Six 2022 Decisions You Can Make Now!
Remember this time last year? We were saying things like, ‘I can’t wait to put this year behind me and start 2021 afresh’. And then… COVID lingered, nothing really improved for most of the year and decisions were deferred to 2022.
So here we are, at the end of a truly exhausting year. Speaking personally, I’ve had a significant amount of work (speeches, culture programs etc.) over the course of 2021 and even managed to write another book. Where normally I would pace around a room or a stage, I moved in small circular motions in our basement.
Physically, I’m in good shape and yet I feel completely drained and dead on my feet, because emotionally my tank is empty. Do you feel the same?
We’re fortunate that all of our family are fit and well, yet our personal and collective mental health has taken a relentless beating. What’s required now is rest, relaxation, laughter and a small amount of reflection. What did I learn about myself? How did I cope? What would I do differently in similar circumstances? What would I like to achieve in 2022?
Now of course, if something is important to you, then you should act immediately! So, in the spirit of that statement and in my final blog of the year, I wanted to provide you with six decisions that you can make now to set yourself and your team up for success in 2022.
Don’t do them all, otherwise you’ll be overwhelmed by the middle of January! But pick one. Work on it, develop new habits and then, pick another. Your goal is to get 5% better every month at being you and doing your job so that by the end of 2022, you can look back with pride on what you’ve achieved.
Feel free to share this with others to help them with their decisions too!
1. Choose productivity over busyness
The world continues to be busy and yet, figures released recently in the US showed that productivity is at its lowest level since 1960. Of course, COVID placed undue demands on our lives, but (if we’re being honest here), you also still waste a fair bit of time in meetings that you don’t need to attend or reading emails that you don’t need to read. Choosing productivity over busyness means relentlessly prioritising how you spend your time, which is, after all, the most important commodity that you have.
2. Choose to build something people want to join
Nothing shines a light on a poor workplace culture like a crisis and during the last two years, those lights have been shining everywhere, maybe even on your own team or organisation. The teams that flourished were the ones that committed early to refreshing the culture they needed to be successful. Redefining the vision, behaviours and principles of collaboration, whilst building relationships with those that you work with, will provide the perfect foundations for success.
3. Choose to assume trust
What hybrid working requires more than anything else is trust. When you choose to assume trust, believing staff will almost always do the right thing, then there’s a good chance that they will. Unfortunately the reverse is also true. Trust requires emotional maturity from managers and a recognition that most humans want to do the best job that they can all of the time. Often they’re impeded by the culture (see point 2) or by their own attitude, however, by setting expectations in the right way and helping people to overcome the things that stand in their way, trust will flow both ways and in those scenarios, everyone wins.
4. Choose to lead not manage
Leadership is - and always will be - a choice that managers make, rather than a promotion that they gain. It’s a tough choice to make, which is why organisations have very few leaders that people feel inspired by. Yet, by making time to develop relationships with staff, communicating in ways that they appreciate, being empathetic yet disciplined and building a culture that is diverse, inclusive and respectful you’re sending a message that you’ve chosen to put yourself in service to others. And that acts as inspiration and motivation for others to do likewise.
5. Choose to make more time for laughter
Everything has felt intensely serious for almost two years now. Fear and anxiety have (understandably) reigned and the best way for us to deal with this, is through laughter. The ability to find moments of levity that not only provide us with a much needed stress release, but that also provide teams with shared stories, they then pass on to others. Laughter is free and leaders work hard to ensure that time is created to do so. Failing that, arrange a team night out at a comedy club (COVID restrictions permitting)!
6. Choose to use technology productively
Earlier this year I spoke to Geraldine Fauville on my Culture Makers podcast who is Assistant Professor in Education, Communication and Learning at the University of Stanford, based in Sweden. Her key area of research is Zoom fatigue, which is a very real thing! I’d encourage you to listen to her insights to gain a view on the effects that sitting in front of a camera all day can have on you. However, there’s a good chance that your phone is within arms reach and when it’s not, you become nomophobic! Technology can transform your working life for the better, but only if you develop some good habits around how you use it. Turn off notifications, keep it out of the bedroom/boardroom (hopefully they’re not the same place!) and plan in moments where you can switch off from the stimulation.
The start of a new year provides an opportunity for you to make some decisions about the kind of person you’d like to be, but why wait? If it’s important, these are decisions you can make now!
Thank you so much for reading this blog and I hope you continue to find these insights useful. If there’s anything you’d like me to cover, either on the blog or on my weekly Culture & Coffee podcast please don’t hesitate to let me know!
I’ll be practising what I preach and taking a couple of weeks off myself. See you in 2022!