Working
What do you think of when you think about your work?
There’s a book called, Working by Studs Terkel. Back in the 1970’s, Studs Terkel was an interesting author and journalist who interviewed people in various jobs about their work. What they do. What they love or hate about their job. How they felt about it. What I find most interesting is how he spoke to them and the questions he asked.
After I resigned from one of my jobs, I referenced these learnings into my last team retrospective. A very different kind of retrospective but it was my last one there so I figured… why the hell not. If it touched one person, got them thinking, meant something! — that would be a success for me.
We were in the middle of a pandemic so everything was remote. This is what the slides looked like for the retrospective…
When I decided to use Studs Terkel’s book on Working as a theme for my team retrospective, I done that with one intention…
Stop. Pause.
Think about your work. The job you do everyday. The job others do everyday.
The questions we ask tells how well we listen. As a Scrum Master this is vital. A job which requires sharp listening skills. Asking more questions than giving answers. Its a skill I’m learning to improve — not just in my work — but in life.
Have a listen to one or more of these audio interviews by Studs Terkel Radio Archive
Listen to :
- how he asks questions
- what questions he asks
- his engagement in the conversation
- and the way people respond to him
Terkel talks with a firefighter about what makes a meaningful job. (1971)
He also interviewed Louis Armstrong, Hunter S. Thompson, Bob Dylan etc.
As well as other people — famous and not so famous — working in their everyday job. What its like being a female telephone operator in the 70s or an auto repair man.
Studs Terkel on the meaning of work
Listening to Studs Terkel resonated with me about work life. What our work means to us. One of the reasons I’m intrigued with Agile is to find better ways of working.
Studs Terkel had a powerful way of speaking to people. Engaging, funny and curious — without judgement. For me its about how he listened to those he interviewed.
Listening has become hard. Even harder in remote working. There are many resources around these days on how to train your listening skills. The finest apps and tools. Yet, we fail to do the most basic thing well.
We can unlearn, relearn this basic human skill.
“For me personally, my favorite interview came from 1970 and was with a woman named Elsa K. Thompson. She was sort of Studs’ counterpart on the West Coast and did a lot of her conversations the way Studs did his. And they talked shop. They talked about conversations and the art of listening and how to make the interview feels like, ‘Hey, I’m interested in you. We’re going to allow for the pauses in conversation and let conversations go every which way….’
I love this interview because we’re at an age where we’re not really listening to each other and no one is paying attention to one another even when sitting together.”
