On deflated footballs and ugly ducklings
I wish I’d taken my phone with me on my walk beside Merri Creek early this morning. I would have liked to get a couple of photos. One was of a cyclist who had zipped his whippet snugly into…
I’m not doing email, I’m relating with people
I’m not new to digital technology for communication. I’ve been on social media now for at least 15 years. Starting with Facebook in Feb 2006, followed by LinkedIn in 2008, blogging, Twitter and then Instagram. I’ve had a personal…
Check if feedback is what they really want
Making creative work can be a lonely business, certainly for people working by themselves on a book or composition or artwork or some other solo enterprise, but even for people who are a part of a small team of…
So you want to work for the United Nations?
I never wanted to work for the United Nations. I didn’t understand exactly what they did or their value. I came across them while living and working in Rome, after having decided to stop off there for a while…
Moving On
A reflection one year on from Surviving bullying in the workplace I was crouching in the corner of the living room last week and it dawned on me that my old workplace was perhaps the most insincere place…
Taking control of your feedback experiences
Feedback is a tool that is commonly used in organisations as a mechanism for growth and change. It’s typically expected that a manager or team leader will give feedback periodically on an individual’s performance to help the individual grow…
A big experiment in my workscape
The COVID-19 pandemic created conditions in which experimentation was a useful way to figure out how I might do things differently in my workscape. It is said that ‘Necessity is the mother of invention’. In Jan 2021, I found…
The perks of being unavailable
“The perks of being unavailable” is the title [1] of a podcast episode in the series, What’s Essential by Greg McKeown. Greg and his work came to my attention last year when I read his book: Essentialism, The discipline…
Changing careers: a reflection on the year
When I followed through on my career change from organisational consultant to ‘tradie’ (i.e. builder) late 2019, I had no real clue what 2020 had in store (pandemic and all). I would probably still have made the same choice,…
The need for self-care in your workscape
Care needs to begin with self – just like the putting on of a mask in an airplane. When flying we are reminded to attend to our own oxygen masks first – to take care of ourselves – before…
Cultivating the most important skill in life
A few years ago, whilst I was in an L&D leadership role at a large organisation, a graduate approached me in the kitchen. She got straight to the point, “I’ve been here for nine months and I haven’t had…
Surviving bullying in the workplace
Apparently, I am difficult. Apparently, people at work ‘walk on eggshells’ around me. Apparently, it’s ‘my way or the highway’, that my team are scared of me, that my clients find me inflexible. That I appear detached at work…
Turning ‘being adrift’ into an adventure
The ‘pandemic of 2020’ has disrupted our personal and work lives. For some, this disruption has been to be cut adrift, to be untethered, from an organisation or employment. So much daily structure, personal identity, and validation comes from…
Burning out or boring out?
Being bored only proves what inspires you, therefore what you enjoy. ~ Bob Kenerson (my father), said many times in my childhood It felt like déjà vu all over again. Ground hog day. The same work projects ticked along…
SU lens on Talent Trends Report: Part 2
This is the second article in a two-part series, as I shine a Self unLimited lens on the contents of the Annual Global Talent Trends Report (2020) published by Mercer. Read Part 1. It’s great to have research…
