Constantly reading business articles as we do at VIM Executive Coaching, we were fascinated by a piece that explained that businesses are still trying to figure out the remote hybrid model.
It almost seems to us that this has become a topic of “fallback content,” where each day a business writer takes a run at the hand-wringing, brow wiping problems of post-pandemic, pre-normalized times.
Are These the Questions?
VIM Executive Coaching readily admits that we have no answers to the office space conundrum. Should all of us go back to offices? Some of us? None of us? Should we work together full-time, part time, sometime? Who empties the trash (just kidding on that one)?
What happens when COVID goes away (as viruses do)? What happens when all the available office space becomes housing? What happens when we need larger meeting spaces and none are available?
Unfortunately, and certainly not to add to the politicized aspects of this whirlpool, what happens when – despite all efforts and progress, work environments become further divided by policy?
We bring all these questions to bear as business writers, psychologists, social scientists and academicians, pontificate of the effects all of this will have on society? And, with each article (online, in-print, podcasted, streamed and shared) we all seem to be incredibly fatigued and increasingly apathetic.
Indeed, our days frequently blend into a gray mass of drudgery and reaction. They are what we call “the blended days of our weeks.” We have lost weekends, special office occasions, basic human interaction and even compassion as Tuesdays become Saturdays become ill-remembered vacations.
To be honest, the questions we need to ask are none of the above. To all who invite those who pontificate into our midst, our most gentle observation is that perhaps, as executive leaders, we should all stop with the pontification. For most “experts” have become invested in moment-to-moment reaction.
Wherever society is headed, either in Manhattan, New York City or Manhattan, Kansas, we are absolutely certain that the world will get there.
Yes but…
No, we are serious. We are an incredible, dynamic, creative and innovative society. We will all find a way. The “new” elements of business disruption the pandemic was said to have spawned were a long time in coming. We were all moving in those directions in any case.
Were physicians really happy with seeing a steady stream of pharmaceutical sales reps? Were expanding work teams enamored with the prospects of traveling around the globe for two-day, in-person meetings? Were office managers juggling work spaces with 27 empty cubicles thrilled that all that space was not utilized? These questions VIM Executive Coaching asks are rhetorical, for we mindfully all know the answers.
And, by-the-way, the so-called Great Resignation was a long time in coming too. All of the elements were there and have been there. Or, did society truly believe that gifted employees would be forever smitten with the prospect of spending the next 30-years of their lives bussing coffee-shop tables or marking clothes in a laundromat?
The blended days of our work lives have become that way because we are exhausted by all of the reaction, rather than by celebrating how beautifully we can respond to whatever challenges face us? We see evidence of true response most every day. It is beautiful if we just give each other the chance.
The antidote to boring, gray-scale, blended days is mindfulness. IF we allow, celebrate, elevate mindfulness, whatever prognosticators try to scare in us will be shrugged off. We don’t need the frenetic and often contrived reaction to future worry; we need more in-the-moment mindfulness, authenticity and compassion. This is an incredible opportunity for all of us to love more, respect each other more, care for our lives more.
This mindset may put several content writers out of work, but the rest of us will be just fine.