My specialist area for the past 15 years has been Workplace Wellbeing.
Working with diverse organisations and their teams in different areas of wellness at all levels, I’ve seen first hand the negative impact of acting on assumptions rather than facts can have.
In this 24/7 social media world, the noise of mis-information seems to be growing louder and is never off.
Believing and sharing absolutely everything we see and hear without question can have a damaging impact on us and how we show up to others at home and work.
Ipsedixitism – the dogmatic assertion that something is true because someone, somewhere said it, without offering any supporting evidence whatsoever – and HISHIT can show-up in any area of our lives.
It’s key to reflect on where we are, what we believe is right and not accept everything as factually right without challenge.
Back in February 2017, JobCentre Plus referred a very nervous John to Growing Talent’s 12th programme.
At the time John had very little employment experience and pretty low self-esteem.
Everything I asked him to do on Growing Talent, was completely outside his comfort zones especially the public speaking and presentations.
He pushed through that fear and nailed everything! John secured his ring-fenced permanent role with a records management company.
Attending the end of year event, John strolled into the room, in a suit matched with at the biggest beaming smile.
Today, he got in touch with me again. He is still with the same employer but now a Team Leader encouraging others. He sent me the picture of his Growing Talent badge that he still has seven years later!
Thanks to Netflix, I watched this brilliant film over the weekend. I was struck by many things. Yes, it had all the emotions – happy, sad, courage, loyalty, generational parallel lives, hope, adversity, ignorance, acceptance, bullying and likely many more. Overall, it left a feeling of hope, that’s it’s ok to be your authentic self and life can be fun if we drop the judgements we give others – without even speaking with them.
I originally wrote this for my LinkedIn in page. Why? because the film is a place of work comprising actors, camera crew, runners etc as is the school central to the film’s theme. Without the Emotional Intelligence to accept all work colleagues – direct reports, peers, line management, clients, supply chain etc in all sectors, as well as recognise and understand how our emotions, thoughts and behaviours impact others, businesses and their people will never thrive.
As the credits to the film rolled, we see the ‘real’ Jamie Campbell and his mum Margaret from County Durham who the film was based on. A three part documentary in 2011 featuring Jamie and his mum’s fight for him to be allowed to wear a dress to his secondary school prom.
For me, the most poignant feeling I got from the film was how little has changed. Ten years since the documentary on Jamie’s fight to be authentic yet we don’t seem any further forward. In the film, Jamie’s guide to becoming a drag queen is Hugo played by the brilliant Richard E Grant. Snapshots of Hugo’s life as a drag queen during the explosion of AIDS, had parallels with Jamie’s fight and illuminated the lack of acceptance today.
With training in how our behaviours impact ourselves and those around us, change is possible – but only if we want it.
Final thoughts – the film ended with a real shift in change of attitudes by many. I wonder how much more businesses would grow if they looked at the behaviours and impact of all within…..
The global pandemic and yo yo-ing UK restrictions over the past year + has enabled a period of reflection for us all.
“Where are we?” “Are we happy and fulfilled?” “Is something missing?” “Am I on the wrong road?” “Are my relationships healthy or toxic?”
Just some of the questions we may have considered over this time.
Catching glimpses of the highlights of HRH Prince Philip’s funeral over the weekend and seeing some of the unique things he had planned – such as symbols of his love of carriage racing and land/range rovers – got me thinking about how much planning we put into living our best lives.
How many of us run on automatic pilot? Doing everything as habit almost on automatic pilot just means we are existing not living.
Having a Passion Map enables us to really examine all areas of our life and ask ourselves those difficult questions. Especially “am I where I want to be?” or “am I on the path to get where I want to be?”
Slowly, we are seeing the seeds of change – restrictions are gradually lifting. Is now the time to devise our own Passion Map?
Life is too precious to return to automatic living.
11 February marks the above. UNESCO launched this annual event to raise awareness of the disproportionately low percentage of females in STEM careers globally.
ICT – 3%
Natural Science, Maths & Statistics – 5%
Engineering, Manufacturing & Construction – 8%
A teacher’s role is, in my view, not to teach but to inspire and ignite the fuse of curiosity. This will plant the seed of curiosity and hunger to learn. Wouldn’t it?
I appreciate teachers have a lot of pressures on them dealing with administration, social issues, Government restrictions and so on.
How many tv shows, YouTube channels, Instagram accounts can you name featuring ‘celebrities’ who have got rich and famous for doing exactly what? Now compare that with how many accounts feature people inspiring others with STEM subjects like Maggie Aderin-Pocock – British scientist and space guru? Probably, like me, you can’t name that many. Why don’t we celebrate and publicise people like Maggie more?
If people aren’t inspired in school, social media, tv/films to explore the possibilities of STEM – how will we get more innovative minds to address future problems? We’ve seen how integral research and science has been in the fight against the global pandemic. Are we naive enough to think there will never be another global catastrophe?
A report by the Geena Davis Institute in 2015 found the just 12% of identifiable STEM roles portrayed in tv/film were played by women.
Children are inspired by what they see. Is now the right time to get the balance more level away from ‘Celebrity’?
Let’s make 11 February count and talk to the young girls in our lives about the possibilities of STEM, looking at the journeys of people like Maggie Aderin-Pocock and others who make a massive difference in lives which often goes unnoticed/celebrated.
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