just clicked, We just gelled,
Speaker 5: like maybe there was some banter, there was some back
Speaker 5: and forth, maybe you connected on a personal level. I
Speaker 5: think that's also a big part to how this can
Speaker 5: be a bit of a superpower and why it's important
Speaker 5: for people to develop. And a TikTok put this very
Speaker 5: well where they were talking about beers Riz and for
Speaker 5: anyone listening, if you don't know what rizzz. I didn't
Speaker 5: know what RIZ was until about a year ago, which
Speaker 5: I'm ashamed to say because I think I was still
Speaker 5: too late. But charisma is RIZ to gen Z's I
Speaker 5: can't even define it in the right way, which shows
Speaker 5: that I'm truly a millennial. But there was a TikTok
Speaker 5: talking all about biz riz.
Speaker 6: The number one thing I think I got from two
Speaker 6: years at Mackenzie that helped me land a director level
Speaker 6: role at twenty three is literally this notion of developing bizriz.
Speaker 6: Bizriz is essentially a skill to make senior people, whether
Speaker 6: it's your clients or your leaders, to like you, to
Speaker 6: like working with you, to build a relationship, and to
Speaker 6: trust you with the work. Once you get someone to
Speaker 6: like you, you essentially become an EPO baby. You get
Speaker 6: advantaged opportunities and access to new projects, new jobs so much.
Speaker 5: And it really broke down how it helps you build
Speaker 5: rapport and build relationships with senior managers. And this is
Speaker 5: what I love about gen Z and their approach to
Speaker 5: the workforce. It just feels a little bit more casual
Speaker 5: and they're not really scared of hierarchy or traditional power
Speaker 5: roles in the way I think some of the older
Speaker 5: generations were. And this TikTok goes on to remind people
Speaker 5: that your CEO or the head of your department is
Speaker 5: someone's dad, someone's uncle, brother, sister, mother, auntie, and they're
Speaker 5: going home and probably being paid out by the people
Speaker 5: around the table with them. And they live lives and
Speaker 5: have hobbies and have challenges. So being able to unearth
Speaker 5: some of that and remind yourself of that is a
Speaker 5: great way to also develop this in the workplace.
Speaker 6: These really senior leaders were literally somebody's dad or uncle,
Speaker 6: and no matter how intimidating they seemed to sitting across
Speaker 6: from you in the boardroom, later that night, they would
Speaker 6: probably sit across the dinner table from their gen z
Speaker 6: kid who would literally be cringing at them for I
Speaker 6: don't know, doing something kind of silly. And then you realize,
Speaker 6: I don't know like Mike the CFO at this huge bank,
Speaker 6: just your middle school friend Sam's dad who would bring
Speaker 6: watermelon to the soccer practice. And that mindset shift made
Speaker 6: it so much easier for me to be confident and
Speaker 6: to be able to talk to them as if they
Speaker 6: were also people, which obviously they are. No matter how
Speaker 6: senior the man, at the end of the day, they
Speaker 6: are still just someone's chuggy uncle.
Speaker 1: You'll be fine. There's a healthy side to that in
Speaker 1: not putting these senior leaders on this huge pedestal and
Speaker 1: just realizing like, hey, everyone's kind of human. So what
Speaker 1: about the fact Michelle though, when it comes to stuff
Speaker 1: like building rapport and connecting with people at work, that
Speaker 1: it is easier for some people than it is for others.
Speaker 1: Like I know some people and a lot of young
Speaker 1: people that I talk to, they really struggle with this.
Speaker 1: So is vibe something you're just born with or is
Speaker 1: it something that you can learn?
Speaker 5: Yeah? I love this question because I feel like both
Speaker 5: of us have done some unlearning as we've researched this topic.
Speaker 5: And my unlearning was I did think it was the
Speaker 5: kind of thing you were just born with, like a
Speaker 5: bit of an X factor, those people that just have
Speaker 5: those contagious personalities where they're always on, always happy, always
Speaker 5: bubbly and positive. But there's an amazing TikTok from Hannah
Speaker 5: gets Hired that taught me a lot, and she shared
Speaker 5: a stack. It was from a Princeton study and it
Speaker 5: showed that eighty two percent of how people perceive you
Speaker 5: comes down to one trait.
