As we reflect on the past year, and the unusual challenges and lessons it has presented us with, we wanted to spend an episode talking about slowing things down, asking the right questions, and keeping it real. Through the varied experiences of the pandemic and the normal ups and downs of our lives, it is not always easy to stay present and intentional at every moment, but there are approaches and methods that we have found can help stay the course in this regard, and so we hope hearing these reflections is as illuminating for you as it was for us! We start off this chat by looking back at what has been happening, wrapping up the tail of 2021, and thinking about what might lie ahead for us all in 2022. We also get into how a big part of leadership is the ability to bring calm and stability to situations that can easily become too urgent and rushed. Listeners can also expect to hear about important conversations from each of our hosts' personal lives, thoughts on the relationship between trauma and fatigue, and how bringing a meeting into a fresh environment or configuration can remedy stale patterns! Tune in to hear it all!

Key Points From This Episode:

• A quick check-in with our two hosts and what they have been doing over the last couple of months. 
• Examining the idea of leadership as a way to model calmness and slow things down.  
• The right kind of questions to ask as a means to stay self-aware as a leader.  
• How switching things up for meetings can facilitate new ideas and energy.
• Matching the energy of a room with the learning that is needed at a given time. 
• Approaches for more authentic small interactions with each other.  
• Reflections on the challenges of 2021 and looking ahead to the new year.
• Dealing with the communal trauma that we have experienced and the resultant fatigue. 
• How recent events have made more space for everyone's feelings and stories. 
• The best conversations each of us had recently, and how these underline the importance of family.
• What to look forward to in this season of the BabbleED Podcast! 

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

Jonathan Mueller on Twitter

Scott Lindner on Twitter

Insight

Tasha Eurich

How to Be a Better Human Podcast

Chris Duffy

Tim Minchin

Pie Squared

Connected Learner Partnerships