Tag: Undergoing change

Entitlement & paying attention

One of the things I have been thinking about post-2020, and our first year of living with the Covid virus, is entitlement. The last year has seen many shifts in the global consciousness with many institutions, beliefs and assumptions being challenged for the ongoing misunderstanding and mistreatment of diverse and often disenfranchised communities.

The communities I am thinking of are those involved in and affected by Black Lives Matter protests, the #MeToo movement, transgender rallies, LGBTQIA+ struggles, disability and neurodiversity community battles, indigenous rights and political recognition campaigns, environmentalist battles – the list goes on.

The last year has provided an opportunity to reflect and question much about our world. Injustice and inequality has risen as the pandemic has wreaked havoc on many industries and workplaces, with many people losing their livelihoods as sectors of the economy across the world have been wiped out – think of the tourism industry for one. Mental distress and alienation is on the rise as ways of socially engaging and connecting shift, as uncertainty about what the future holds grows.

The stories of how people are engaging and coping with these changes are all around us.

It is important to stay up to date with shifts that are occurring within society and not act from a place of entitlement and ignorance, a place of assumed knowledge. It is easy to fall into this trap as we lead busy lives with many demands on our time and attention. However, it is also important to broaden our perspective of the world to incorporate people and experiences that encourage us to think outside our own bubble, to hear stories outside our experience or those of our peer group.

At this time of great social change, we all need support and allies, people who show empathy and can see the world through other’s eyes, who show understanding as we face down our own individual challenges. So I encourage you to pay attention and listen to the stories, all the different stories that are being told around you. They will introduce you to characters that have the power to broaden your horizons, present you with different perspectives, create connections, and enrich your life.

“Stories have a transformative power to allow us to see the world in a different way than we do if we just encounter it on our own. Stories are an entry point to understanding a different experience of the world.” Clare Patey, Director of the Empathy Museum.

Please get in touch if the above article resonates with you in light of your own situation.

REFERENCES:

The Health foundation (2016). The power of storytelling. https://www.health.org.uk/newsletter-feature/power-of-storytelling – The Empathy Museum – https://www.empathymuseum.com/

About the Author: Julie Regan

Julie is a professional transition coach, working with people in career transition and those exploring and developing their artistic and creative practice. She is the Director of Creative Coaching Options and brings over 20 years’ experience working in the creative arts and coaching space. Julie is also a writer and film enthusiast.

Drawing the line

Many of us are now working at home or splitting our time between home and the ‘old’ office due to COVID restrictions. Those without the option of moving into a safe home office space over the pandemic or have been commuting to and from work trying to stay safe. Under these circumstances, the issue of work-life balance has been more highlighted than it was previously. While we speak of work-life balance, it is really more about work-life boundaries, about how we control the boundaries around work and non-work activities.

“Boundary control refers to the extent to which you perceive that you are in control of how you manage the boundaries between your work life and personal life.“ (Kossek, 2016, p.262)

Boundary control will vary for each individual as we have our own unique ways of working and engaging around work and what we value; distinctive personalities and behaviours; different life phases; and preferred work styles. Kossek (2016) has identified three work styles – integrators who are happy to mix work and personal activities during the day ensuring that work is done by working later, or on weekends to make up the time and ensure the job gets done; cyclers being those who have jobs that have peak busy periods where work concertinas between busy and quiet (think teachers or FIFO workers); and separators being those who have a clear delineation between work and personal life, setting limits on both and preferring, or being unable, to mix the two.

The digital world in which we live makes it easy to be ‘on’ far more than ever. Enhanced communication technology allows more connectivity and immediacy, creating expectations that people are constantly available (Von Bergen, Bressler. 2019). The merging of work and non-work has implication for personal well-being and relationships, as well as the organisational level.

“Effectively managing work—life boundaries cannot only reduce work—life conflicts, but can also reduce stress, burnout, addictions, mood disorders, and enhance mental and physical health.” (Kossek, 2016, p.259)

“The ‘always-on’ work culture also creates numerous problems for organisations stemming primarily from the fact that it denies workers a sense of individual efficacy and autonomy by putting them on a permanent state of alert. It drains morale and initiative, and scatters employees’ mental resources, making it difficult for them to take ownership of projects and prioritise their efforts. Additionally, research on working long hours is associated with productivity decreases for firms.” (Von Bergen, Bressler, 2019, p.54)

France was the first European country to recognise the importance of ‘work-life’ boundaries, introducing the ‘right to disconnect’ legislation in 2017. The El Khomari law recognises that “employees are under no obligation to bring work home…and that it was not misconduct if an employee was not reachable on a smartphone outside of work hours.” (Von Bergen, Bressler, 2019, p.57). In an Australian first, the Victorian Police recently had the ‘right to disconnect’ written into their enterprise bargaining agreement. Police officers are to be contacted outside of their shift hours only in the case of an emergency such as a bushfire or terrorist attack. (Ziffer, 2021)

Although we are not always one hundred percent in control of our work flow, we are in the main responsible for setting our own work-life boundaries. We are in charge of our own self-care, of knowing our preferred working style, of knowing when we are happiest with our life situation, and when someone has overstepped the line. To determine what those boundaries are requires self-reflection, time out to review our current situation and ponder how things might be different going forward.

