Blog - Kelly Swingler

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Self-Care

Uncategorized Jun 12, 2020

As another week draws to an end, the conversations I've had with HR leaders have been mixed, but one theme remains, none of them are doing enough (or anything at all) for themselves.

Self-care isn't all about yoga and the latest diet or a long soak in the bath, although if that works for you then please don't let me stop you. My daily non-negotiable include morning yoga, journalling, visualisation and meditation along with lots of water throughout the day, a walk with the dog and then my evening routine of no tech, a book and more yoga and meditation. For others it's weights or running, for some it's doing something creative, dancing round the house with kids or chilling with Netflix and chocolate.

But it's also important to remember that self-care isn't just tasks or time out. It's the way we speak to ourselves, our self-talk, our relationships and the environments we put ourselves in.

It breaks my heart to hear of more and more HR leaders who...

Hi, I'm Kelly

burnout hr leadership wellbeing Jun 11, 2020

Getting to know someone can vary depending on the situation, the time you have and the environment you're in, but I guess if you're looking for a coach, and you've found your way here, the first thing you may want to know is why you'd even consider working with me? What makes me different to all of the other coaches out there? What skills do I have? And can I really help you with the particular thing you want help with?

I've worked in HR for over 20 years, latterly as an HR Director before starting my first company The Chrysalis Crew. I love HR. I hate the politics that often surround it. I've never really 'fitted' always too much of something in one way or another. Too colourful, too bold, too outspoken, too intuitive, too confident, too fast, too visionary, too blunt, too feisty, too confrontational, too argumentative, too bossy, you get the picture. But, I was always, always good at my role. I needed to learn a new things of course, I needed to adapt more, and I...

Guest Writer - The End Goal – Fostering that Sense of Belonging in a Workplace

hr wellbeing Jun 09, 2020

Last week I offered the chance for HR Professionals who wanted to talk about Diversity in HR, or Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging, my LinkedIn article platform to help them get their message out to a wider HR Network, and here's the first - The End Goal - Fostering that Sense of Belonging in a Workplace by Sinead Sharpe.

Sinead is HR Director with a large FM business based in Northern Ireland (approx 2,000 employees across the UK and Republic of Ireland). She's also a 42 year old mum of one teen and three cats and she lives on the beautiful North Coast of Antrim.

She started her career with a degree in Law & Politics and went from specialist learning and development roles to generalist HR roles. Sinead has about 18 years' experience overall and recently completed an MSc in Communications, Training and Development and is a Fellow of the CIPD.

This piece is Sinead's personal view and I hope you enjoy it.

Connect with Sinead here.

Let’s be honest –...

Who Are You?

Uncategorized Jun 03, 2020

During the first day of my coaching qualification I was asked repeatedly 'who are you?' by other trainees on my course. And when I say repeatedly, I mean for an hour, by several people who took it in turn for 10 minutes at a time.

We weren't allowed to repeat anything we said before, we had to answer something differently every time we answered. It felt uncomfortable, it was hard, and yet the more I answered the more I found myself answering things at a deeper and deeper level. When you move past the superficial layers of name, age, occupation, kids, and interests, you start to get into the really meaty stuff, and, as I discovered, you get to things that you didn't even know existed.

It was during this question that I found myself say for the first time ever that I wanted to start my own consultancy - where on earth had that come from?

I'd always seen myself just developing further and further into an HR role. I'd seen myself as global HRD in a...

Hindsight, Insight, Foresight

Uncategorized Jun 01, 2020

Hindsight can be a wonderful thing can't it?

In hindsight I should have left that relationship sooner.

In hindsight I should have left that company sooner.

In hindsight I should have put myself first sooner.

In hindsight I should have got help sooner.

In hindsight I shouldn't have spent so much whilst I was away.

In hindsight I shouldn't have reacted the way I did.

The trouble with hindsight though, is that it always comes after the event or situation and not before, so we need to have had whatever it was that happened, happen, before we can learn from it and ensure we don't do the same thing again.

And so we come to insight. The opportunities for high leverage. Getting the help, working with coach, knowing what we want to do differently next time, knowing what we'll change and how we'll change it. And I believe all of us have the answers we need, sometimes we just some help in framing and...

