On Comyn Ground

This episode is not the one I set out to do. At first, I was going to write a letter to all the bullies I've met along the way. Give them a piece of my mind and share the wisdom of hindsight - say the things I wish I had said at the time when they made me feel crap. And then I thought f*ck it- No!

These men and women may have rationalised their behaviour in their own minds and put it down to being tough, hard players in the business or media world. To not being weak, soft or nice.

The real culprits that should get our focus are their permission givers - the people who managed the bullies, who permitted them to behave in the way they do.

It's not and never was invisible - someone somewhere knows that a person responsible for others is acting intolerably.

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One of the more weird experiences of the last seven months has been the return of the fear. Now if you grew up in Ireland, the fear is a phenomenon all of its own and refers to that feeling you get the morning after that you have said or done something under the influence of alcohol that you will later regret.

For others it was that wave of anxiety that appeared out of nowhere on a Sunday evening, triggered by the music of a TV Series called Glenroe - that you were ill-prepared for the week ahead at school or work. But now it’s back - and can appear at any time or from any unknown trigger, and it’s happening to more and more of us.

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Working from Home?

Could this current pandemic see the end of another phenomenon? The Micro-Manager. My late father was never one to hide an opinion and shared a great deal of ire for a particular type of manager, the one who would call a breakfast meeting. But spare a thought for the manager who previously would have regularly maintained a sense of being in control, by calling endless meetings. Having their people around them created a feeling of things getting done. Presenteeism indicated commitment.

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It's on its way - the count down to Christmas - and the New Year - that time when we traditionally make some new resolutions - resolutions to change our lives - but research show that eight out of ten of us will fail to achieve those resolutions and we will go on as we were.

If it were about resolving to exercise more, give up your favourite treat or learn a new language then you can appreciate that failure is almost too strong a word for it and as that research shows 80% of us go back to what's comfortable and familiar.

But this year I think it's different - we have all in one way or another put in a tough year - more challenging for some more than others - and it's not a competition -but few have had it easy. When we go through somethings a problematic as the pandemic undoubtedly has been, we are presented with an opportunity - maybe even a reward for the stress and uncertainty we've experienced.

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One more Zoom or teams call and once again someone on the call has to be reminded that they are on mute. It's one of the bear traps of the online communications world we now inhabit.

On a recent call, I was intrigued to see a contributor chatting away on mute, and it seemed nobody was going to tell them - for an experiment I held back from being the one to say it - just how long would it be before someone said something.

You join a video conference call. You're one of twenty faces on the screen. About halfway into the call, your mind starts to wander, and you realize you have no idea what the last person just said.

But good old scient has an explanation...

In 1913, Max Ringelmann, a French architectural engineer, made a discovery that actually explains why virtual meetings are often so unsuccessful.

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