Martin is a highly experienced HR professional and entrepreneur with nearly twenty-eight years of experience in Human Resources, Training and Organisational Development. He set up his company Merlin Change Management Consultancy, as a vehicle for providing business-orientated workforce solutions to some of the issues modern workplaces face. Having worked at Board/Executive level, he is CIPD qualified, has a Management Level 7 qualification in Executive Coaching and Mentoring, and is a Master Practitioner in Neuro Linguistic Programming.
What is the one thing you would do to unilaterally unfuck work?
I would ban work emails after working hours. I have seen the damage these have needlessly caused. People become controlled by their inboxes around the clock. That just isn’t right!
What is the best example of unfucking work you’ve seen in the wild?
I think largely pointless meetings are the scourge of many workplaces. People are effectively shackled from performing due to countless forums for ‘reporting’ on yes, you’ve guessed it, what they are struggling to do due to the number of meetings they have to attend. I think some forward thinking organisations are finally ‘waking up’ to this colossal waste of time/energy (they are often very demotivational too, and are moving to ways of working where people are freed up to perform/deliver as opposed to never-ending and time consuming reporting talking shops.
Before running my own business, I was a hack for this- wherever I could get away with it, I’d swerve/avoid/not attend these things completely. It did me more good than harm, and I’ve never regretted doing it, and you’d be amazed at how much time you can save by just picking up and reading post-meeting minutes as opposed to attending in person ;-) Plus, trust me, you’re not as ‘missed’ half as much within these things as you think/others might make out haha.
Who is your unfucking work icon? The ultimate Work Pirate?
There are two for me: Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus.
I literally came across these two recently and their ‘minimalist’ movement. No, it’s not about living like a hermit in a cave. Their focus is on ditching all the things we do/buy that don’t add value to our daily lives, including how we work. It’s how we can all take control over what we do/get out of life and how so many are stuck in this vicious self-defeating cycle of doing/buying/collecting ‘more’ whilst chasing ‘happiness’ that is actually pushed further out of reach by doing these things!
Thankfully I realised that this is something I’ve been doing subconsciously for many years now, and being my own boss certainly helps. However there is something for everyone to learn from the approach to work and life from these two - it's revolutionary for those who pay more than just lip-service to it ☺
Find out more here: https://www.theminimalists.com/
Recommend a book, podcast or article to our Work Pirates crew that made you think differently about work.
The Netflix Documentary ‘The Minimalists: Less is Now’ is a really thought provoking 53 minute documentary-well worth a watch!
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