September is right around the corner, back to work week is here, it’s the end of a beautiful summer break. We must put on our suits and leather shoes again, we have to recompose our professional image. And it is often at this time of the year that the gap between who we are and the role we play every day at work questions us the most… How do you feel when you return from vacation? Are you in the excitement of a new season, in the fear of the return of the rhythm or in the anguish, in anticipation of the pressure, the stress, the one you create and the one induced by your responsibilities?
First day at work… I put my flip-flops and my shorts in the closet, I put my “formal” clothes back on, an outfit that helps me to endorse my professional image, to assume my responsibilities. But after this longer than usual break, when I was free of my time, free to dress the way I wanted and to share my days with my family and friends, without professional varnish, I need some time. To readapt to the codes of my professional environment, to its values, to its culture.
How to find the right balance between authenticity and credibility? That space in which I feel in tune with myself and my environment.
“Authenticity is being 100% yourself, saying what comes spontaneously, without filters. Credibility is being 100% in line with what you think the company and the company culture expect of you, of your role.”
So how do you find your personal balance between these two postures?
5 key points to get adjusted:
- Accept that it will take some time to get fully operational upon your return and be gentle with yourself. Don’t try to be at your best from day one!
- Mentally review your company’s codes and culture, and be happy with what speaks to you, what you have in common, and what you agree on. And make peace with what is less relevant to you…
- Be an actor: you are at the heart of a system and you can contribute to changing it. If you are a manager, implement in your team the state of mind that suits you, it will spread from within.
- Take this beautiful energy that you have found during your vacations and pass it on to those around you. Positive energy is communicative, it will also help you to find your marks and your rhythm.
- Protect your agenda and set clear limits that will allow you to maintain your inner balance.
Have a great start !
Caroline Hercz
Executive Coach