‘Great detective work’. ‘You’re a good nosey parker.’ Two same but different, ummm, compliments….. This ‘high praise’ was given unprompted because of information I’d been able to collect, analyse and sort in a complex life admin situation. But it made me consider what’s valuable here. In any complex issue, it’s important to : ask the […]
When you belatedly stumble across the nefarious plans made by your nieces; a four step military skirmish they roped their Nannie into ? I obviously stood no chance trying to work effectively (remotely) this particular day. At some stage during the day, Miss almost-eight studied me for a while on my Zoom meetings and emails […]
I was first in line when my hairdresser reopened. But as I looked in the mirror after returning the blonde to the mousey brown, I was taken aback. It’s quite shocking to look like the ‘usual’ you instead of the ‘real’ you. Stuck in iso away from the fripperies of hair and beauty, I’d grown […]
I was always rushing. And apologising. And underestimating. Because someone wanted this, someone else had promised that, we already had X to do, and Y had popped up. In life, I wanted to please, I wanted to do all the things, drive home in a reasonable time with peakhour traffic, fit a gym class in, […]
This is not business as usual. And neither is the management space in which we find ourselves. Working remotely is different – regardless of whether you do it normally or not. It requires a different connection, a different rhythm, and a different productivity push. I was asked – by my own team members – to […]
I walk lots. Every day. It differentiates my home time from my work time at either end of the day when the physical space won’t allow. It’s a temporal marker, since time is otherwise a little wierded out for all of us. Each walk I travel the same path. It’s the routine that soothes the […]
Easter wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be. But it was because I skirted the regulations; handed over a chocolate Easter bunny while walking Sunday Easter morning with a friend, checked on a fragile friend later and drank wine with a laugh. Could I have done it any other way? No. Our political […]
Our main storytellers have not been compelling this far into the COVID-19 crisis. It has become a standard criticism that the messages being delivered – or that we have been hearing – are confusing, not strong enough, contradictory, not cutting through, not logical, based on economics and not health. This has no doubt contributed to […]
I consider myself pretty well informed. I read the news, I watch the press conferences, I sift through the commentators, I absorb the community feeling. I know how the emergency management arrangements generally work, I know the systems in place that can be used to talk to people and I know the pros and cons. […]
It’s too early to say we are in a world of opportunity. It’s too early to say I am excited about the opportunity. It’s too early to say because we have death ahead of us. We have economic pain, family pain, emotional pain and a change in the way of our lives. It’s going to be […]
Is there anything more challenging than leadership in a time of fear? A leader is only as good as the information and intelligence they are provided; but the way it is conveyed is just as important in building community confidence. There’s been a lot of talk over the summer of the calm, steady voice of […]
This was going to be a blog about personal resilience. A blog where I was proud of myself for surviving a series of unfortunate events unscathed. Two weeks ago, it went a little like this: Sitting in the Bairnsdale offices of East Gippsland Shire Council, my local wine store owners and cafe owner together phoned to […]