Joining at a distance: Five things missing when people start new jobs remotely
We’re nearly a year into the pandemic and, for many of us, life goes on. I'm working with companies who are recruiting and coaching a couple of people who’ve started new leadership positions during lockdown. But starting a new job is different now. This month I want to focus what's missing when people start new jobs in a pandemic. So here are five things you don’t get in a remote working environment - and some of them have an upside. 1. Physical presence Like it or not, we make judgments about people, often unconsciously, based on their physical presence – ...
Resilience: 8 tips for getting through the next few months
Well here we are again. Back in lockdown and somehow, this time it feels harder, probably because it's the middle of winter. There is light at the end of the tunnel but we've suddenly realised that the tunnel is longer than we thought and has a murky difficult section we hadn't anticipated. So how do we get through the next few months? Here are eight suggestions, some of which are mindset shifts, some practical tips and some refer back to previous articles. 1. Work out what's difficult about this for you The pandemic poses different challenges for different people. That ...
Are you in control of your destiny?
How much do you feel in control of your own destiny? Do you see your successes as the results of your efforts? What about your failures? This month I’m going to look at a concept that psychologists call ‘locus of control’ – whether you see control of your life being internally or an externally driven. This is something which is on a continuum but let’s look at the two extremes. High internal locus of control High external locus of control Believe you have agency in your life Believe you have little control over your destiny, may believe in ...
Do we need more blitz spirit?
Blitz spirit. There's a topic I doubt people expected me to write about. But it's been gnawing at me, ever since Maureen from Barnsley was hailed as the Voice of the Nation for saying that we needed to show more blitz spirit during the pandemic. As a concept, I find it both psychologically fascinating and rather irritating. My guess is that responses to the question fall into two* camps: Yes, of course we do. End of story. Oh please, please can we stop banging on about the war? *I guess there could be a third camp of "What's blitz spirit?" ...
Are we all imposters now?
A recent survey on LinkedIn suggested that the pandemic has caused an outbreak of Imposter Syndrome among senior leaders. Apparently 52% of the leaders surveyed have found themselves doubting their ability to lead their organisations through this crisis. I wasn't surprised by this - who can really say that they know what they're doing right now? The only people who've lived through a pandemic are now over 100 and they were children last time round. No one has experience of this. So are we all imposters now? What is Imposter Syndrome? Imposter syndrome is more than just self-doubt. It's that ...
Work / Life balance – It’s all about boundaries
The key to work/life balance is understanding your boundaries - time, location, spatial and inter-personal boundaries. Over the past six months, the boundaries between home and work have become a lot fuzzier. As we settle in for the long haul, it's worth reviewing how well things are working for you. Whether you're working from home indefinitely, back in the office or splitting your time between the two, here are some things to ponder. Time boundaries Allocating your time This is the most obvious work/life balance category. There are 24 hours in a day; you spend a chunk of them asleep. ...
COVID-19: What will September bring?
It may be only the end of July but I'm turning my attention to September as I think it's worth planning for now. September has always had a feel of New Year, back to normal about it, but this year what kind of normal will it be? Even if you're going to keep working from home well into next year, as many organisations are planning to do, September is still likely to feel psychologically different. So whatever your working arrangements are likely to be, here are five things to consider: 1. Still Working From Home After four months, it's easy ...
COVID-19: What next? Who knows? Living with uncertainty
So here we are, tentatively venturing back out into the world and wondering what life will be like. There is no shortage of commentators predicting the business, societal and political changes which will result from the pandemic. I am not one of them. What I want to look at is how we handle the level of uncertainty we are facing. Here are six observations. 1. Predictability vs uncertainty One of the overlooked aspects of the pandemic is the weird juxtaposition of massive uncertainty alongside monotonous predictability. On the one hand, you know what your days are going to look ...
Self-compassion, not self-indulgence – Looking after number one
My intention this month was to write about compassion. Lord knows we could all do with some of that right now. But then a post on LinkedIn caused me to rethink. It bemoaned the number of articles exhorting us to "Be Kind" when actually many people are at the end of their tether. Someone added in the comments "I can't pour from an empty cup". I had planned to include a lot in this article about self-compassion but I've decided to make it the main focus. Now, depending on your personality and values, you may have a strong reaction to ...
COVID-19: Expert leadership resources
This is not an ordinary blog post, it's a space to collect resources that may be useful to leaders in this time of crisis. The first resource is the free Primary Colours Covid-19 Leadership Survival Guide which I have devised in conjunction with Edgecumbe Consulting Group who own the model. The aim of the guide is to give leaders a framework to think about where they focus their energy and attention during this crisis. However, it does not contain any specific advice, so I have drawn together links to trusted sources from a wide range of different professional disciplines. I ...
