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This November saw the return of the fifth annual Toronto Change Days. I was excited to see 2022 celebrated with a to an in-person event, yet still reflect the virtual connectivity across many elements.
This summer I finally made the leap to get our Capillary Values created formally. To no longer be an informal, undercurrent of beliefs and principles, we all kind of knew, but to actually be something tangible and real.
This year we are seeing a significant amount of conversation around terms like, “the future of work”, “back to the office” and “hybrid working”. Of course, this is all because of the unprecedented impact of the global Covid-19 pandemic and the way that forced a hard and fast move to working from home for an enormous number of people.
I’ve often had this said to me before people get to know me… “You are very opinionated and challenging, aren’t you?” But this evolves into some statement, that says something like “I see you are a very values driven person and want to make sure that everything you do aligns with them” – which normally includes some reference to objectivity, fairness, giving space to all voices, non-judgmental and other words which do align with my personal values.
As we move forward into 2022, we may feel a range of emotions related to the current health and resultant community challenges. I reflected on similar hope at the start of 2021 as I do now. This will be the year when things restart, when engagement is enriched by in person contact and more in person opportunities. I will get to the future aspirations in blog posts in the coming weeks, but for now I’m going to focus on the year that is now behind us.
I am feeling joy. I am feeling encouraged. I am feeling… grateful. The above three emotions were the result of a short future focused self reflection for me, using the Emotional Culture Deck (ECD). How are you feeling today? How are you really feeling? What emotions are you connecting with today?
Ever wondered how it would feel if you could box up all your emotions and hide them away? It’s strange how we are driven, led or even coaxed down pathways we wouldn’t normally travel, just because of an emotion? We can decide the excitement of the new is greater than the fear of the unknown. We move the limits of confidence because of commitment, and we peer into the uncomfortable because of the joy the result may bring.
This ever-growing portfolio of transformation needs change professionals to keep adding capabilities to their toolbox, developing deeper intervention practice and broader approaches to engage in these new and exciting spaces. I do not use the word exciting lightly. I think that we are in exciting times for change, but this means that the way many people successfully deliver also needs to evolve.
I am very aware that change has significantly affected everyone this year. It’s been a tough 2020. The conversations I’ve been having, discuss how so many organizations and individuals have been pushed sideways (and many other directions) by the impact of Covid-19. We need to start thinking how we recover, reshape and prepare for the after-effects of this massively disruptive change!