Where Are You?

Uncategorized May 23, 2020

We are in a time of the unknown, a time of change, a time of unrest and a time of opportunity, we know this.

But one thing is for sure, whilst we can all say 'we are in this together', and we are, the reality is that we will be having different experiences and different feelings.

I shared on my LinkedIn feed a couple of weeks ago some questions to help your team open up more about how they are feeling and where they may be on the change curve, and today, I wanted to bring you back to this.

Without a shadow of a doubt, we are in a time of change, forced change, and isolation.

Some of us are doing this surrounded by kids and family, some of us are doing this in total isolation. Some of us are doing this in the sun, some of us in the rain. Some of us are doing this in large houses with gardens, some of us in small flats or bedsits. Some of us are doing this with money in the bank, some of us are losing everything we have worked for. Some of us...

When/Then

Uncategorized May 23, 2020

Over the last week I’ve seen an increase in posts about ‘when this is all over, then …’, and I’ve added a few of these myself, like the first people I’ll see, the trips I’ll take, even what I’m looking forward to on my first visit back at the gym. And whilst it’s lovely to think of all the things that we can do when lockdown finishes, we should let this stop us from focusing on what we can do now to make a difference.

Now this isn’t a post about how you should be writing a novel, losing half of your body weight, learning to play an instrument, learn a language or paint a masterpiece, unless of course any of those things are what you want to do rather than feeling you have to do them. I think the most important thing we can do at the moment is just to be kind to ourselves.

But, for the HR Community, there are things we can start doing and conversations that we can start having now, so...

Anxious

Uncategorized May 23, 2020

Some of you will know that I live with Bipolar, anxiety and depression and that I can feel up and down, anxious and depressed, calm and manic simultaneously. My head is not always a nice place to be. But within all of this is where I can harness my creativity and my passion and live a lovely life and lead a great team and work with incredible clients. But it's not always pretty inside of my head or in the feelings that can at times take over my body.

I have a routine, daily actions and practices that for the most part allow me to function fully, yet like many of you, my routine over recent weeks has been thrown in the air and so to it have my moments of calm.

For most of the last three weeks I have woken with overwhelming anxiety, and I've breathed through it, and I've made a plan and I've allowed myself to feel what I need to feel and take actions to help myself and others.

Add to my mental state the fact that I'm an empath and an introvert, the...

1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Uncategorized Mar 19, 2020

We may have all seen the five ways to wellbeing on paper, on posters or on intranets in our offices or in workshops. We refer to them in our Mental Wellbeing for HR workshop and I talked about them on Tuesday in a webinar for the PWN where I shared my experiences with burnout.

I'm used to working from home, but I'm rubbish at following 'orders'. At the minute I can still go the gym - social distancing at it's best and as much hand sanitiser as you want. But when I'm told that I need to stay home, my anxiety will rise. I know this, and so I'm trying o mitigate it as much as possible, and you can too.

Now, probably more than ever, the 5 ways to wellbeing can help us with our mental, emotional and physical wellbeing. So what are the five ways and how can we bring them to life?

1. Connect

We may need to be more creative in how we are connecting, but we can still connect. At The Chrysalis Crew we are continuing with our weekly Zoom's, we are meeting regularly...

#MindfulAtMidday

wellbeing Mar 15, 2020

With more countries restricting residents to their homes and the UK Government saying that very soon they will be asking those over the age of 70 to self-isolate, I'd love us all to be more mindful and kind.

Us Brits love a moan at the best of times, from traffic, to travel and everything in between. As we move into a new working week, we're already seeing those still at work not happy to be there, those being forced to work from home mixed about how they feel - some love it some loathe it and as the next few weeks and months are expected to bring more upheaval, can we all please be more mindful and kind. We're moaning about schools being closed or not being closed. We're moaning about the shops, the NHS, the government, the news and on and on it goes.

And I don't know about you, but I need something positive in my life. Not to escape what's going on in the world right now, but to lift my spirits and give me energy so that I can keep going and keep doing what I need to do.

I woke...

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