With the summer holidays now well and truly behind us, a new school term underway and the evenings starting to draw in, it’s time to get back to blogging. Taking a holiday in August, from blogging and a number of other activities, was part of an experiment to see what it be like to have a complete break from the always on workplace. For many workers today, it is impossible to cut the umbilicial cord that tethers us to a job on a 24 x 7 basis and I wanted to see whether I could break out of the mould that I have existed in for many years.
I must admit that the temptation to stay connected was a major challenge even in remote locations! I suppose we all feel a strong sense of self-importance, if not vulnerability, when it comes to dealing with work issues and problems. Whilst one might be able to contribute to something remotely, perhaps we should refrain and see how our team or colleagues deal with issues. This may provide some different insights.
However, for the most part I stayed switch off and this allowed me to do two things- clear my head of clutter and put some thought into a number of areas I wish to really focus on in the months ahead. I found it really refreshing to have time to really think about things.
One area of particular interest is a remarkable movement in the making called Beyond the Workplace. Over the coming months, I plan to invest some time using my connection making skills to drive a really big conversation about work, the workforce and the workplace. We have learned a lot since kicking off this initiative in May. Plus I’ve made many new friends from outside my world of the physical workplace. We’re all committed to harnessing tools such as Street Wisdom to gather as much insight and knowledge as possible as to how to cope with the changing nature of work and the implications for how we use and consume property. It’s important that we start to really do something about preparing for the future rather than just talking about it amongst ourselves.
There are a number of dimensions to this initiative and there will, hopefully, be lots of areas of interest to our diverse and wide-ranging audience. By the end of September we aim to publish some more detail on the key themes that we plan to focus on. Hopefully, this will help to draw out some interesting findings and observations during the months ahead. For anyone seeking more background to this topic you can follow us on twitter #BTWC, join our LinkedIn group Beyond the Workplace or take a look at some other blogs; –
Further reading:
Simon Heath on Inside the Tent peeing out
Doug Shaw responds to the announcement
Mark Catchlove adds his thoughts
Perry Timms gets poetic
A simply astonishing piece from Ian Ellison
Neil Usher provides precisely the sort of challenge needed if this whole enterprise isn’t going to disappear up it’s own arse
Stuart Snelling argues for an “acting with” rather than a “doing to” approach
Neil Usher again, on letting our ideas vanish forever