Blogs and Articles from Third Way Forum Membrs
Jul 21, 2022
Discussion#2 Managing wellness at work in the face of existential challenges threatening our society.
Blogs from The Third Way Working Group
- The VUCA World is really VUCA! Serious existential challenges such as Pandemic, Climate Change, War in Ukraine, Oil/Gas Price, Inflation, Guns, Hugely divided public opinions etc are rocking our society and impacting life of individuals.
- Due to the big social issues mentioned above, people are suffering from unexpectedly huge challenges in their daily lives including; dramatically increased meetings online, inhumanely hot summer/unusual amount of rain etc, much higher cost to heat the house or fuel the car, poor people not being able to buy basic things, the gap further widening between haves and have-nots, increasing miliary tensions among countries, more violence with guns, resurging number of COVID-19 patients and more social instability caused by the polarized opinions about major issues.
- In addition to that, Japan has more and more serious issues arising from labor shortage, ageing society, delayed digitalization, lack of diversity and weakening Japanese Yen etc.
- Because of these serious and heavy social issues, people have being developing a strong sense of “Loss of Control”.
- This sense of “Loss of Control” has been contributing to depression, stress & anxiety, and helplessness which seem to be spreading in public recently.
- “Loss of Control” leads some people to escapism. Some of them go into their own virtual world and further get separated from the reality, living in further isolation.
- Some people on the other hand doom-scroll and try to absorb a lot from the social media/talkative friends and as a result they get overwhelmed, scared and confused.
- Human beings are also animals and animals need to physically move. But due to the pandemic and the online culture, we hardly move any more. The lack of physical movements make our mental state even unhealthier.
- In order to gain back some sense of control again, we need to find a way to well-guard our mind and get some balance and stability. Each one of us should establish our own base/core and clearly understand what’s controllable and what’s not and then focus on what’s controllable.
- While the occasions of physical gatherings as a team have decreased, 1on1 meetings have increased its significance and the discussion has become deeper and thicker.
- In Japan, especially because many people tend to suppress their emotions in their daily lives, the pandemic has made them feel further frustrated without proper outlet of their emotions.
- When Western people protest against something, their actions are often based on some principles. In Japan, people seem to be less principle-based and more driven by actual experience.
- Many Japanese business leaders are aware of the serious need to transform their companies quickly but at the same time they still carry a huge sense of nostalgia for their good old Japan. They are in psychological dilemma.
- We need to find a way to help people regain some sense of control in their life despite big social challenges continuously happening in the VUCA world.
- Due to the big social issues mentioned above, people are suffering from unexpectedly huge challenges in their daily lives including; dramatically increased meetings online, inhumanely hot summer/unusual amount of rain etc, much higher cost to heat the house or fuel the car, poor people not being able to buy basic things, the gap further widening between haves and have-nots, increasing miliary tensions among countries, more violence with guns, resurging number of COVID-19 patients and more social instability caused by the polarized opinions about major issues.
- In addition to that, Japan has more and more serious issues arising from labor shortage, ageing society, delayed digitalization, lack of diversity and weakening Japanese Yen etc.
- Because of these serious and heavy social issues, people have being developing a strong sense of “Loss of Control”.
- This sense of “Loss of Control” has been contributing to depression, stress & anxiety, and helplessness which seem to be spreading in public recently.
- “Loss of Control” leads some people to escapism. Some of them go into their own virtual world and further get separated from the reality, living in further isolation.
- Some people on the other hand doom-scroll and try to absorb a lot from the social media/talkative friends and as a result they get overwhelmed, scared and confused.
- Human beings are also animals and animals need to physically move. But due to the pandemic and the online culture, we hardly move any more. The lack of physical movements make our mental state even unhealthier.
- In order to gain back some sense of control again, we need to find a way to well-guard our mind and get some balance and stability. Each one of us should establish our own base/core and clearly understand what’s controllable and what’s not and then focus on what’s controllable.
- While the occasions of physical gatherings as a team have decreased, 1on1 meetings have increased its significance and the discussion has become deeper and thicker.
- In Japan, especially because many people tend to suppress their emotions in their daily lives, the pandemic has made them feel further frustrated without proper outlet of their emotions.
- When Western people protest against something, their actions are often based on some principles. In Japan, people seem to be less principle-based and more driven by actual experience.
- Many Japanese business leaders are aware of the serious need to transform their companies quickly but at the same time they still carry a huge sense of nostalgia for their good old Japan. They are in psychological dilemma.
- We need to find a way to help people regain some sense of control in their life despite big social challenges continuously happening in the VUCA world.
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