Speaker 7: You know, those people that are just so contagious to
Speaker 7: be around. It feels like everybody likes them, they can
Speaker 7: do no wrong. You can actually like hack your way
Speaker 7: into being that person with just minor changes to the
Speaker 7: way that you.
Speaker 1: Talk to other people.
Speaker 7: So this characteristic that Princeton Research founds accounts for eighty
Speaker 7: two percent of how other people perceive you is called charisma.
Speaker 7: And what sets charisma apart from other personality traits is
Speaker 7: that you're not born with it. It's actually something that
Speaker 7: you can practice and grow and develop over time.
Speaker 5: And she goes on to explain that you can kind
Speaker 5: of hack your way to being a bit more charismatic
Speaker 5: because charisma is made up of two things, those things
Speaker 5: being warmth and competence, and apparently most people over index
Speaker 5: on one or the other. So maybe you're really warm
Speaker 5: and bubbly but you don't command that respect, or perhaps
Speaker 5: you're really competent, but you're super blunt, straight shooting and
Speaker 5: you just come off like a bit of an asshole.
Speaker 5: And what I also loved about this was the tips
Speaker 5: she gives to then dial up warmth or competence are
Speaker 5: really really simple, Like, these aren't groundbreaking things, and you
Speaker 5: can literally just start doing this today. So if you
Speaker 5: feel like you're the sort of person that needs to
Speaker 5: dial up on the warmth, it's as simple as nodding
Speaker 5: along when someone's talking, offering a smile, leaning in, or
Speaker 5: if you're this sort of person who feels like you
Speaker 5: need to dial up competence, just speaking with a little
Speaker 5: bit more confidence, maybe slowing it down or speeding it up,
Speaker 5: whatever you think is more, you know, the thing that
Speaker 5: you're needing to work on, and speaking with down tones
Speaker 5: as opposed to upward inflections. I think it well, I
Speaker 5: think I do the upward speaking. I putink I've done
Speaker 5: it just then. But yeah, I found it fascinating.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think it's really interesting that you do think
Speaker 1: it's something that you boorn me or you think it's
Speaker 1: really hard, but maybe there's some small changes that we
Speaker 1: can start to adopt. What else did you get from
Speaker 1: your DM's Michelle?
Speaker 5: Okay, so one of the other questions that I asked
Speaker 5: in my DMS was how does your personality show up
Speaker 5: in the workplace? So I think some of these examples
Speaker 5: could be really good for just getting across how simple
Speaker 5: it may be. I'd say I have the skills, but
Speaker 5: vibe is executing regardless of it being in my skill set.
Speaker 5: With enthusiasm, I improve the workplace culture leading through tough
Speaker 5: client combos and supporting my team. Positivity, enthusiasm, and a
Speaker 5: hunger to learn. I always share a smile. I boost
Speaker 5: the spirits of others by encouraging them, and I organize
Speaker 5: social events. Oh, this one's good. I'm really good at
Speaker 5: reading the room, and I understand what makes people tick,
Speaker 5: and I craft com accordingly. I always stay positive and
Speaker 5: up for the challenge. I'm happy to try things even
Speaker 5: if I'm not one hundred percent sure. I've been told
Speaker 5: my X factor is brightness and freshness in a very
Speaker 5: corporate and traditional environment.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think there's some really interesting stuff in that, Michelle,
Speaker 1: because it's like, yes, you can have some of these
Speaker 1: behaviors that make you come across as warm when you're
Speaker 1: talking to people, but it's actually way more than that, right,
Speaker 1: So a lot of the stuff I'm hearing coming through
Speaker 1: is things like, you know, the ability to stay positive
Speaker 1: when stuff gets hard, or this like freshness that you're
Speaker 1: bringing to work, thoughtfulness around how you're making other people
Speaker 1: feel the impact you're having on other people. So we
Speaker 1: wanted to actually speak to a real life personality higher
Speaker 1: So we've spoken to someone who works on an actual
Speaker 1: Vibes team, and yes, that is real because it says
Speaker 1: so on LinkedIn that's coming up after this.
