We have been wounded at work. The coronavirus, about 1/10,000th the size of a grain of salt, altered everything. Wounds have ranged from fatality and unemployment to burnout or the loss of what we thought work was.
I am seeing many articles about coming back stronger. I am uncomfortable with that…not the coming back stronger, but the sense of let’s get over this. Sometimes, this seems to be a shallow plea for resilient workers – when life throws you a lemon make lemonade leaves a sour taste in my mouth.
Wounds tend to attract attention to themselves and grief, as hard as it is, is a way to keep a loss alive. I don’t know about you but I plan to keep alive what has happened to myself and so many in 2020.
Robert Bly believed that our wounds transformed can become our gifts to our community. I like the idea of transformational gifts but I don’t think it can be rushed.
William Bridges was adamant that our biggest failure in organizations is the failure to acknowledge who is losing what because of a change. Our transition out of our wounds is through our wounds.
Ensure you pause fully to take stock of your wounds, that everyone is invited to talk about what they lost in 2020, and you move forward carefully, which to me, means full of care.