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First and Final Warning 

I am not proud to admit that I have issued a few of these in recent months.  Hearty threats along the lines of “If you do that one more time, you’re out of here!”  and “You said you’d submitted that paper…. where is it?” Along with the more concerning, “For the last time, keep your hands to yourself!”.    My tolerance for poor performance has been at all time low and whilst I have tried to be supportive, my empathy cup has run dry.  Why can’t these people just do what they’re supposed to???

But these are empty, hollow threats that I would never act on.  These threats, dispensed thick and fast of late, are of course directed to the apples of my eye - my 11 and 12-year-old children, not my team members. Phew you say! (whilst someone else calls DHHS). Let me assure you my children are not in harm’s way but gee, it’s been trying. There have been days when I have just felt pure defeat, soul crushing defeat.

It made me think about how much our tolerance has been tested during this ordeal of WFH and remote learning. I have had to dig in and dust off all my tolerance, empathy, patience, understanding and appreciation of what it is like to learn things for the first time.  A mighty good dose of humour has certainly helped…but patience and understanding have been key.  And I haven’t always had those in abundance.  But giving up on our kids is not an option.  We have them for life (not just for Christmas??) and its our job to guide them through the challenges and obstacles life presents.  (and apparently that includes long division and improper fractions! Who’d have thought?).  So, we dig in and we dig deep. Put on our happy face day after day and chunk away at the curriculum (even when we don’t understand it).    And along the way we spy some wins. Achievement on a test, a science assignment handed in on time, a Father’s Day card that lights up (and is then promptly drowned in orange juice) …still a win!  We make it work as best we can.  Whatever “best” looks like. 

Now I appreciate that our team members, employees and colleagues are not necessarily our family…but we spend inordinate amounts of time with these people and in some workplaces (like ours) they become extended families. We see the best of each other, and we see the not so good days as well.  If I have learnt anything from this remote learning “experiment” it’s that we can all be a tad more tolerant with others and try to see the world through their lens.   Slow down, provide guidance when needed, be available and then sit back and watch with wonder as the penny drops. 

Whilst I have to admit I am not even close to mastering home schooling, there have been small wins and I hope I can take this learning with me back into the workplace and do good by it. 

Angela Horkings