Is your post-Covid professional trajectory dependent on the pandemic stories you tell?
These are not soft and fuzzy feel-good stories. Rather these are real-deal stories. The stories people really need to hear about the stuff they really need to know. To get to where they really need to go. Together. One millimeter at a time.
So you become more professionally visible, more cross-functionally relevant and more strategically valuable to your employers and clients.
While this question is top of mind for many professionals, you are reluctant to say so out loud. Because Yesterday’s rules of engagement for your career trajectory are reset courtesy of Covid-19. Which impacts how you make your numbers or fulfill your KPIs: Today, Tomorrow and moving forward. Together.
Have you noticed how each new day finds you adapting, adopting and applying yourself within a continuously changing set of rules of professional engagement? Regardless of job title, pay grade, level of education, generation or professional discipline. Because your professional ecosystem continues to be in a state of continuous fluctuation.
You have pandemic stories to tell. Why dismiss their significance to your professional resume and professional story?
In speaking with many of you, I hear you. I see you. You are worried that working from home somehow is perceived as “what I did over my summer vacation.” Not as credible a demonstration of professional capability as working in a physical office setting and engaging with colleagues around the water cooler.
Also, in speaking with many of you, I see you as I hear your stories as well. Because you worry that entering the workplace to manufacture, pack, deliver and service exposes you to unsafe conditions. Even if your employer assures you every precaution is taken to assure your safety and well-being.
You feel caught between a Pandemic Rock and a Professional Story hard place. Consider these are exactly the pandemic stories you need to capture and tell. Together.
First, consider how comfortable you are (or not) pivoting your workplace habits. Did you initially reject working from home? Or did you embrace and welcome that pivot? Whether developing virtual communication habits and technical capabilities, as well as a more adaptable (or not) and open (or not) mindset. Ponder how your requirement to work within physical locations changed since March 2020. And the supplies you now carry with you in anticipation of your work environments.
Next, reflect on whether you and your team openly discuss your collective observations for improving how you work: virtually, physically and in hybrid environments. Then, develop a process for starting off each meeting with that conversation. And anyone can lead that conversation: regardless of job title, pay grade, level of education, generation or professional discipline. Because the individual and collective mindset everyone carries into the room (virtual or physical) today impacts that project’s current and future productivity and profitability.
Finally, develop a format and protocol for capturing the voice of your collective pandemic stories. Together. I can help you set that protocol and tell your stories. Contact me here to begin the story which has been whispering to you for months.
Because the pandemic stories you co-create today, as you serve each other so you can serve clients together, are in fact your professional legacy. And there are some tremendous stories, courageous stories, very simple stories emerging.
Why continue to feel these stories are insignificant and unimportant? Rather, your stories are just what people need to hear as we all move forward together. One millimeter at a time. What are the pandemic stories waiting for you to tell so people know you hear them and see them, too? Contact me here to tell your impactful pandemic professional stories, together.
My One Millimeter Mindset™ virtual and in-person keynotes, workshops, coaching and mastermind programs translate across strategic communication and collaboration disconnects between people and professional disciplines. Build trust. Retain employees and clients. Optimize strategic business and human capital value in your organizations. Get everyone to where they need to go. Together. One millimeter at a time. Contact me here. My playbook of communication tools and methods, Do YOU Mean Business? is available on Amazon.com.
Image source: Adobe Stock
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