Speaker 5: So did you know there are companies with whole department
Speaker 5: and dedicated to vibe. When I was at Bumble, we
Speaker 5: had a role that was called Curator of Vibes. The
Speaker 5: people that held that role genuinely were the vibs people.
Speaker 5: They kept things fresh, positive, bright. But I think it's
Speaker 5: important to recognize that you don't need to have dedicated
Speaker 5: roles or departments to have positive attitudes, personality, fun, camaraderie
Speaker 5: existing in an organization. So so you got up with
Speaker 5: Sana from Camber, who's in the Vibe team aka Workplace Experiences.
Speaker 4: Firstly, I think every company should have a vibe team,
Speaker 4: but until then, I think everybody can be their own
Speaker 4: vibe team. Really, it can be pretty overwhelming the thought
Speaker 4: of that, but I think it's important to just start small.
Speaker 4: I think the most iconic vibe people I've known in
Speaker 4: my life, and the most iconic personality highs if you will,
Speaker 4: are the people who who are genuine and come to
Speaker 4: work and want to make genuine connections with people. So
Speaker 4: I'd recommend start small. You know, creating a vibe doesn't
Speaker 4: mean like planning huge events. It's about making people feel
Speaker 4: like connected and getting to know people, really ask real questions,
Speaker 4: celebrate people's wins, and just bring your personality to work.
Speaker 4: I think that's super key, like authenticity. Really just make
Speaker 4: work feel like human, you know, and the vibe will
Speaker 4: just naturally follow. Work is hard, work can be a
Speaker 4: little boring and monotonous, and I think bringing joy to
Speaker 4: your co workers live in just a little freaky weird
Speaker 4: way is the cherry on top of the day. I
Speaker 4: find even when I'm being vibed, I feel like it
Speaker 4: puts a little pep in my steps and it makes
Speaker 4: me want to do a better job, Like I feel
Speaker 4: more enthusiastic essentially. So I think it's so important that
Speaker 4: everybody is their own workplaces. Vibe team just makes life
Speaker 4: more fun and interesting and weird.
Speaker 1: It's quite a privileged position that a company is in
Speaker 1: to be able to hire an entire ViBe's team. But
Speaker 1: the things that I spoke about with her are relevant
Speaker 1: for anyone, whether you're an individual small business, So you know,
Speaker 1: you can take these principles. First of all, I just
Speaker 1: want to say she is such a vibe. So after
Speaker 1: the conversation, I was like this pumping the air and
Speaker 1: she is just like giving energy, she's giving vibe. There's
Speaker 1: two really important things that came out of the conversation,
Speaker 1: and the first is around this idea of the personality
Speaker 1: higher is part of this anti fake movement that we're seeing,
Speaker 1: and this is really a longing that we all have
Speaker 1: to just be a bit more real at work, which
Speaker 1: is a bit over the fakeness, the like corporate speak
Speaker 1: and the bullshit of it all. And you know, I
Speaker 1: even think to some of the accounts that I love following.
Speaker 1: One of them is the Aussie Corporate and the other
Speaker 1: is Corporate Sween. And if you don't know these accounts
Speaker 1: on TikTok and Instagram, we're going to put them in
Speaker 1: the show notes. They are very funny and it's just
Speaker 1: this like parody satire, taking the piece out of how
Speaker 1: we all act at work, and they are brilliant. But
Speaker 1: I think you know, the reason we love these meme
Speaker 1: accounts is we just have this craving to be a
Speaker 1: bit more human and a bit more real. And I
Speaker 1: think people think the personality Higher is about being the loudest,
Speaker 1: it's the most extroverted, it's the funniest, but it's actually not.
