Be Kind.
From the The Ambassadors Blog Blog
by Cameron McGaughy,
Emily Luijbregts, Drew Craig
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Be Kind.
Leadership
Categories
Best Practices,
Communications Management,
Leadership
Date
January's topic on Projectmanagement.com is all about resilience. I wanted to share something that I've seen and dealt with in the past few weeks that touches on this topic. We all get knocked down, we all have days that we struggle but when you have more bad days than good, it's important to seek help before it gets completely unmanagable.
Since the start of January, 4 peers have approached me saying they have been signed off work for their mental health. What was different about this, was not the fact that peers reached out to me but that it was 4 people within 1 month. When I delved deeper into the reasons behind why these people were signed off sick, there was a variety of reasons:
- Pressures from work
- Family pressures related to homeschooling / lockdown
- Lockdown stress within their relationship
- Pandemic stress in general (health of family members, themselves etc)
- Money worries
If you are struggling, then here are a few suggestions for what you can do to build your own resilience and improve your mental health:
- Understand that you need support
- Ask for help (from your work, family, health professionals)
- Take time for yourself, your family
- Take a break. This should be some time, every day at a minimum.
When I have spoken to my peers and friends about this and why so much of this is happening now, they all sympathised with the situation and could definitely relate to it. I wanted to ask the community, what they are doing to maintain their mental health? Are they seeing more colleagues/friends struggling at the moment? How do you support these people? Here's what I am doing:
- I am reaching out to friends on a regular basis for a catch up/ virtual coffee
- I'm offering someone to listen to / go for a walk with / support if they need anything.
- Being an advocate for team members if they need time off/ Personal time with work
- Working proactively with team members to manage their stress levels/ support in stress management techniques
- Coaching Team members of stress resilience / mental health initiatives
Feel free to message me if you're struggling or need advice. I am happy to try my best to support you and do not forget: Please reach out to professionals if you need help:
- http://www.samaritansusa.org/
- http://smaritans.org
Posted
by
Emily Luijbregts
on: January 27, 2021 07:09 AM |
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Comments (13)
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Great article, Emily! HBR had a complementary one today aimed at working parents during this pandemic but a lot of the lessons are applicable to all: https://hbr.org/2021/01/navigating-pandemic-fatigue-as-a-working-parent
Kiron
Angie Lehmann
Project Manager| NDIT
Detroit Lakes, Mn, United States
Great topic! Thank you for sharing. At the beginning of the pandemic, I stumbled upon bullet journals. This is a great way for one to list all the things they want to do in a week, month, etc. I like to create lists by month. One of the calendars that I create and color in each month is self-care (which can be a variety of things that help me unwind and have some me time). Another way that I use my bullet journal is to list the tiny acorns as Fiona Ferris calls them in her book, Thirty Chic Days. This is my habit tracker to help me achieve my goals one day at a time. Learning a new language, read project management blogs, spend less money, become a minimalist, practice Hygge, etc. If I have dedicated a little time each day to the item on the list I get to color in the box for that day.
I think it is important to stay connected to family and friends. In my bullet journal each month I like to list out up coming birthdays and get a birthday card picked out and ready to send. Instead of birthday cards one could list the individuals they would like to send a thank you note to like John Kralik writes about in his book 365 Thank Yous: The Year a Simple Act of Daily Gratitude Changed My Life.
Finally, I do a lot of reading and have been known to delve into up to 10 books at a time, so they are all listed in my bullet journal (the month that I am reading them) and I love to check them off when they are completed and add news ones in the upcoming months. **I would note that one of my favorite books is Achieve Anything in Just One Year: Be Inspired Daily to Live Your Dreams by Jason Harvey. This book will get you to journal too. However, it does help guide you each day whereas the bullet journal allows you to be as creative as you would like.
Kiron: thanks for sharing
Angie: what great ideas and recommendations! I've not looked into bullet journals yet but will take a look. Thanks for taking the time to reply :-)
THANKS FOR YOUR GOOD WORDS , Great article.
Stephanie Jaeger
Lead Consultant| Jaeger Consultants Ltd
Nairobi, Nairobi, Kenya
Thanks for this blog. And yes I totally agree that we need to be more kind to each other. We are all struggling to a certain degree, but in a team environment our EQ needs to be in overdrive. Both for understanding ourselves - why am I acting / reacting this way - and in understanding the others from where they sit, taking their personality and their motivational value system into account as well
Portia Baker
PM III| Cornell Technical Services
Columbia, Md, United States
Kindness is a precious commodity. When pressure mounts, kindness can suffer. We must refill ourselves daily to be able to pour out grace and kindness on others. Self-care. Thank you for discussing this topic. Be well and take good care.
Martin Cooper
The Institute of Leadership and Management
United Kingdom
Thoughtful article, thank you. Im sure we can all relate to the article in some way.
I do find working from home due to the current pandemic alot more intense than office working, constant notifications via Teams or emails, that before homeworking could be dealt with via a quick chat while making a coffee, seem to turn into a flurry of ongoing notifications, I find this suffocating at times.
I have recently turned off all but urgent notifications and instead block out a period of time in the day to check on not so urgent communications, I have found it easier to focus and also feel less stressed and overwhelmed,
Hi all.
I'm happy to know that this blog exists and that you might be able to guide me.
I'm a Chilean native and 15 years leaving in US. I took a bootcamp curse to take the PMP exam and did very well - after 3 weeks of studying - in mock exams. I took the test last December and realized the long scenario based questions - and answers - plus the fact I could actually not read the questions out loud, contributed in a major way to my failure.
I would like to know your advice in this case. I would need to know if there are resources out there that might be helpful for me as well.
Justin Fu
Senior Systems Engineer| Parsons
Bristow, Va, United States
Latha Thamma reddi
Sr Product and Portfolio Management (Automation Innovation)| DXC Technology
Mckinney, Tx, United States
Nigel Tan
Project Manager & Lead Consultant| Malaysian SOCIAL Project
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Very well-written! I found this really useful.
Stephanie Jaeger
Lead Consultant| Jaeger Consultants Ltd
Nairobi, Nairobi, Kenya
Thanks everyone for commenting. I am glad you are enjoying the article
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