Someone on a virtual call the other night said, “jeez, you would think after a year I would have this down” referring to forgetting to unmute herself. My immediate response was “we are giving you grace and space and not to worry”. She immediately relaxed and repeated whatever she had said while on mute. Those great words “grace and space” were words I heard on a virtual conference a few months ago when the woman coordinating it was dealing with a speaker that we could not hear, and she repeated them numerous times and I knew she was saying them as much for herself as she was for all of us and the speaker.
Are you giving Grace and Space to those you are dealing with? Who knows what they are dealing with right now? The change just keeps coming and it does not appear that it will be letting up anytime soon. For those of us who would consider ourselves “change agents” this is different. This is not some program that we are implementing in one organization. This is our external environment in some cases dictating in certain areas of our life how we are going to live. Taking an ongoing pulse of ourselves and how we are doing and modifying to stay healthy as we need to, giving ourselves that grace and space and then next taking a pulse of our areas of influence, teams, organizations, etc. is critical. They may not even be aware that they need it.
Change is not easy that is for sure. Even those that think we are good at it have areas where it is challenging. Years ago, someone taught me something regarding change and I will never forget it. Change causes us initially to be uncomfortable, feel a bit incompetent and lose some of our confidence. The 3 C’s of change. We are dealing with so much change it is hard not to be feeling some of that on a regular basis. New technology just to get work done or interact with someone, having to figure out a new workspace, make decisions and maneuver vaccines, stay away from people, wear a mask, shortage or backup of certain items we take for granted, need I go on? That is all stuff that before a year ago had nothing to do with how we went about our lives on a day-to-day basis. This was not the implementation of some new performance management system, IT system or some other change effort in one organization. This was literally life altering for all. We are all walking around trying to maneuver uncertain water and yet stay business as usual to the degree we could as we were impacted and probably experiencing one or more of the 3 C’s. According to a recent study, done in December of last year, nearly 75% of workers said they were burned out!
So, whether operating virtually or not, give yourself and others grace and space as appropriate. Lend a helping hand or a listening ear. To learn more about how you can help your team and organization maneuver these waters reach out to me at janet@berkshiregroupinc.com