Speaker 1: It's just about being the uest you, and it's about
Speaker 1: not being scared to be your real self and to
Speaker 1: just be a bit more genuine at work. That really
Speaker 1: shifted my kind of perception. And then the other thing
Speaker 1: that really came through, So yes, bring yourself to work
Speaker 1: and be real. But then also it's not just about
Speaker 1: being the USU. It's about how you as an individual
Speaker 1: is bringing out the best in the collective. Right. So
Speaker 1: they have this thing in onboarding at Canvas. Part of
Speaker 1: their onboarding is how to vibe, and they have a
Speaker 1: line that says, when not the vibe, you're the vibe.
Speaker 1: Everyone has this in them and we all contribute to
Speaker 1: the vibe. It's about like, what are you doing to
Speaker 1: celebrate the uniqueness and awesomeness in everyone else that you
Speaker 1: work with. If you take the flip side of that,
Speaker 1: it's like, what might you be doing that's actually dragging
Speaker 1: other people down in the way that you're kind of
Speaker 1: showing up and acting at work. And there's this expression
Speaker 1: there's two types of people at work. There's drains and
Speaker 1: there's radiators. And drains are the people that are like
Speaker 1: taking the energy out of the room. And the radiators,
Speaker 1: the ones that like they're just like radiating warmth, reflecting
Speaker 1: back the best and bringing out the best in other people.
Speaker 1: You know, drains take and radiators give. I think about
Speaker 1: that so much in reflecting on my own work experiences,
Speaker 1: Like when stuff got really hard, it was almost this
Speaker 1: memurification of the experience we were all having that got
Speaker 1: me through. So I think about the hardest projects where
Speaker 1: like stuff just gets dark sometimes everyone's working so hard,
Speaker 1: you're dealing with so many problems, and then someone will
Speaker 1: like say something in a meeting and then everyone starts,
Speaker 1: you know, repeating this little tagline, and then someone will
Speaker 1: take the effort to go and put her on a
Speaker 1: T shirt, and like, that's the stuff that actually gets
Speaker 1: you through, these shared experiences that are actually bringing us together.
Speaker 1: She did tell a story that I loved as well,
Speaker 1: which is, you know, back to that point around, it's
Speaker 1: not just about being the most extroverted and the funniest.
Speaker 1: Shush said, there's a software engineer who's like very quiet,
Speaker 1: and you would not call him a personality higher on
Speaker 1: the surface, but he actually has like little in jokes
Speaker 1: with like one hundred different people. So he is going
Speaker 1: out of his way to like build these little micro
Speaker 1: connections with everyone he works with, and he is loved.
Speaker 1: And I honestly worked with so many people like that
Speaker 1: in my workplaces. So it's not just about being the loudest,
Speaker 1: it's about how you're making other people feel. And we
Speaker 1: should all be contributing to work being a funner and
Speaker 1: more real place. So you might be.
Speaker 5: Sitting there thinking what does this actually mean for me?
Speaker 5: How can I actually do this at work? So let's
Speaker 5: talk about some practical actions.
Speaker 1: So I was thinking, there's sort of like two parts
Speaker 1: of this, right. There's you know, you yourself, be interesting and
Speaker 1: don't be scared to be yourself at work, and then
Speaker 1: there's also be interested in other people. So let's talk
Speaker 1: about the first one. So when I was chatting to
Speaker 1: Sanna from the Vibe team at Camber, she kept saying,
Speaker 1: just like, you know, celebrate your freak. We're all freaks.
