This year has been a huge time of change. Our team have done an amazing job responding to Covid by transitioning our training, coaching, recruitment, assessment and events online. Our webinar last week was just one of many areas of our business that have had to quickly pivot.
There has been an extraordinary growth in online recruitment, and this is only going to keep escalating going forward. To make sure our team can thrive during Covid, we are having a ‘Go slow week’. Our team will take either the week beginning Sept 21st or the week beginning Oct 5th.
Instead of regular work they will pick new projects, professional development or something else that their team decides. Our goal in going slow is to rejuvenate our team and help us all think long term.
As a marathon runner I know that pace and stamina are so important. In fact, this is exactly what my TED talk was about! I’ve learned that the middle part of a race is the toughest and this is where we are with Covid.
At the beginning you have that starting adrenaline. The final third you can see the finish line – such as when a vaccine is in sight! The middle third is where the race is won, when you have to make sure you have a sustainable pace.
WE NEED SELF-COMPASSION TO KEEP GOING
One of our values is compassion for our customer. We care deeply about them, both jobseekers and employers. We want them both to succeed and we all pour so much into helping them meet their goals.
Yet it is also important to have self-compassion. To care for ourselves, and our team. Recently a blog post from Ellie Smith at Who Gives a Crap described how they did this for their team. They had a ‘Go slow week’ which sounds like a great way to implement self-compassion for our team.
We discussed this article and the notion of what it means to take better care of ourselves as a team. How could we show our entire team the value of taking care of yourself? What would that look like without us simply all going on annual leave.
WE ARE TRIALLING A ‘GO SLOW WEEK’
For our whole team, we are going to try a Go Slow week. This looks different for all of us as our needs vary. What it will mean for all of us is that we will not schedule any client or candidate meetings, regular internal meetings will be cancelled and out of office replies will be set.
Taking care of ourselves is a value we not only espouse but take seriously. We need to do this so that we can continue to deliver Xceptional services for years to come.
We encourage all our clients to consider what taking care of themselves means in practice for each of them.
DATES
We are staggering our Go Slow weeks across two weeks: The week beginning Monday Sept 21st and the week beginning Oct 5th.
Your primary contact at Xceptional will let you know which week they are going slow.