“If you feel you do not have time to develop friendships outside of work, exercise, or just relax to take care of yourself, particularly if you place a high value on needing time for self, you are unlikely to have healthy work— life boundaries.“ (Kossek, 2016, p.265)

What are your work boundaries? How are you setting boundaries to ensure you have a sense of control over your life in these COVID times? Please don’t hesitate to get in touch if the above resonates with you in light of your own situation.

About the Author: Julie Regan

Letting go

In January I started a six month course in Narrative Coaching with Dr David Drake, a leading specialist in this field. Narrative Coaching is based on the concept “that stories are at the core of what makes us human“, and is aimed at supporting people in a safe and structured coaching environment to share their stories, to experiment and imagine new ones, and to embody and bring these new stories into being. It is a powerful way to assist people to change.

As a continuous learner I love nothing more than the challenge of new concepts, discovering new ideas, and appreciating what a diverse and wonderful world it is that we live in. I also enjoy observing and experiencing how my learning teaches me new and different ways to live, to work with people to bring their ideas to life.

Before we started David sent us a four powerful prompts to help us prepare for the course, to get us in the right frame of mind for the forthcoming immersive learning experience. The questions were framed to encourage us to reflect on our lives, who we are in the world, what has lead us into coaching, how we work with and listen to our coachees; all important and reflective questions.

Which assumptions, habits, stories or outdated practices could you let go of in order to free yourself to work more powerfully as a coach?

The most powerful and challenging of the four questions was the one above. It was followed up with a discussion on self-limiting beliefs in our first live session. Reflecting on this question and the discussion I came to the realisation I was indeed holding myself back; that some of my assumptions, habits and stories, self limiting beliefs – around being a successful writer, a successful coach, of being the best person I know I can be – were on a continuous re-wind loop. A loop keeping me stuck just spinning my wheels.

It was a liberating realisation because it highlighted things I can let go of – mainly beliefs and old stories not grounded in current reality – and made me aware that I am standing in my own way by hanging onto these things. Importantly, it reminded me that things do not have to be this way; I can let go and move forward and that is perfectly OK.

I am still pondering the question and looking forward to discovering what else I can let go of in the coming months. What about you? Anything that is holding you back, no longer serving you, that can be released?

Drake, David B. (2018) Narrative Coaching: the definitive guide to bringing new stories to life. CNC Press, California

The importance of your support team

Recently my long time friend Jai Waters and I released a book on how to affect positive change in your life. It’s called MORE LEMON: How to transition to a life with more Zest and details can be found on our site.

In the book we talk about the importance of having a support team around when you undergo major change – a change of job, a major or minor life change, a relationship change, a change of direction. Your support team is made up of trusted family and friends who wish to see you succeed in whatever you do. Those who will stand by you as you face challenges, provide regular reality checks and morale boosts, and of course celebrate your wins.

On my support team is my great friend Reed Everingham, a therapist based in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney. Reed was also a beta reader for our book providing valuable feedback that enabled us to iron out doubts we had about some of our chapters and strengthen the overall impact of the book. He has also written about the experience and the book on his blog, which can be found on his site.

Our support team of beta readers was important as it enabled us to gauge whether the book was “working” in the way we wanted it to, if people could fully relate to it and importantly would want to read it. Our wider support team supported and nurtured us in other ways – cooking lovely food and sharing meals where we discussed ideas, making suggestions for inclusion in the book, keeping us stimulated by talking about events occurring outside our creative cocoon, taking us off to the movies, making us laugh to keep our sense of humour in place. The list goes on. They kept us connected to the bigger world as we immersed ourselves in our writing and creative processes.

As we say in the book “change does not occur in isolation” and all those close to you are impacted by whatever is occurring for you. Creating is the same – we are all stimulated by the world in which we live, the people who surround us. Invite your trusted friends and family to be a part of your creative and change activities as a support team. They’ll value the invite and you’ll value their support. Win-win.

Who will you welcome onto your support team?

Coaching can assist you to explore and enhance your creative process. For further information about coaching please get in touch.