Looking inward – A new way of planning

Winter is creeping in and it’s a natural time to go inward. What does that mean really?

I find this to be a pretty useful definition of stress…..”Situations where you overestimate a problem while underestimating your ability to deal with it”.

In reviewing some of my blog posts I came across something I wrote at the end of New Zealand’s first lockdown of approximately 61/2  weeks. It was a note to myself really to remember the lessons I took out of being at home and watching the world slow down and settle in to some strange new reality.

We now know that just doing the next most urgent thing on your list is a sure-fire way to burn through mental energy way quicker than you should be doing.

Whether it’s Zoom or some other video conferencing option that you use, the principle is the same, a whole day on it or even just a few hours can leave you feeling short of a few energy credits.

Often when we work with senior leadership teams, they are very keen to lift the bar on the performance of the business but in actual fact, if they transform the culture, the performance will take care of itself.

So often we talk about accountability at work but as I mentioned in my previous blog, I’m yet to meet anyone who lacked accountability in their life who magically turned on accountability at work.

Accountability is a funny thing. There are so many different interpretations of what it is, who has it, who should have it, and of course the enigma of how to coach it in others.

Workplaces are opening around the world – after all, we cannot stay in lockdown forever. But we know the coronavirus lurks within our communities, and anyone could be asymptomatic and therefore a carrier.

At the start of Covid we NEP coaches were helping many people to adjust to their new working environment.