Recycled Bullsh-IT

I’m sure that like me you will already have broken or conveniently forgotten your personal New Year’s resolutions made while being forced to endure Jools Holland or Craig David rather than partying with friends. Back at work (you know, that short commute down the corridor to the spare room), what business resolutions will you make as we kick off the year in a lockdown threequel that makes Jaws 3-D seem like Toy Story 3?

 Here are my fave five fixes to facilitate your fresh, er, finking:

1.  Leftfield. It’s a good time to clear the cobwebs and come up with a better way of succeeding in the new order in which we find ourselves. Before you return to the grindstone, step back and brainstorm some radical ideas for achieving the outcomes you want. 
2. Talk Talk. We’ve all grown to hate the online Zoom conferences and Teams sessions. People are finally realising the poor productivity and demotivation caused by meetings and are switching off (at least mentally) in droves. However, it is more important than ever to interact and engage with your colleagues. Not only is it affecting everyone’s mental health (see The Feeling below), but we’re losing our communication skills. There are many ways to keep in touch with people – phone, text (but not sext), messaging, social media, mail (both snail and e) – so use them all and mix the informal with the formal. Small tokens through the post to your staff are also great to show you care.  
3. Altered Images. Looking in the mirror is less pleasant than it was a year ago for many of us.  Now’s a good time to remember who we really are and make our image fit who we should be, not what we’ve allowed ourselves to become. Take pride in your appearance and it will show in all your interactions. Remember boys and girls, Movember ended months ago…
4. Focus. In this ongoing Hocus Pocus, it is easy to vegetate or drift along in cruise control. But we need to be mentally at full speed to make the most of the opportunities and challenges still to come, because the lockdown will start to unwind soon.  This is particularly true for those of us who have had an unintentional enforced break and may not be feeling that positive. 
5. The Feeling. It’s good that mental wellbeing is now being talked about a lot more, particularly in more enlightened companies. However, doing something about our own mental health and that of others is still quite difficult for most people, particularly us Brits. For all the comms discussed above, think about how we can help ourselves and others to feel better during and after each interaction. And keep it relaxed, not forced.

 Let us know if you have any better ideas!

  John “Spizzenergi” Moe