Recently, I had the privilege of being a guest on the Finding Brave podcast hosted by Kathy Caprino. A therapist, career coach, and author, Kathy is on a mission to help listeners – particularly professional women – access the courage they need to honor their true passions, talents, and values in life and work.
As the pandemic moves into year two, would you say that overall you are thriving, barely surviving, or hanging in there, treading water, but feeling worn down or worn out some days? Is thriving even possible in the midst of this period of adversity, when life has been so disrupted by a persistent and mighty virus, we’ve experienced heartache and loss, and worried about our own future and the future of our democracy in the U.S.? I believe that we can thrive, especially when we do so together. The individuals who will look back when the pandemic is finally over and feel they did more than just make it through will have several attributes in common.
Recently, I had the privilege of being the guest speaker for a webinar hosted by getAbstract, one of the leading book summary organizations in the world.
Our topic was “Remote Work, Rising Stress and the Critical Need for Connection” – a timely discussion for today’s environment. The webinar was attended live by 2,004 professionals eager to learn how connection can help their teams to thrive this year.
If you missed the live webinar, you can now watch the recording on demand. I hope the conversation sparks some ideas to keep you and your colleagues happy and healthy in 2021.
This excellent New York Times article, “We’re All Socially Awkward Now,” makes a compelling case that ongoing social isolation due to the physical separation required during the COVID-19 pandemic is diminishing connection skills and having a negative impact on emotional and physical health.
Research on isolation of inmates shows those who coped best understood that social isolation was not good for them. Instead, they intentionally connected with others by writing letters, etc.
How are you safely connecting with others throughout the pandemic?
When a big storm is forecast to come our way, Katie, my wife, starts to plan ahead, just in case we lose power: non-perishable food in the pantry (check), flashlights with working batteries (check), gas in the car (check), some cash on hand (check). She reminds family members to charge up their phones and laptops. The havoc the storm may, or may not, cause is unknown but she has taken proactive steps to get us through.
Recently, Katie Stallard and I had the opportunity to speak with Tom Loarie, host of the Mentors Radio Show, about career burnout and the role that connection plays in preventing it. It’s an important topic given the high stress levels that many professionals are experiencing today.
If you or someone you know is struggling with burnout, we hope the interview provides some helpful tips in getting back on a path to engagement and happiness. Listen to the full interview.
How can we protect people in the workplace so they don’t contract Covid-19? The Centers for Disease Control just released guidelines for offices that include temperature and symptom checks; encouraging employees who have Covid-19 symptoms or sick family members to stay home; prohibiting hand-shaking, hugs, and fist bumps; wearing face coverings; physical distancing of work stations (or separation by plastic shields); and eliminating seating in common areas.
Will people follow-through and do their part for the good of the whole? What can be done to increase compliance with these and other requirements so that the risk of virus transmission is minimized?
Are you home and feeling alone? Are you home and wishing you could be alone for even a few minutes? The Covid-19 virus has caused many organizations to move large numbers of employees from working together at the office to working remotely at home. For other organizations, it has meant temporarily shutting its doors and having to furlough workers or let employees go. Unless you are an “essential worker,” gone is the time you spent interacting with strangers, colleagues and friends as you commuted to work, ducked out to grab a meal or run an errand, and did your job. Gone is the time you spent socializing with friends at a sporting event or volunteering alongside others in the community.
In this recent episode of SHRM’s “All Things Work” podcast, Katie Stallard and I spoke with host Tony Lee about the isolating nature of remote work and solutions employees can take to stay well during this time of social distancing.
I hope you’ll listen and share the podcast with a friend or colleague as we all work together to stay connected. Click here to listen to the podcast episode.
The novel coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in the need for social distancing, quarantine and isolation so that vulnerable individuals are not exposed to the virus and healthcare systems are not overwhelmed. Collectively, we understand the goodness of “flattening the curve” by each of us doing our part to slow the spread of the virus. COVID-19 is not the only epidemic we are facing.