Speaker 1: It's okay to be different. For me, that really is like,
Speaker 1: don't be scared to kind of bring your interests and
Speaker 1: your stories to work and to be yourself. One interesting
Speaker 1: thing I think it's just worth calling out is something
Speaker 1: I hear a lot from managers, particularly managers of gen
Speaker 1: z is they're saying, yes, we love the authentic self,
Speaker 1: and please bring your authentic self to work. But there
Speaker 1: also is a level of professionalism where it's like, don't
Speaker 1: treat the workplace like it's your sharehouse. So I do
Speaker 1: just want to flag that and say it's not like
Speaker 1: we're saying turn up at work and act exactly how
Speaker 1: you do with your mates at home. But I do
Speaker 1: think it's about, like, celebrate your interest. Don't be afraid
Speaker 1: to kind of talk about what you do outside of
Speaker 1: work that's interesting and unique about you. The other one
Speaker 1: that I think I probably have more tips on is
Speaker 1: around how you can kind of put effort into building
Speaker 1: connection with other people. So Sin, I really spoke about
Speaker 1: this idea of starting small. It's not about going and
Speaker 1: organizing some massive social event. It's actually first just taking
Speaker 1: an interest in other people. And I would love to
Speaker 1: hear some of your tips on this too, Michelle. One
Speaker 1: thing that I really love to do was when I
Speaker 1: was doing things at work that made me feel uncomfortable
Speaker 1: or were a little bit hard. So say, for example,
Speaker 1: you presenting in a team meeting, or you know, you
Speaker 1: send out that big rap email to a really big
Speaker 1: list of people. I would just recognize how that made
Speaker 1: me feel, and then when I saw other people also
Speaker 1: doing those things, I would actually put the effort into
Speaker 1: actually telling them if you thought they did a good job.
Speaker 1: So like say someone presents in a team meeting, so
Speaker 1: often it will be like that was really good in
Speaker 1: our head, and we don't actually go and tell them,
Speaker 1: so they take the time to send the Slack message
Speaker 1: or have a chat with them after and say like
Speaker 1: I really like this thing that you just did, or
Speaker 1: you know, that was a great rap email that you
Speaker 1: just sent out. Another little tip is just like being
Speaker 1: interested in people's lives. So you know, if someone's like
Speaker 1: I've got this really big client presentation coming up in
Speaker 1: a month and like I'm really worried about I'm really
Speaker 1: working towards it. I like putting people's little milestones in
Speaker 1: my calendar just to remind myself to check in and
Speaker 1: ask them like, hey, how did that go. I know
Speaker 1: that sounds a bit like over the top, but just
Speaker 1: do it for the special people that you want to
Speaker 1: build a connection with.
Speaker 5: I've never actually done this, but I just saw this
Speaker 5: online from a founder that I really admire. Maggie sellers
Speaker 5: who will also put her account in the show notes.
Speaker 5: But she just gave some tips actually around how to
Speaker 5: build rapport, and I thought it was a good one.
Speaker 5: If you're having meetings with important people, after you finish
Speaker 5: the meeting, send yourself an email with the things that
Speaker 5: you discussed with them that really stood out, especially if
Speaker 5: they're about their personal life. And then make the subject
Speaker 5: of the email their name. And then when you see
Speaker 5: them next, search in your inbox by their name. Remember
Speaker 5: the things that you discussed the last time you were
Speaker 5: with them, if it was a month ago, three months ago,
Speaker 5: and then bring those things up in the next meeting,
Speaker 5: and it just demonstrates that you actually were listening and
Speaker 5: cared and you enjoyed what they were talking about.
Speaker 1: Ah, that's so smart. I've never heard that before. That
Speaker 1: would be so amazing. If you're someone who has works
Speaker 1: with a lot of clients and kind of exit on
Speaker 1: a partners as well, that's amazing. Don't miss an opportunity
Speaker 1: to mean things at work. So started a game of
Speaker 1: these gouplet you know again, it's just like back to
Speaker 1: those small things. Someone in their team was preparing for
Speaker 1: a marathon and they all recorded just like a funny
Speaker 1: little video of everyone running on a treadmill and saying
Speaker 1: congratulations to this person. I mean, there's so many examples.
Speaker 1: I think creative agencies are so good at this. So
Speaker 1: it'd actually love to hear from some of the people
Speaker 1: listening about things that you guys have done. The last
Speaker 1: point I make is this ability to sometimes laugh at work,
Speaker 1: and to be able to laugh at yourself and to
Speaker 1: laugh at other people when they're funny. It just like
Speaker 1: bring some lightness to work because it is really hard,
Speaker 1: and we spend a lot of time at work. It's
Speaker 1: really hard. It can be very serious. But let's sort
Speaker 1: of where we can try to bring some of that
Speaker 1: lightness and freshness to it so we know the hardest
Speaker 1: part of this is often the inspiration and the examples.
