Emblematic

This picture is perhaps emblematic of a typical Tuesday, sitting with a group of colleagues in a workshop, whilst juggling several other urgencies during seven-minute coffee breaks. Trying to concentrate on interesting discussions whilst every work-based notification pings away and dozens of people try and advance their particular stream of work. My sector suffers from a serious lack of being able to ‘say no’, in terms of taking on work vs the reality of getting it done. This is mostly because of the challenging non-transactional nature of it and the ongoing need to balance the competing agendas of environmental sustainability and the social and economic forces working against it.

Tech giants love to sell the latest communication platforms to organisations, and leaders embrace them in the name of efficiency and community. But they are a fast track to burnout. Even compared to when I started office work around twenty years ago, the change is stark. In those days we relied on phone calls, emails and face to face only, and when Skype chat was introduced it was a fun diversion to chat to mates on the other side of the office. I don’t want to become one of those middle-aged people who harks on about the past, but in terms of managing workloads, it was simpler for the mind to organise itself. It feels that we now require super-human levels of boundary-making to avoid constant overwhelm. And that certain personality types are not going to react well to the existing business as usual standard.

Here concludes today’s instalment of Diaries of an Angst-Ridden Old Millennial.