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Today, when I met my friend for a morning work, we started in the dark and ended in the light. It wasn’t that early. 6:45am. The days are shorter now. We talked like most people this week, as restrictions continue to ease: We lamented the uptick of traffic on our roads. We were feeling the pressure to go out more now, just when we’ve discovered the pleasure of staying home. We wondered how to safely get 6000 people back into the office safely when lifts are only 4-square metres. We figured this isn’t sustainable, all this extra work we’ve been doing. It’s more than Zoom fatigue.   And as we spoke, we mostly wondered: “What will be better than before? Or, will we waste the crisis?” For all the disruption, will we only get the chance to ask for a few more days to work from home with little push back? I’m not sure that’s a big enough deal. Isn’t it supposed to be that for every action there’s an equal and opposite reaction? We’ve paid too big a price to just get that. So how can we make more of this? While we’re still in the darkness of COVID,

When someone allows you to bear witness to their inner world, you can’t help but feel deeply honoured to be trusted with the privilege. As a psychologist, I have had, and continue to have, a very privileged career. I don’t know how other executive coaches work, but being endorsed as both an organisational and counselling psychologist, I suspect I get let in just that little bit more. The emotional weight of this work can be high. You bear witness, you hold space, and at rare times, you provide a lifeline. You never get used to that. If you do, you need a career change. This week has been one of those weeks. I have had four emergency sessions with different senior executives. It’s highly unusual, just like the times. These people are extraordinarily capable. But they’re people first. We all have our limits. My guess is that it’s because the Government restrictions are starting to ease. People are feeling extra unsettled. Re-entry is becoming real and nobody knows how that’s going to work just yet. We’re all building the plane as we fly it. The additional stress has seen the rise of the white ant in some workplaces. Or shorter

What’s struck me, recently, is how my clients started using Yiddish in their conversations with me. They’re not so much kvetching (that’s Yiddish for complaining), as trying to find words to describe this extraordinary experience. Living and working through a pandemic. English just doesn’t capture it. You don’t have to be Jewish or from New York (they don’t fit into either category) to know there’s something wonderful about Yiddish. It’s onomatopoeic. Here’s what I’ve been hearing: They’re enjoying not having to schlep (take a tedious journey) into work. They’ve become adept at schmoozing (making small talk) online. They’re staying shtum (quiet) about the things they’ve been unhappy about. There’s enough going on. They don’t want to kvetch. And, especially in the early days, it was such a schemozzle (a state of chaos and confusion) at their workplace.   They didn’t say kvetch, I added that one. The point is, I don’t recall them ever using Yiddish before and I didn’t hear it so much this past week. We’ve all adjusted pretty quickly to working from home. Still, I’ll bet you’ve had a verklempt (overwhelmed) moment since lockdown. And if so, welcome to the club. Verklempt is usually associated with grief.

Right now I’m going for daily walks. I mix it up. Sometimes I turn right. Sometimes it’s left. And yesterday I had the pleasure of my first Autumn (Fall) leaf crunch. I love that sound. It takes me straight back to the innocence of childhood. As I was happily reminiscing, there it was yet again. Footpath rage. I could feel it rising as, once again, I had to step aside while a fellow walker seemed oblivious to the physical distancing rule. Normally, I don’t say anything. But I have been known to scowl. Not too proud of that. I’m trying to lead by example. So, sometimes I look at them directly, to catch their eye and smile. I might even say hello. I remind myself, we’re all in this together. They might have stepped out for respite from something particularly difficult at home. Maybe they just lost their job. And just like that, by suspending judgment and erring on the side of generosity, I help myself in the process. I avoid the angry brain-chatter that gets me nowhere. I notice the short shallow breaths returning to a slower, deeper rhythm. And with that, I’m able to settle myself back down quickly and continue to

We’re all in this together, having a very individual experience.   THE QUESTION For some, the question is, ‘Are we there yet?’  They’re over it. Others, while enjoying the slower pace and simpler life that lockdown brings, wonder, ‘Can we keep it more like this?’ And while it might seem far away and staying grounded today is no mean feat, many are wondering: ‘What’s the next normal?’   WHAT’S THE NEXT NORMAL FOR YOUR WORKPLACE? As a leader, you’ll likely have a say in the next normal for your workplace. Or at least for your patch. This is a perfect time to bring about change. So much is up in the air already. It’s unlikely that anything you want to do will, in any way, compare to a global pandemic. That means there’ll be less resistance to it. It’s one of the few possible upsides of this crisis. At least you’ve got time to think about it. We’re not going to be rushing back to our open plan offices anytime soon. And when we do, it’ll likely be a slow, partial return with new health practices as a given. Hand washing, temperature checking, physical distancing, rosters. Whatever it takes to keep the curve down. These are the outward