Joining at a distance: Five things missing when people start new jobs remotely
We’re nearly a year into the pandemic and, for many of us, life goes on. I'm working with companies who are recruiting and coaching a couple of people who’ve started new leadership positions during lockdown. But starting a new job is different now. This month I want to focus what's missing when people start new jobs in a pandemic. So here are five things you don’t get in a remote working environment - and some of them have an upside. 1. Physical presence Like it or not, we make judgments about people, often unconsciously, based on their physical presence – ...
Resilience: 8 tips for getting through the next few months
Well here we are again. Back in lockdown and somehow, this time it feels harder, probably because it's the middle of winter. There is light at the end of the tunnel but we've suddenly realised that the tunnel is longer than we thought and has a murky difficult section we hadn't anticipated. So how do we get through the next few months? Here are eight suggestions, some of which are mindset shifts, some practical tips and some refer back to previous articles. 1. Work out what's difficult about this for you The pandemic poses different challenges for different people. That ...
Are you in control of your destiny?
How much do you feel in control of your own destiny? Do you see your successes as the results of your efforts? What about your failures? This month I’m going to look at a concept that psychologists call ‘locus of control’ – whether you see control of your life being internally or an externally driven. This is something which is on a continuum but let’s look at the two extremes. High internal locus of control High external locus of control Believe you have agency in your life Believe you have little control over your destiny, may believe in ...
Do we need more blitz spirit?
Blitz spirit. There's a topic I doubt people expected me to write about. But it's been gnawing at me, ever since Maureen from Barnsley was hailed as the Voice of the Nation for saying that we needed to show more blitz spirit during the pandemic. As a concept, I find it both psychologically fascinating and rather irritating. My guess is that responses to the question fall into two* camps: Yes, of course we do. End of story. Oh please, please can we stop banging on about the war? *I guess there could be a third camp of "What's blitz spirit?" ...
Are we all imposters now?
A recent survey on LinkedIn suggested that the pandemic has caused an outbreak of Imposter Syndrome among senior leaders. Apparently 52% of the leaders surveyed have found themselves doubting their ability to lead their organisations through this crisis. I wasn't surprised by this - who can really say that they know what they're doing right now? The only people who've lived through a pandemic are now over 100 and they were children last time round. No one has experience of this. So are we all imposters now? What is Imposter Syndrome? Imposter syndrome is more than just self-doubt. It's that ...
Work / Life balance – It’s all about boundaries
The key to work/life balance is understanding your boundaries - time, location, spatial and inter-personal boundaries. Over the past six months, the boundaries between home and work have become a lot fuzzier. As we settle in for the long haul, it's worth reviewing how well things are working for you. Whether you're working from home indefinitely, back in the office or splitting your time between the two, here are some things to ponder. Time boundaries Allocating your time This is the most obvious work/life balance category. There are 24 hours in a day; you spend a chunk of them asleep. ...
COVID-19: What will September bring?
It may be only the end of July but I'm turning my attention to September as I think it's worth planning for now. September has always had a feel of New Year, back to normal about it, but this year what kind of normal will it be? Even if you're going to keep working from home well into next year, as many organisations are planning to do, September is still likely to feel psychologically different. So whatever your working arrangements are likely to be, here are five things to consider: 1. Still Working From Home After four months, it's easy ...
COVID-19: What next? Who knows? Living with uncertainty
So here we are, tentatively venturing back out into the world and wondering what life will be like. There is no shortage of commentators predicting the business, societal and political changes which will result from the pandemic. I am not one of them. What I want to look at is how we handle the level of uncertainty we are facing. Here are six observations. 1. Predictability vs uncertainty One of the overlooked aspects of the pandemic is the weird juxtaposition of massive uncertainty alongside monotonous predictability. On the one hand, you know what your days are going to look ...
Self-compassion, not self-indulgence – Looking after number one
My intention this month was to write about compassion. Lord knows we could all do with some of that right now. But then a post on LinkedIn caused me to rethink. It bemoaned the number of articles exhorting us to "Be Kind" when actually many people are at the end of their tether. Someone added in the comments "I can't pour from an empty cup". I had planned to include a lot in this article about self-compassion but I've decided to make it the main focus. Now, depending on your personality and values, you may have a strong reaction to ...
COVID-19: Expert leadership resources
This is not an ordinary blog post, it's a space to collect resources that may be useful to leaders in this time of crisis. The first resource is the free Primary Colours Covid-19 Leadership Survival Guide which I have devised in conjunction with Edgecumbe Consulting Group who own the model. The aim of the guide is to give leaders a framework to think about where they focus their energy and attention during this crisis. However, it does not contain any specific advice, so I have drawn together links to trusted sources from a wide range of different professional disciplines. I ...
