31 Mar I’m not having a great day!

Posted at 19:14h in Musings by

I’ve noticed something I think most of us do?

I chaired the amazing HRcoreLAB in Barcelona this week and went to Changeboard’s tremendous Future Talent Conference on Thursday, and witnessed something multiple times.

People (including me) were starting presentations or networking interactions with the usual polite question of “how are you”, or “how are we today”, accompanied with the smile, arm’s outstretched and repeated nod, which I thinks serves as the cue for those questioned to respond positively…… please!

And of course we all do it! We all say things like “fine thanks, you”, “yes, I’m good and you” and in terms of the conference situation, on the second much louder and direct asking because the initial full audience response was a bit limp, everyone shouts “yeeeeaaahhhh”, accompanied with a bit of laughter and a potential smattering of fist pumping.

And this is where I have made an observation. I don’t think everyone is being totally honest! There were 100+ people in the room at any one time at HRcoreLAB and I bet it could have been broken down into different categories of ‘how were they’, in multiple concentrations.

A percentage would actually be;

  • hungover (very, very small percentage),
  • tired,
  • anxious,
  • a bit stressed,
  • very stressed,
  • suffering from a physical health condition,
  • experiencing symptoms of their mental illness…..

…..all of which would be making them feel various distances away from fine, very well and yeeeeaaahhhh with a bit of fist pumping.

But we all do it because it’s just not the done thing to admit one is not feeling great.

We know the reasons why because we are either being discreet or polite, or not wanting to demonstrate weakness.

But what would happen if everyone responded with exactly how they are feeling every time they were asked?

It would be fascinating wouldn’t it? I’m going to give it a go one day when I’m not feeling great and see what response I get.

I assume some will be compassionate, some will appear compassionate but internally they will be thinking differently, and some will feel extremely awkward.

My creative brain wonders if a ‘world being honest about how you feel day’ would be the most compassionate day in working history or the most awkward.

There’s only one way to find out. Anyone in?????

 


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