Resilience at Google

After a mass experiment in working from home over the past two years, companies are embarking on a new chapter of hybrid work. Teams are once again connecting at the office, turning virtual “water-cooler” chats into in-person conversations. But there are new stressors and uncertainties, like striking a sustainable balance between valuable face-to-face interactions and the flexibility of working from home. So how do we design a hybrid work experience optimized for our teams and our goals that also honors our individual wellbeing and needs?

In this episode, Kendall Kazor of Google’s People Development Team speaks to Dr. Nicholas Bloom, a professor of economics at Stanford and a leading global expert on remote and hybrid work. He provides the latest research on the future of work, and how to maximize our productivity while maintaining team cohesion and wellbeing in the hybrid environment. Clinical sports psychologist Dr. Adam O’Neil joins Bloom in the conversation, offering insight on how we can pair empathy and compassion to successfully navigate this transition.

We live in the era of teamwork. Collaboration is celebrated as the solution to most of our challenges, helping us channel diverse perspectives and move the ball forward on difficult tasks. But research reveals that over-collaboration might be hurting us more than it’s helping, particularly in the hybrid workspace.

Google People Development Team’s Kendall Kazor asks Dr. Rob Cross, a professor of global leadership at Babson College and author of “Beyond Collaboration Overload,” about the potential pitfalls of over-collaboration. Rob is joined by Dr. Kensa Gunter, a clinical sports psychologist who provides perspective about the collaborative footprints and costs on the very teammates we are hoping to help.

Together, Rob and Kensa teach us how we can maximize our time and efforts and be energizers for our co-workers, our families, and ourselves.

Sometimes it seems our focus is everywhere except where we need it to be, and with the many demands on our attention in the office and at home, it can be difficult to decide where and how to direct our limited energies. How do we hone our attention skills to improve productivity and relish the present moment — all at once?

In this episode, Kendall Kazor, part of Google’s People Development team, interviews Dr. Amishi Jha, a psychology professor and director of the Contemplative Neuroscience UMindfulness Initiative at the University of Miami and a leading expert on focus and attention. They’re joined by mental performance coach Lauren Johnson. Together, they discuss key takeaways from Jha’s bestselling book “Peak Mind,” and teach us how to train our awareness for peak performance.

Why do some of our best ideas come to us when we’re not sitting in front of a screen? And why are we our most productive after taking a break? The answers lie in the power of rest and recovery, and also pose new questions about how to better structure our work-life balance to recharge our productivity and creativity, instead of depleting them.

The host of this season’s Resilience at Google podcast, Kendall Kazor, part of Google’s People Development team, introduces a conversation on how to best support “productive creatives” in a hybrid work environment. Google’s Head of Resilience, Dr. Lauren Whitt, speaks to Rahaf Harfoush — adjunct professor at Sciences Po Paris, anthropologist, and author of the bestselling book “Hustle and Float” — as well as Dr. Mustafa Sarkar, a professor of sports and performance psychology at Nottingham Trent University in the UK. Together, they explain why creativity and productivity are not mutually exclusive, and how balancing periods of hustle with restorative periods of “float” can improve our work performance and our personal wellbeing.

Together, they provide new insights on the optimal times and approaches to fresh starts to help us meet the moments that matter the most to us.