Are you exhausted yet? There’s been so much change that it feels like a month went by in the last week. It’s a bit surreal. There’s a long weekend this weekend for many, being Easter. But it doesn’t feel like that. The days tend to blur when you don’t go anywhere.  A different kind of Groundhog Day. Although I do like this teddy bear trend. This one brightens up my daily walk. You’re Part of the Solution And just like Bill Murray’s character discovered in the movie, eventually, you learn to pivot. You learn there’s a solution to every problem and you’re part of the solution. To help you with your solution, and in case you missed it last week, I’ve put together a brand new online program: Leading through the COVID-19 Crisis. You’re welcome. It’s free. If ever there was a time to give back, it’s now. In this 5-module program you’ll learn: A useful framework to help make sense of what we’re all going through. How to help your employees reduce the intensity of their emotional responses (so they have more energy for work). How you can be solid as a rock for the people you lead, without burning out.   Grab this online program

Are you squirrelling? You know, collecting acorns for the hibernation? Today, I feel like Santa Claus because I’ve got a sleigh full of acorns to share with you. These acorns are in the form of a brand new online program: Leading through the COVID-19 Crisis. You’re welcome. It’s free. If ever there was a time to give back, it’s now. It’s far from business as usual. This 5-module program will hopefully make your job of leading through the COVID-19 crisis a little bit easier. As a psychologist, I want to help you keep your people psychologically strong. We don’t want them spiralling into breakdown. How you show up and lead now will make a difference. It’ll be remembered. And it’s something, unlike the virus, that you can control. Grab this online program now while you can. You can access it today by clicking here. PS. Please share this with your colleagues using the social share buttons below. Photo by Pranay Pareek on Unsplash

It’s been an emotional roller coaster ride. My sore throat last week suddenly morphed into a fever and cough. After barely sleeping, at 6am, I thought, as best one can with a fever, “is this it”? Since everyone I’ve told has wanted to know, I thought you might want to too…   This is what happens when you’re tested for Covid-19 My local GP clinic sent a text saying, anything Covid-19, keep away. Call the national hotline. So I did. First option was call 000 (our 911). But I wasn’t a 000 case, so the recorded message said to call Nurse on Call. The message said it’d be about 20 minutes on hold. One long hour and seven minutes later I was woken up by a lovely nurse saying, “hello, hello, hello”. I’d fallen asleep. She said they persist because they know the wait time is long. She asked all about my symptoms and said you need to get tested within the next two hours. Wowsers! The nurse said to wear a mask, or a scarf in my case because I didn’t have a mask. The closest test clinic opened at 8am and it was 7:26am. I got myself together

How’s the self-isolation going? I’ve rescheduled my whole world so far this week to work remotely. Why? Well, Victoria has been declared a state of emergency and, more importantly, I woke up with a mild sore throat. No fever. No known contact with a traveller or sufferer of Covid-19. I feel ok. It hasn’t taken me out. But I figured, better safe than sorry. I don’t want to become a source. So, thank you Skype, Zoom, Slack, all of them. All the platforms are being put to good use. I am so grateful that it’s almost BAU (business as usual) for me, albeit from a distance. For now. I’m mindful that not everyone has this luxury. Some jobs require you to be physically there. Like the NBN (National Broadband Network) installers here today. Not everyone can work from home. And even then, not everyone is set up to work from home. This pandemic is a test of our leadership. All my clients are being pulled into meetings to work out the Covid-19 response for their workplaces. Everyone is working from home where they can. So yes, it’s a test of our leadership. It’s uncharted waters. But I think this is

You can learn leadership from anywhere. Judge Judy is one unexpected place for me. Go figure! You know what it’s like. You’ve got something important to run by your boss. You want to time it right, so you do the smart thing and ask her Executive Assistant: “what’s the weather like today?” Everyone knows what that means. How’s the mood in the land of the Big Cheese. Now, you’d hope that one of the reasons the Big Cheese got to that position is because they’re great at emotion regulation. But it’s not a given. And let’s be generous, maybe they’ve had a particularly bad day. If you have the luxury of time, you can always come back later in the hope that the storm has been downgraded. If not, there are things you can do, like: checking the hard stop for your meeting so you stick to the time, if not finish early; making sure you’re prepared with a clear agenda and all the relevant information at hand; and making sure you regulate your emotions better than your boss. If ever there is a time to be polite, positive and professional, it’s now. You don’t want to find yourself drawn