Speaker 1: So Michelle and I had an idea. We're going to
Speaker 1: be building the biz Vib's Library. This is going to
Speaker 1: be a free resource that is going to help to
Speaker 1: inspire you and make your lives easier. If you are
Speaker 1: trying to bring more vibes to work, we want you
Speaker 1: to send us your dms to the biz Instagram account
Speaker 1: and tell us your examples that you've seen at work.
Speaker 1: So This is either examples that you've done yourself or
Speaker 1: things you've seen other people do to help bring vibes
Speaker 1: and personality to work. And we're going to send out
Speaker 1: this ViBe's library in our newsletter. If you're not subscribed
Speaker 1: to that, the link is in the show notes, so
Speaker 1: make sure you're signed up. Michelle, kick us off with
Speaker 1: one of your own examples.
Speaker 5: Sorry to toot my own horn, but at Sunroom, one
Speaker 5: of the things we did, and we have always had
Speaker 5: a small company, is we would get each member of
Speaker 5: our team to do a presentation on their life life
Speaker 5: and it was always the most wholesome, sweetest eye opening
Speaker 5: thing where each member of our team, over like a
Speaker 5: lunch period each week, would run us through a PowerPoint
Speaker 5: like where they grew up, their families, jobs, hobbies, where
Speaker 5: they've traveled, and it was such a nice way to
Speaker 5: genuinely get to know people, especially in today's world where
Speaker 5: there's so much working from home. Some people might work
Speaker 5: from home one hundred percent of the time and so
Speaker 5: you're not getting those like coffee catch ups or water
Speaker 5: cooler chats. So I always loved this and people just
Speaker 5: surprised us. And it was this rolling activity that we
Speaker 5: would do. It was called like a life story presentation.
Speaker 1: So I thought we could finish up. Michelle on a
Speaker 1: message that they got from Sana, the vibe expert at Canava.
Speaker 1: So I sort of asked her, you know, what would
Speaker 1: you like people to take away from this episode? And
Speaker 1: with so much brightness in her voice, she said, you know,
Speaker 1: we've all got it in us to change this. Life
Speaker 1: is hard. Work doesn't need to be so bad for
Speaker 1: the person who's sitting there who hates their job. I
Speaker 1: want to inspire you. I want you to know, you know, hey,
Speaker 1: I am a freak and that's a good thing, and
Speaker 1: you know I can bring that to work. And she
Speaker 1: said to me, I want to empower everyone to be
Speaker 1: the personality Higher and I just thought it was so beautiful.
Speaker 5: Love that so much.
Speaker 2: The biggest takeaway from today's episode is that being a
Speaker 2: personality Higher isn't about being fake or shrinking responsibility, thank god,
Speaker 2: It's about combining authentic personality with real contribution. As we've learned,
Speaker 2: if all you bring other vibes, you won't last long
Speaker 2: in today's workplace. If you want more tips on bringing
Speaker 2: personality to work while maintaining productivity, make sure you check
Speaker 2: out our bez newsletter this week because we'll be sharing
Speaker 2: our Vibes Library. It's a collection of real examples from
Speaker 2: real workplaces that showcase exactly how to strike that perfect balance.
Speaker 2: And don't forget to follow us on Instagram at bez
Speaker 2: by Mama Mia. We post so much on there and
Speaker 2: we'd have to hear your thoughts on personality highs and
Speaker 2: workplace culture. Please comment or send us a DM. Thank
Speaker 2: you so much for listening. I will see you on
Speaker 2: Thursday for Biz Inbox so we answer your biggest workplace
Speaker 2: and career dilemmas. See ya. Mamma Maya acknowledges the traditional
Speaker 2: owners of land and waters that this podcast is recorded
Speaker 2: on