Stretching from a fixed point

Elastics stretch from a fixed point.

I don’t understand much about physics, but I know from experience that if all parts of an elastic are in motion simultaneously, stretching isn’t happening. And elastics are made to stretch.

This metaphor might resonate for you when you consider the past 20 months – at times all the parts have been moving at once, so you haven’t been able to respond well.

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Collective Adaptability

I am conscious of being in a liminal space recently, somewhere between gatherings happening digitally and in-person and a new “third way” of hybrid that has more variations than I can describe.

Liminal spaces are exciting and uncomfortable and tiring.

This particular transitional time reminds me to be grateful for the fact that adaptability (which we all need) is both an individual and a collective responsibility. The Adaptability Quotient assessment tool measures personal skills such as grit and resilience, but also collective features such as work environment and team support. This means that our shared environments can both contribute to and undermine our ability to adapt, just like our temperament and skillsets can.

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Early Adopters Help Early Adapters

Have you ever “ridden the curve?”

If you’ve been in a tough university class, you’ll know what I mean. It’s an expression that refers to benefiting from a bell curve that pulls up your grade in order for the course to attain the average the professor is expecting.

In my daughter’s current law school experience, that same curve is used not only to bring some grades up, but to push some down. Pretty annoying if you are at the right-hand side of that bell.

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Sustainable Recharge

Different kinds of batteries charge in different ways. (Or so I’m told…please don’t ask me to explain this much further…!)

Our cell phone batteries gradually deplete over time. Plug in the charger for a few minutes and you gain a bit more battery life. Overnight, and you’re good for the next day.

In gasoline-powered cars, the battery recharges while we’re driving. Continue reading “Sustainable Recharge”

The Ability to be Hopeful

One of my favourite opening questions to build connections in meetings (other than, “Share the most boring thing about yourself,” which is actually hilarious), is “Put one adjective in the Chat that describes how you are really doing today.” Sometimes, I’ll ask it twice, with the second round adding the cloak of anonymity, which tends to increase candour. I use it several times per week. Continue reading “The Ability to be Hopeful”

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