Conflict Resolutions 2022

It’s that time of year – time for New Year’s resolutions! You know – when we put into practice the well thought and well planned changes for our lives!!!  Right??!! 

We’ve used the end of the year holidays to reflect, to recharge, and make plans for the new year – well maybe – and maybe not given the ongoing uncertainty and challenges of our daily lives and work – you know – covid, politics, pivots at work, and the list goes on.

Two years ago, I wrote about taking small steps in the new year as your “conflict resolutions” and revisiting this idea is my invitation to you. 

As we consider January 2022 we have many ongoing challenges that impact our lives and work. As ombuds, one of the factors that shows up when I meet with people is the exhaustion of the last two years. People are beyond tired and they’ve used up their buckets of resiliency to get this far. They have nothing left. So the idea of making any sort of “resolution” is difficult to say the least. Meeting with the ombuds is a way to recharge and rethink. To strategize and get support.

Thus, we return to the idea of small steps. You can do these on your own. You control how far you go, when you rest, and can perhaps even change the direction of the steps (a la the stairwells at Hogwarts that can move).

The idea is to get started to at least take one step. You are invited to think about a “conflict” and consider one step you can take to change it for the better.

Remember it can be a small one. When you finish the climb you’ve covered a lot of ground – small steps add up to big ones!

And, if you want or need help thinking about steps – Go Ombuds!