“Tie your camel”, the first time I encountered this proverb, quite unexpectedly, was at the end of an old movie, The Golden Voyage of Sinbad (1973) aired recently on TV.
The truth is that I’ve read this proverb before, but in my own language, and have never aware that Hollywood has the knowledge of it. The source of the proverb itself is actually a hadith*, recorded by Al-Tirmidhi, an Islamic scholar:
“One day Prophet Muhammad, p.b.u.h. noticed a Bedouin leaving his camel without tying it.
He asked the Bedouin,
“Why don’t you tie down your camel?’
The Bedouin answered,
“I placed my trust in Allah,’
At that, the Prophet said,
“Tie your camel first then place your trust in Allah,’”
The message is simple yet the meaning is deep: we’re obliged to put in the efforts toward our goals, but let God decide on the best way for us to achieve it.
Hence efforts might fail, but the learning remains and it will play part in our growth. With this concept then, hardships are just a vehicle to drive us closer to our goals, because God deemed we’re lacking a specific quality to move ahead, the quality that will be granted through the hardship we experienced.
That’s why the faster we accept our current hardship as an upskilling process, then by rigorously pursuing possible way outs, the way forward will soon reveal itself.
This concept itself, I believe is similar to the phrase “Ora et Labora” from Catholic practice — do let me know if I’m wrong.
So, to my fellow pandemic affected workforce, keep on exploring and keep the confidence! (byms)
(*) Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), sayings, actions or permission (what he doesn’t object)
Upon navigating the uncertainties presented in this COVID-19 Pandemic, it’s helpful to first, understand the context of the challenge we’re facing, to put things into a clearer perspective. Eddie Obeng through his project classifications divides project types into four quadrants based on the clarity of goals, and clarity of enablers.
Which one accurately fits the situation? As you might have guessed, the answers will be different for everyone depending on their organization’s vision and capabilities. However, for most that caught unprepared, it will be the “Fog”, or “Lost in the fog” – They don’t really know what to do and how to do it.
Further explanation can be found in the book “Managing Unique Assignments: A Team Approach to Projects and Programmes” as follows:
“He calls open projects ‘the walking or lost in the fog type of projects’: ‘you can’t stay in one place, and so it follows that you have to move. According to Obeng, in open projects, you and your interest groups are uncertain. This uncertainty has a bearing not only on what must be achieved but also on how it is to be achieved. In his view, a characteristic of this type of project is that an attempt is being made to do something that has never been done before, for example carrying out a quality-improvement programme or developing an entirely new product for an entirely new market. The approach for these projects depends on the project leader’s skill in continually carrying out the cycle of acting, evaluating and learning from what has been done and then replanning.”
According to Obeng, the right type of leadership for this kind of situation is, you might have also guessed it, “Innovator”. In his book “Perfect Projects”, Obeng mentioned the following traits for such leadership:
Build trust – Make promises and keep them
Find a wide range of stakeholders many of whom do not initially see themselves as stakeholders
Be prepared to go to where team are, logically and emotionally (match and lead)
Communicate widely and use questions effectively
Listen effectively to both logical and emotional concerns
Demonstrate calmness (even when panicking)
Describe and capture nature of problem faced
Clearly articulate a vision (usually opposite of problem faced)
Show genuine concern for team
Keep stakeholders informed on a day-to-day basis
Encourage team to communicate amongst themselves
Capture any learning team makes – Proceed one step at a time
Reassure team members – Be creative with any new opportunities or insights which present themselves
Give hope to stakeholders – Praise initiative taken by team
Provide intellectual challenge through questioning and problem description
Analyse complex situations and distil few actions likely to give biggest results
Accept offers of ideas and efforts from team
Involve team decision making & provide a stable ‘base’
For those reading my previous post about navigating your way in this covid-19 pandemic and thinking to explore the opportunities hidden in this crisis, you will be heavily benefited by the diversity of ideas coming from a team effort, therefore, for someone doing it alone should consider of having allies that can work together to accelerate your wayfinding. (byms)
Mind map of options for someone unemployed during covid-19 pandemic, by bayuamus.
“ILO estimates are that as many as 25 million people could become unemployed, with a loss of workers’ income of as much as USD 3.4 trillion. However, it is already becoming clear that these numbers may underestimate the magnitude of the impact.”(1)
As the issue of getting laid-off because of the Covid-19 pandemic has become more prominent, getting a new job is tricky, as it could mean changing industry, like doing product design for travel-related service into doing product design for a logistic service; or even shifting your career path altogether, like from doing UX design into service design. While shifting industry usually means adapting your skillset towards a new kind of challenge, the later means there will be a gap to facilitate: the more drastic the change is, the wider the gap is. How to bridge it?
For those finding themselves with no options, what should you do? Maybe you just simply need to look for similarity in a different place, realign your career path, or invent a new opportunity for yourself. How would you accomplish that?
Based on those running questions, I did some mappings about the possible options which combine between self and situation assessment, with branches that consisting of jumping back in, start your own business, or upskilling and education. The nodes incorporated could be a starting point in crafting a more detailed plan, tailored to each one of you.
The next step would be to gather the resources available to support these possibilities, and I have started that earlier in another post, feel free to suggest other resources you’re aware of.
About the mind map itself, do you discover other options or branches? Let me know what do you think in the comment section. (byms)
Ever since the #Covid19 pandemic strikes and rapidly affecting the economy, we’ve seen massive amounts of laid-off around the world. People are suddenly out of jobs, which according to the statistics, sets the new level of unemployment.
Thankfully, we’ve also seen amazing efforts from people trying to help with the situation, either in connecting the out of job workers with companies that are still hiring, or facilitating other options like freelancing, entrepreneurship, upskilling, or simply to help ease the traumatic experience.
Looking for a similar job
For those looking for a similar job, the immediate need usually lies in facilitating the job application process, such as ensuring that their CV and portfolio are impactful, and the availability of references from the past workplace. For those going through interviews, help will be much appreciated on tips to improve the candidate’s ability to present themselves, and in rehearsing.
Looking for a different kind of opportunities
Last but not least, as every crisis hold tremendous chances for new opportunities to emerge, therefore mapping and forecasting will help identifying what would be the emerging needs of the “new normals”.
Should anyone is considering to realign their career aspirations, or start their own business, then the availability of related training and how to get funding will help in facilitating the transformation.
Listed below are the resources discovered through the good people in LinkedIn, and various other resources. Kindly reply in the comment should you aware of related resources, your contribution means a lot.
Thank you.
People & Job Listing
SEAriously Awesome People List – Unfortunately, given the changing economic climate, many startups are shutting down or having to lay-off awesome people. Our goal is to surface awesome talent, help folks find new jobs, and help growing startups find top talent ASAP. #connect #jobboard #southeastasia #Indonesia
Amazing Design People List – Find amazing designers for hire. Discover 1800+ amazing designers worldwide on this community-led talent base during COVID19. #connect #jobboard #southeastasia #Indonesia
Funding & Finance
Raising during Covid – list of resources for your Startup’s funding #funding #startup #international
Free online learning opportunities, including certification (otherwise costs ~15-50 USD), in response to the pandemic and isolation measures, find it here: https://lnkd.in/gkziCHc
