New Ways of Being And Working

We’re living in an age of information. No matter what you’re looking for, there’s a YouTube video or a book or website that can answer questions, provide more data or instruction. For every question, there are specific answers out there with step-by-step instruction. Not knowing is a very vulnerable place to land in today’s world, so we like to jump into a solution as quickly as we can.

How are you managing? Are you able to be flexible to all the changes? Are you able to be a little more gentle and patient with yourself and all those around you? I haven’t been on that Gentle and Kind track this week.

The last two weeks have been full of change. All of my habits and routines were trashed, reworked, reworked again and abandoned. Days seemed longer if only to fit in more unpleasant news.

To make sense of our lives, we create stories. These stories can be passed down from our parents, they can be embellished by our own experiences and learning, they are informed by our values, our wins and losses.

What will COVID-19 mean for me and my family specifically? We don’t know. And it seems like new developments come to the surface everyday. Sure, everyone has a perspective. But we’re in a time of not knowing that’s a new place for most of us.

New challenges call for new action. But what if you’re relying on old maps? We have patterns we use to deal with uncertainty and stress in our lives. What are yours? How can they change?

Questions open opportunity. When we stop asking, we stop learning. Are we asking the questions that are creating strong teams? How can be become better askers…and better listeners?

What’s the mood on your team? We want to be more impactful and more effective. We take a lot of courses, get coaches, talk to friends and mentors about how we can be more effective. However, sometimes all the action and tactics in the world aren’t helpful when we aren’t honestly addressing the mood.

Leadership has a steep learning curve. How can you lead your company through the right conversations? How can you get trustworthy commitments from your team? How does the team stay coordinated through all the unexpected (but inevitable) changes along the way?