Are you in up-skill overdrive?

I am all for adapting and evolving but it seems like the great majority of us are required to do so at light speed right now.

The benefits of working through the process and related outcomes have been incredible and there are great stories of creativity, breakthroughs and successful rapid transitions.

I am sure this will continue to be the case in the medium term for most of us and having kids at home doing distance learning, homeschooling, running interference or however it looks for each of us, has many moving parts to consider. A lot of new knowledge is required, there is an increased demand for new skills to be developed and/or the ones we have to be strengthened.

To increase productivity, how great would it be to have the ability to download adaptation programs directly into our brains like Neo in the 1999 movie The Matrix? He learns kung fu and other martial arts in a matter of seconds. It would be life-changing to download the home-school program or the business pivot program and declare, “I know homeschooling.”

However we have to stick with the real world approach.

To help with managing and adapting, connection and conversations have been a life-saver for many. After speaking with women in leadership positions, people pivoting their businesses, friends, family, front line health workers, teachers, school leaders and reflecting on my recent experiences, we share some decent challenges which require quick awareness and understanding.

* Your unique personal and professional context

* The expectations placed on you and your change of environment

* The child(ren)’s age and learning style

* The learning platform and delivery expectations offered by the school

* The value system and politics of the school, leadership culture and teacher involvement

* Information sharing of different schools approaches and the resulting comparisons

* Technology accessibility and capability

* The parent or carer’s learning style and way of operating and how this supports or challenges all of the above

* Family dynamics and learning spaces

This list is not exhaustive but going through each step can be exhausting. It could also be applied to setting up and managing teams remotely for work.

Like most working parents, I have made my way through and up-skilled where needed, purchased new pieces of technology, cleared the house, set up work and learning spaces, coached, sought help and support from experts but there was still something at play that was influencing the progress and operating rhythm.

Determined to find the answers I kept digging. After speaking with teachers who faced challenges home schooling their own children, even though they have the knowledge and expertise to teach, I nailed it.

From one of my son’s perspectives (the one pushing back the most) the teacher is the God/Goddess/Oracle of Learning and school is the only place learning happens. The mum is the Drill Sergeant and Oracle of everything out of school and home is where the opposite of learning happens.

In our family there has been a breach of the Parent/Teacher Code.

Working hard to upskill, set everyone up for success, remove obstacles and provide support is important work. It contributes to human flourishing and builds solid foundations for the future. However, if we are working hard in the service of others while not being aware of the conditioning of the Code we are operating under, downloading more and more programs will not help. What will help is to understand and read the Code first.

This applies to all Codes and in particular, the Gender Code. I have explored this in my book Breaking the Gender Code: How to use what you already have to get what you actually want.

During lock down we are working on shifting the lens through which we all see each other and unpacking all sorts of Codes. The Sibling Code has been extremely interesting!

The starting point is to acknowledge, understand and interpret them.

Are you noticing any Codes at play in your life right now?