COVID-19 has upended nearly every facet of our lives. While there’s a tremendous amount of focus on the negative (we obviously all miss the freedom to meet friends, go to concerts or send our kids to school both mask and care free), I do also think there are positives we’ll look back on and truly appreciate.
One positive is how COVID has served as an accelerant to so many elements of daily life. Not just accelerations in technology but also in the way we approach the people in our lives.
Dating back centuries, the workplace was a place you went to each day with a stiff upper lip, to do the job you were hired to do without any sign of emotion. Think back to this time last year; if someone’s personal lives got in the way of a deadline, what did you think? Were you compassionate to their situation? Or angry because it affected you?
Fast forward to today and there’s simply no way to separate our professional side from our role in our home and family. CEOs are talking over screaming toddlers and people are taking Zoom calls from bedrooms and closets because it’s the only quiet place in the house.
Now we’ve seen it. It may not have been completely willingly, but we’ve all now opened up our lives to our coworkers and it seems like it’s trending towards an incredible opportunity. Executives are understanding how working remotely can be done efficiently, and colleagues are seeing each other’s struggles and reaching out to help.
This week’s podcast episode with Nyeesha Williams reminded me that while we must hold ourselves and others accountable for their behavior, we must also practice constant forgiveness. Forgiveness for others is the key to helping them show up in full growth mode (which makes for better work), while forgiveness for ourselves by breathing through tough moments will help us show up to work with more clarity and presence. We are in a time of evolution, and allowing space for forgiveness is the very thing that will help us all in the long run.
So, as we continue to adapt to this ever changing landscape, can we permanently redefine how we think of forgiveness in the workplace? It doesn’t mean we permit bad behavior or less than excellent work, but it does mean that we’re giving human beings a chance to show up for the job.
Show of hands – How many of you think the workplace needed more humanity?
To listen to more on forgiveness and how we can practice it, click the link below or search for The Going Beyond Podcast on iTunes, Spotify, Pandora, or GooglePlay!
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