Conscious Conversations

 How many people have you spoken to today?

Did you see someone whilst walking the dog? Did you bump into parents at the school drop off? Have you rang your mum? Did you chat to someone on the train through your mask?

When we were face to face in a pre-covid world. I don't think I counted these conversations. I live in Yorkshire so it isn't uncommon to strike up a chat with a stranger on public transport or in a coffee shop queue. I would love to know if this was uncommon where you live too?

When in college in the pre mask wearing days you would often find me chatting in corridors, bumping into colleagues as I went about my day. If I am honest those conversations probably made my day. Our college had campuses across the city centre and one of the highlights of the week would be wondering who you would bump into either to or from one of these cross campus jaunts. The journey often felt much shorter if you walked and talked. It was also especially joyful if you hugged a colleague as you dashed across the city square racing in opposite directions.

Yet at the end of the day when I came home to debrief to my partner I don't think I counted these encounters. But now I am mainly online I do. I daily update my partner on the 20 minute chat with a colleague, the hour meeting with a new team and the multiple whats app chats I have had with my friends. I am conscious of these conversations.

Conscious conversations has become my new thing on my to do list every day. To make sure that I have these interactions for my own wellbeing. I have discussed this concept with colleagues who have all made agreeable sounds and nods. Is this a concept for us all in this covid world?

Are we meaningful in our interactions? 

I would direct you to this great piece on consciousness and intentionality here

Are the two dependent? Do we need to be intentional to be conscious? Especially in our conscious conversations?

We learn more when we have other voices in our lives. A wider network informs us of wider perspectives and helps shapes our views, positives and negatives. How do we bring reality to some of these online conversations? Perhaps we don't need to? Many, if not all, of my new friends and colleagues I have never met face to face. Of those I have it has been briefly. Yet the bonds and connections that have been formed between us over the past year and more has had a significant impact on my life. Not just my well being but my professional life and my personal thinking. Because I can engage more globally I have. Broadening my spheres. This is all with intentionaity as I have found my why. See my blog about finding your why here.

Welcoming other voices and actively engaging in spaces are two different things. You can say you are open to all but inviting people to share with you is different. Take the practice some people adopt that when you follow them they RT your name or they send you a DM to thank you for following them. That is actively engaging with new voices. Following back is showing that you are open. There is a difference between being open to others and actively inviting others to share with you. This is intentionality. These are conscious conversations.

There is a difference between intentionality and conscious conversations. I am intentional if I follow back. I am opening a conscious conversation if I DM or tweet your name. SJ @WhatTheTrigMath

Conscious conversations are the process I take now making sure I am intentional with my time. It brings joy to chat to so many wonderful people all around the world, hope we can connect soon!

Being Personal and Staying Connected

We are now firmly in the new world. Distance learning and remote working are the new normal. We are used to video calls for meetings and lessons. That morning coffee shop visit has become a distant memory. We can't remember the code to the car park at work. We have become closer to our family in Canada as they join the group family video call on a Wednesday. This is us now.

But what about that morning coffee shop visit? Why did we do it every day for so many years? Yes the coffee was good but there was something else. We were with people. Whether we walked as a team to get coffee together or we sat on our own people watching for 5 minutes whilst they made our brew we were with people. 

We still see people, we see a lot more of some people! Managers that were floating in the higher floors of our building are all of a sudden available and interested in what we do. Why? Because they have the time. Meetings have become more efficient, we are working smarter but most importantly of all our managers are seeking that personal connection too.

The power of being personal was easy to underestimate before. We probably thought we went for our morning coffee because we liked the coffee. We maybe didn't notice the interactions we made with people on our walk there and back as well as in the coffee shop.

How do we be personal now? I don't mean joining a call, I mean being personal. Being personal is about putting that personal touch on things, making things yours, letting someone else almost feel your presence. If someone is going through a tough time we would maybe tell them it will be alright, offer guidance and maybe a hug. Having that conversation virtually will maybe use the same words but a very different experience as we are not there in person. We are not being personal.

We give feedback on work regularly. We have adapted to the new world and we add comments to documents. But we can be personal in this. We could add a voice note instead of typing comments. We can use our own speak, make the author know we have personally read their work. A tool like Read and Write or Kaizena has a voice note feature, or simply recording your voice and inserting the file will have the same effect, you will have been personal.

Our new challenge in the new normal now we have accepted our new way of working is to seek opportunities to be personal. SJ