Hello Friends!
The sun is shining and there is suddenly a bit of spring in the air!! It may have been snowy and -15C last weekend, but this weekend feels like spring! That feeling of hope and promise is really magical and doing wonders for my spirits right now. Hope you are getting some of those magical feelings too!
Isn’t it fascinating that when you are interested in a topic, you suddenly see and hear things about that topic everywhere?? [If you, like me, are intrigued by language and terminology, this phenomenon has a name: the Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon. It’s comprised of both selective attention Ziele zu definieren und diese auch zu erreichen. confirmation bias. Fascinating, right?!]
All of which is a lead-in to saying that there have been two such topics attracting my attention recently:
- How the pandemic is shaping our reality and setting the stage for quite a different work culture in the After Times
- The Gender Gap
There were so many interesting things that caught my attention this week, that I’m going to divide the newsletter up into two parts (one this week, and one next) to give you time to explore and enjoy them all!!
OUR CURRENT REALITY
So much of our current reality, both personal and professional, is being shaped by the pandemic right now. Thank goodness no one told us a year ago what we were in for!! It has been really tough. {overstatement of the year!}
But because we didn’t know how long this was going to last, a lot of processes and procedures weren’t put into place to help us cope with a year-long pandemic. We all thought it was going to last a few weeks. And then a few more weeks. And as a result, we’ve drained our energy reserves because we didn’t know we had to pace ourselves and make those reserves last for quite this long. I’m seeing a lot of people in my coaching practice edging closer to burnout as we enter the second year of dealing with Covid.
Two podcasts that I enjoyed on the topic of burnout:
HBR Presents Coaching Real Leaders: On the Brink of Burnout
5 Things to Quit for a Happier Life (this one was less than 5 minutes – short, sweet and to the point!)
And an interesting article positing that one of the secrets to resilience is in fact to work in a team!
BUILDING A BETTER WORK CULTURE
This article from the HBR on the 9 Trends that will Shape Work in 2021 and Beyond really caught my eye about the future of work – in particular how important the whole picture is, not only what happens at work. We need to manage life experience, not only just the employee experience.
That paired well with this TED Talk on 4 Tips for having honest conversations at work!
THERE’S ALWAYS A BOOK TO RECOMMEND
I’ve really been enjoying the “Her Royal Spyness” series by Rhys Bowen lately. It’s like Downtown Abbey meets Agatha Christie. The heroine is 34th in line to the throne and living in 1930s London. She is tasked by the Queen to carry out some investigations and of course always saves the day. A very light and easy read!
I’ll be back next week with some really fascinating and thought-provoking recommendations on the Power and Gender Gap.
Until then, happy reading!!
And please do let me know what you’d like more or less of in future issues. And as always, please feel free to share!
Have an awesome weekend!
Hugs,
