How did we get here?
Gayle Smerdon, PhD
An author and keynote speaker on Workplace Culture and Wellbeing
As it's January and everything is starting out fresh and new again (supposedly), I thought it might be nice for those who are new to the Make Work Less Shit Newsletter if I shared how this all got started. The MWLS origin story.
I was leaving a three-day conference that I had really enjoyed, and stepping out from the cool darkness into the light of a hot and sticky day, I started reflecting on the great ideas that had been shared, how other companies were doing things and just feeling how exciting and amazing it had been. The possibilities were blowing my mind.
Then I stepped back into the workplace and was suddenly hit with the reality of how difficult it would be to get our company to achieve some or any of those amazing things. It was like walking out of workplace heaven into workplace hell.
I was having WCRI - workplace culture reentry issues.
After feeling a little deflated, like one of those inflatable tube guys outside of carwash places, I managed to flip back up. Sure, there were a lot of sh*tty things about where I worked. I also continued to hear the same stories from people who became my clients. It seems that many workplaces have a way to go.
I wished I had a magic wand that could make workplaces amazing for everyone. But that is totally unrealistic. So I thought about the small - and big - changes that wouldn't make everyone's work-life perfect but would make it a bit less sh*t. And if we kept that up, that would be amazing.
We all want to work in an amazing place - whatever that means to you. Still, I think it's worth the effort and attention when we at least try to make work less sh*t - even if we fall short of always perfect.
Each week at MWLS, we will look at an aspect of our working lives that recognises how we will still all be a bit like those inflatable tube guys stretching up and flopping down and around the place as things ebb and flow. But hopefully, some ideas will help us to work on keeping a good airflow that helps us to rise up again.
Until next time,
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1 年Love the MWLS origin story! The transition from conference high to workplace reality is something we can all relate to. The analogy of workplace culture reentry issues and the inflatable tube guy is genius. Thanks for sharing!