Hello there, First name / friend! As we close out November, we're preparing for a slower pace at the end of the year. It's a great time for some reflection, integration and restoration as we prepare for a new year. You may notice a reduction in content and activity as we embrace this quieter season. Erica Your TL;DR: |
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The Two Piers Podcast 🎧 Last week's podcast episode dropped on Thanksgiving Day here in the US and we have a short episode that reflects on some of the challenges that come along with the holidays, as well as ways that we can incorporate gratitude into our lives. The episode also explores some of the history around Thanksgiving and Native American Heritage Month. |
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This month's Coaches Corner theme is Resilience. In our last digest, we broke down the difference between resilience and endurance. This week, we're sharing some insights into which factors lead to more resilience outcomes. So often, when we speak of resilience, we view it in terms of the individual. In reality, the likelihood of a resilient outcome depends on both individual, internal factors and external factors outside of a person's direct control. |
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To learn more about how to foster resilience in your life, you can join our upcoming mastermind: Unlocking Resilience. We will meet over the span of six weeks with ample opportunity to apply the learnings as we go. It starts February 12th and the cost is just $150. We hope you'll join us! |
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As we enter December, it's a time of annual performance conversations and holiday festivities. This means it's also a great time to reflect on how your organization can navigate these seasonal activities with fairness, equity and inclusion. |
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The Dreaded Annual Performance Review ☑️ It's the most wonderful time of the year! 🎶 Ehem. You know, the time when we get to have genuine and deeply insightful conversations between managers and direct reports about what went well and where we can grow next year. Oh. Is that not how the annual performance cycle feels to you? Unfortunately, we know that these harms disproportionately impact women and people of color. If you want to stop the madness and start having more effective and equitable performance conversations, hop on over to the blog to read about the three primary problems with annual performance appraisals and what you can do about them. If your performance reviews are already completed for the year, now is a great time to look back and reflect on what would have made them better. If you haven't finished the process yet, then we understand if you're feeling a bit like Frankie, here. |
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Holiday Cheer or Holiday Fear? 🎄 Yet for companies and colleagues trying to acknowledge and celebrate the holidays, it can feel like a daunting tightrope to walk amidst today's increasingly fraught discourse. The debate over “Merry Christmas” or “Happy Holidays” has been written about and pontificated on ad nauseum, so we won't retread that ground here. Instead, we'll offer a few resources for you to consider as you strive to bring some seasonal festivity into the workplace this year. This is probably a good time of year to remember that impact does not always equal intent. If we offer a holiday greeting with the intention of showing kindness, and we discover that the impact was different than we expected, we have a couple choices: - We can feel self-righteous or defensive, withdrawing that original intent of kindness,
- OR we can stick with our original intent of showing kindness and consider what words or actions might have that intended impact.
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Book List 📚 This month's booklist includes a curated selection of our favorite books on this month's theme of building resistance. - What Happened to You?: Conversations on Trauma, Resilience, and Healing by Oprah Winfrey and Bruce D. Perry, explores the ways our previous experiences shape our current behaviors and how we can approach our own healing with compassion and curiosity. (The audiobook is a great listen!)
- You Are Your Best Thing: Vulnerability, Shame Resilience, and the Black Experience, edited by Tarana Burke and Brené Brown, is an anthology that brings together stories and contributions from Black authors and thought leaders on vulnerability and shame resilience.
- The Pain We Carry: Healing from Complex Ptsd for People of Color, by Natalie Y Gutiérrez explores the ways that complex PTSD can manifest for people facing continued and systemic inequality and ways to begin to heal.
- Tribe: On Homecoming and Belonging by Sebastian Junger looks to tribal societies to explore the ways that loyalty, belonging, and the search for meaning can impact our resilience.
Please note that we typically link to a Bookshop.org affiliate page as opposed to Amazon because we prefer to support independent bookshops. Should you choose to purchase a book from one of our links or lists, your purchase can not only support your local brick and mortar bookshop, it also helps support Two Piers. Rest assured that you do not incur any additional fees and we only share books that align with our mission. Articles 📰 Just a couple articles to share today as we approach the end of the year: |
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We hope that everyone made it through Thanksgiving in one piece and that naps were available as needed. Hibernation season is upon us, y'all! 💤 |
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Erica and the Two Piers Team |
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