This one is a little different from my usual nonsense….

For those that aren’t aware, my ‘proper job’ is as a Organisational Development/Learning and Development Consultant.

This means that when I’m not writing acceptable poetry and the odd tolerable short story I’m supporting businesses, teams and individuals develop their leadership knowledge, skills and behaviours. I’ve done this in more than twenty countries, across multiple industries for, what feels like, a million years.

LinkedIn Profile.

It occurs to me that I regularly use a number of tools/models that may be helpful for many as we each take our journey through the Coronavirus crisis.

You can read more about two of them below. I can’t take credit for the images but the words are all mine.

1. Behavioural Differences.

In my household of four, two are very blue/green and two that are a bit red and a lot yellow.

It’s not about right or wrong, it just different behavioural reactions which have already caused some minor conflict .

In our case it will be important to understand our blue/greens need for detail and desire to be compliant and that they may be internalising extreme feelings that are difficult to manage.

For our reds and yellows we need a clear plan that’s easy to stick to and doesn’t feel constraining. We need to remember that keeping positive could be their, not yet articulated, coping strategy and that we should try to understand and not derail that through overly negative behaviours and communication choices.

This morning I was careful not to comment on the news headlines in a way that might not be received well. Instead I just let it be what it is and kept silent. I will have other opportunities to have my needs met, it didn’t have to be over our morning tea & toast. Not today anyway.

Our differences will bring many positives to help us through this difficult period, as long as we value and respect those differences and the needs they create from the outset.

2. Circle of Influence.

This one is more about understanding ourselves and the choices we can take to make our journey through this less arduous.

For all of us maintaining positive mental health in the coming months will be challenging so it’s important to be kind to ourselves and try to focus only on what we can control.

Based on the Circle of Influence, it provides some suggestions of things we can do and others that we should try and let go, difficult though that can sometimes be.

I know I’ve been spending a lot of time thinking/worrying about things outside of my circle of control and instead focusing on things I have little/zero real influence over. In doing this I’m achieving very little success while draining my wellbeing levels significantly. There’s no chance I’m going to be able to maintain this for, what might be, several months so I need to work hard to practice what I preach.

Hopefully you find this useful. Please feel free to share if you think others might find this post useful.