It’s Glitchy!

“It’s glitchy!” was the howl that rang out through our little apartment as my 9-year-old threw up his hands in exacerbation. One of the downsides of our brave new era of online K-12 education is that the synchronous show is not 100% reliable. In the mind of a child who has become fully reliant on his bandwidth for a smooth schooling experience, it is a BIG DEAL… or at least it used to be. After 10 weeks of this modality, he is near expert at serving as his own IT Help Desk. He is also better able to discern when the glitches really are an issue versus… just a glitch. My son has adapted. He has learned to problem-solve streaming issues, titrate the intensity of his emotional responses (e.g. simply moaning vs. slamming his laptop closed), and discern the importance of missing the synchronous material. He’s grown. Undoubtedly, so have those you are leading through the pandemic. Take the time this week to intentionally, authentically, specifically, and individually recognize the growth of at least one of your people. They have worked through a lot of glitches and in many cases, they are stronger employees than they were 9-months ago. Acknowledge the hardship AND the growth. It’s cause for a momentary celebration. These days, we don’t want to miss a single one of those.

This post was first published at https://www.linkedin.com/posts/devonmberry_its-glitchy-was-the-howl-that-rang-out-activity-6734204085970567168-M21x