Returning To the Office?

Time to read: 30 seconds.

Many of my clients are returning to the office in some form in the fall. They have mixed feelings. Some are excited. Some are not.

When you’re staring down big, complicated, changes, please know that you don’t have to boil the entire ocean. Instead:

Start anywhere.

And start with just one thing.

You only have to do one thing at a time. Then you’ll do the next thing. And the next. Until the train is back on the track and you’re moving forward smoothly.

That’s it.

Anne and I have been leading a 90-minute live event for corporate teams to help them prepare to return to in-person work effectively and smoothly. If your team is having feelings about returning to the office, we can help.

In the words of a recent participant:

"This workshop helped me prepare to return with intention rather than simply winging it.”

You have important work to do. We will help you be ready.

Email me here if you'd like more information about hosting this workshop for your team.

Summer of Rest, Recovery and Integration

Time to read: 30 seconds.

My fair city at sunset

Hey Rebels!

This is the summer of rest and recovery. Clients are quitting and changing jobs, heading back to the office, moving and experiencing all sorts of change. People are enjoying Fridays off, road tripping, and requesting that we space our sessions out a bit so they can integrate.

Integration. That's an important concept. I use it with clients to mean the time you give yourself to let things sink in. When you've been diving deep on your personal and professional development, sometimes you have to pause to let your learning absorb into your bones.

When you've lived through a global pandemic, political turmoil and social upheaval, you need a little time to integrate. When you give yourself space to integrate, you see what sinks in and sticks over time and set the stage to move forward again.

So, I am going to give you a few weeks of short, easy to digest content to aid your rest, recovery and integration. Today's is simply - consider the idea of integration. What does it mean for you? What do you want to integrate?

Then watch the next few weeks for tips and ideas for rest, recovery and integration.

The free download of The Corporate Rebel's Playbook for Returning to Life (and Work) is still available. It's chock full of info for you and your team. Many people have shared this playbook with their bosses (including my husband). If you love it, please share it.

Lessons From the Pandemic: Part 2

Time to read: 1 minute, 8 seconds

My Covid campsite

I conducted a workshop last week as part of a 2-day virtual offsite to help a team reconnect, recover from a brutal year, and evaluate how they want to return to the office. When I asked people to share what they noticed about life during the pandemic, here's what they said:

"My kids enjoyed having more downtime."

"We didn't run around as much."

"My family wasn't over-scheduled."

"I enjoyed having quiet time in the evening."

As an über extrovert, people are my oxygen. During the pandemic, I had to introvert. I read a lot. Watched hours of TV. Gazed at my fish. Snuggled my dogs. Meditated. I took walks with friends, but the year was party-less, trip-less, and crowd-less.

When we could finally emerge, I was ready to par-ty!

Well, I thought I was ready to par-ty. My first few forays into the crowded world were fun in the moment and resulted in days of sleep and recovery from the noise. The pandemic taught me the value of quiet, downtime, and space alone. When activity was stripped away, the quiet that remained turned out to be great.

In the quiet, families reconnected. You may have discovered new hobbies or reignited your love of reading. Lots of people loved the time to cook at home and eat real meals. Game night replaced running from scheduled activity to scheduled activity.

As you plan your re-entry, consider how you will preserve the quiet you found during the pandemic. (For those of you with young children, the word "quiet" isn't quite right. Maybe a better word is slowing? Calm?)

If you want more strategies for re-entering life and work smoothly and effectively, download your copy of The Corporate Rebel's Playbook for Returning to Life (and Work). It will help you decide what to keep and what to change.

Lessons From the Pandemic: Part 1

Time to read: less than one minute

In the olden days when meetings were moving online, I was facilitating a women's leadership training program for a big company. My group and I were enjoying a panel discussion with company leaders. On the screen, dogs barked, kids walked through, and there was much laughter about wearing sweatpants with a button down shirt.

During Corporate Rebel live events this year, we saw a dinosaur costume, crazy hats, tiaras, dogs, cats, ferrets and all kinds of dining tables, kitchen walls, and bedroom decor.

This year, we became more human to each other at work. Corporate life used to be defined by a separation between the office and home. Sure, you put plants and family photos in your cube. Sure, you have friends at the office. And how many of those people ever saw your dirty laundry draped over a chair or watched your toddler streak across the room during a meeting?

We may be happy to give up the streaking and barking dogs, but let's hang on to how we let ourselves be seen this year. The intimidating VP is less intimidating when her kid asks for homework help during a presentation. Your boss is more approachable when you know he's wearing pjs all day.

Although I wish the solution were PJs for Everyday! it is easy to keep the investment in our humanity at work.

Talk to people. Connect. Tell stories of your everyday messes, successes and failures. Be authentic. Other humans are the most important resource you have. Invest in them.

And maybe consider a pajama day at the office. For old times sake.

Get your free download of The Corporate Rebel's Playbook for Returning to Life (and Work) right here. If you love it, please share it.

You Don't Need "Pandemic Permission"

Time to read: 1.36 minutes

During a recent group workshop, a leader worried about all the things she'll feel obligated to do as things open up. She observed, "the pandemic gave me a good excuse to say no to lots of things."

Try on a few examples:

• You could say no to online cocktails with that group of friends, because you were "all Zoomed out."
• You could decide not to attend the expensive and far-away family vacation you don't enjoy much anyway because you're "not ready to travel yet."
• You could skip the online after hours work happy hour, because your kids "need help with online school."
• You could have a holiday with just your family because "it didn't feel safe yet" to host other people.

Of course, safety and exhaustion were real. And, if you make an honest assessment, you made time for the people and activities you care about the most. You just didn't make space for all the people and activities you did pre-pandemic.

Here's the truth: You don't need the cover of the pandemic to say no to those friends or that vacation or after hours happy hour. You can simply say no.

I recommended to the leader that she consider giving up obligation as a pandemic gift to herself.

Of course, you sometimes have to visit people you don't want to visit and do things you don't want to do. Instead of dragging yourself through those things with resentment and resistance, anchor yourself to your values (like love, connection, family) and keep those in mind as you delight in coffee with a boring relative.

And, be honest with yourself. If you avoided it or them during the pandemic and those activities and relationships don't nourish you now, let them go.

Drop obligation. Obligation is sooo 2019.

Making decisions about how to smoothly and effectively return to life and work is daunting. Make the process easier by downloading your free copy of The Corporate Rebel's Playbook for Returning to Life (and Work).

I hope this helps.

Your Playbook for Returning to Life (and Work)

Time to read: 43 seconds.
Time to download The Corporate Rebel's Playbook for Returning to Life (and Work): 10 seconds

My kids are cleaning their rooms. This seemed appropriate for today.

I ran into an old friend at the airport on my way to celebrate my college roommate's wedding. He talked about a year of difficulties hiring on Zoom and the awkward online team meetings devoid of casual side conversations and eating lunch together. He admitted he is both looking forward to and dreading the awkward return to in-person work in the fall.

Then he said: "There's no playbook for this stuff."

A lightbulb went off in my brain, and I thought: "Yes there is. I'm going to write it."

I spent the flight creating The Corporate Rebel's Playbook for Returning to Life (and Work) for you, your colleagues, bosses, workplaces, volunteer organizations and anyone and anyplace that is struggling with "re-entry anxiety" and uncertainty about how to return.

You can download a copy of this short ebook here. (e-pamphlet? e-whitepaper? e-essay? How many pages make something an ebook anyway? I digress.)

Please pass the link around to your friends and colleagues. They will also find the link to The Corporate Rebel's Playbook for Returning to Life (and Work) on my website at thecorporaterebel.com

I hope this helps.