{"id":2009,"date":"2020-04-28T08:00:12","date_gmt":"2020-04-28T07:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.canterbury.ac.uk\/staffdevelopment\/?p=2009"},"modified":"2020-04-27T08:48:02","modified_gmt":"2020-04-27T07:48:02","slug":"the-productivity-of-letting-go","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.canterbury.ac.uk\/staffdevelopment\/the-productivity-of-letting-go\/","title":{"rendered":"The Productivity of Letting Go"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As I read yet another list of amazing things to do in\nlockdown, from PE with Joe Wicks to micro-volunteering, I ask myself for the\nzillionth time whether I feel productive. \nI might be sitting at my laptop for hours on end, (and in truth I am\nstarting to fall a little out of love with constant video calls), but is any of\nwhat I\u2019m doing actually<\/em> productive?<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

The constant expectation to use all this extra time in\nlockdown to do so many extraordinary things is frankly exhausting. And, for all\nthose people racing round trying to keep young kids amused, and conjuring up\nmeals and at-home adventures, it\u2019s hard to feel that there actually is any\nextra time. (You\u2019re only uninterrupted five minutes might be when you\u2019re in the\nbathroom but it\u2019s definitely not advisable to video call from there \u2013 we\u2019ve all\nheard the Zoom horror stories….).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So I am left wondering where my actual work life fits into\nall this and what can really make a difference in managing my own performance,\nlet alone that of my team. I look around at my scraps of paper and endless\nlists and realise my main navigation tool for each day is the note stuck above\nmy laptop which says: What have you chosen to let go of today? <\/em>It is that\nsmallest of nudges to remind me to think about what\u2019s the most important thing\nthat I need to be focusing on right now. And to remember what my overall\npurpose is in the role that I do. That hasn\u2019t changed, even if everything\naround me has. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I grasp that thread of normality and anticipate the small\nglow of achievement of getting the more immediate stuff off my desk.  And then, small victories gained, (yes,\nuploading Desk Yoga Poses to the team chat does count), I take my coffee into\nthe garden for a while. Ignoring the lure of technology, I go old school, with\na notebook in hand. I scribble down some thoughts about longer term projects and\nfeel that small bubble of excitement that comes from thinking about something\nnew, something future-focused. It reminds me that organisational life continues\nto flourish even in these changed circumstances, and how it is bringing\nopportunities to do things differently. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I also realise that the micro-journey to my back garden\nbrought a much needed change of pace. \nThat small shift of scene gave me the change of perspective I needed for\nmy wellbeing and for dialling down the always-on culture that has started to\nseep unbidden into my life.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I check in with my team and realise that most of them are\nmanaging that balance far better and I resolve to learn from them.  In return, I realise I can help them to stay\nfocussed on what our purpose is as a team, both now and<\/em> looking ahead.\nAnd to know that feeling productive means prioritising staying safe and well,\nunchaining ourselves from our laptops, and focusing on what truly matters. So: What\nare you letting go of today?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you\u2019re interested in how you can manage performance remotely, both for yourself and for and for your teams, we have some virtual workshops coming up which may be of interest:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Managing My Own Performance in Adversity<\/a> – Friday 15th May 2020 (09.30-11:00)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Managing Performance Remotely<\/a> – Wednesday 20th May 2020 (14:00-15:30)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Having the Difficult Performance Conversation<\/a> – for managers managing performance remotely. Sessions on Thursday 21st May 2020 (14:00-15:30) and Tuesday 16th June 2020 (10:00-11:30)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Amanda Maclean, Head of Organisational and People Development<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As I read yet another list of amazing things to do in lockdown, from PE with Joe Wicks to micro-volunteering, I ask myself for the zillionth time whether I feel […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":136217,"featured_media":2178,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,433,134,93],"tags":[13,437,141,94],"class_list":["post-2009","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-leadership","category-performance-conversations","category-productivity","category-wellbeing","tag-leadership","tag-performance-conversations","tag-productivity","tag-wellbeing"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"authorName":"Juliet Flynn","featuredImage":"https:\/\/blogs.canterbury.ac.uk\/staffdevelopment\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/602\/2020\/04\/girl-2934257_1280.jpg","postExcerpt":"As I read yet another list of amazing things to do in lockdown, from PE with Joe Wicks to micro-volunteering, I ask myself for the zillionth time whether I feel […]","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.canterbury.ac.uk\/staffdevelopment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2009","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.canterbury.ac.uk\/staffdevelopment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.canterbury.ac.uk\/staffdevelopment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.canterbury.ac.uk\/staffdevelopment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/136217"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.canterbury.ac.uk\/staffdevelopment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2009"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.canterbury.ac.uk\/staffdevelopment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2009\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2170,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.canterbury.ac.uk\/staffdevelopment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2009\/revisions\/2170"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.canterbury.ac.uk\/staffdevelopment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2178"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.canterbury.ac.uk\/staffdevelopment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2009"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.canterbury.ac.uk\/staffdevelopment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2009"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.canterbury.ac.uk\/staffdevelopment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2009"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}