For the Love of Work
To say there’s some pressure to distinguish yourself at work and not get lost in a gallery grid of Zoom tiles right now is quite the understatement.
But Professor Sonia Kang has your back: as the host of a new podcast series For the Love of Work, which helps you to feel like your best self at work, she explores how to find fulfillment and make the most of your career.
The new seven-part series is made possible by Rogers and covers a range of topics designed to inspire resilience and enhance the employee experience.
“Having been a huge fan of podcasts for many years now, it’s such a thrill to launch this series,” says Kang, Canada Research Chair in Identity, Diversity and Inclusion, and an associate professor in organizational behaviour and HR Management in the Department of Management at UTM’s Institute for Management and Innovation.
“The podcast draws on my own expertise as a psychologist and a management scholar, and we also include several experts on specific topics that includes strengthening yourself and your team, dealing with stress and developing better coping skills, and finding meaning in work. We want this show to help people start the process of getting unstuck if they are feeling like they are not making any progress at work, or perhaps if they are rethinking the trajectory of their current career path. We really want to help people love what they do and feel good about themselves and their jobs.”
The seven episodes of For the Love of Work will be posted biweekly starting on Monday, September 21, and include important and timely themes including resilience; diversity and inclusion; how to find “the right company” for you; how to stand out at work; psychological safety; learning and development; and values.
Each episode is approximately 30 minutes long and follows someone who is feeling “stuck” at work. Over the course of the episode, Kang and her guests address the topic, anchoring their research as the backdrop, while making the information accessible for a general audience and offering sound advice for moving forward.
Kang’s list of guests is an impressive range of experts and executives from around the world, including psychologists, management scholars, neuroscience researchers, authors, HR experts, and academics from notable institutions such as UCLA, Harvard, NYU, and Johns Hopkins University.
Kang worked on this project during a time when COVID put everyone in lockdown and anti-racist demonstrations have become ubiquitous worldwide. Because her research has always centred on identity, diversity, and inclusion, she is well equipped to address these issues, which, along with the pandemic, figure prominently in the podcast. However, she also asserts that the ideas and suggestions explored during the podcast should also help people weather other stressful situations that might crop up over the course of their careers.
“Diversity and inclusion, resilience, psychological safety, learning and development: core element of the employee experience that I was already exploring while making this podcast have taken on new and different significance during a pandemic,” Kang states in For the Love of Work’s trailer.
“We also look at how you can find value at work, along with real stories, the behavioural science behind them, solid tips, and all the other ways your relationship with your work can bring you meaning. Because, ‘if you love your job, you’ll never work a day in your life.’”
For more information or to download episodes, made possible by Rogers and produced by Pacific Content, visit fortheloveofwork.ca, where you will find the podcast available across all platforms (Apple, Google, Stitcher, Spotify, etc.). You can subscribe today.
Episode 1: “From Surviving to Thriving” is available for download now.