Mountains, medals and mettle

I spent last weekend in the lovely Lake District with my climbing club friends. 

About 70 of us from the Pinnacle Club - the UK’s only rock climbing club for women - gathered in Langdale to celebrate its centenary. There was a fascinating exhibition in Sticklebarn which brought to life the experience and expeditions of the original members after the First World War, many of whom made first female ascents around the world.

Climbing can still have a bit of a macho feel these days, so can you imagine the hurdles, discouragement and prejudice that these fearless women must have faced in 1921. Women were very much a minority in the outdoors one hundred years ago, let alone climbing!

Those early female climbers were true pioneers, all pushing the boundaries with remarkable grit and guts.  The determination and resilience they must have had is inspiring. I was struck by one of the climbers quotes in the compilation film which said, “It did teach me that when you think you’ve reached the end of your endurance, you haven’t.” Given the experience of the last 18 months, we can all take something from that. We may not have had to endure exactly the same challenges as these women did, but in our own ways, we have all had to dig deep into our reserves of energy and resolve just to get through the pandemic.

We still need to show that climbing is not an elitist club for hot shot climbers, and we absolutely need to encourage more diversity as it’s still a very white activity in this country, but we’ve come a long way. A steady climb up but we’re not near the top yet. The diversity gap is not going to magically disappear, but there are lots of initiatives to encourage more ethnic groups to participate. For example, there’s a climbing group in Greater Manchester supporting BAME women called Wanderlust Women. 

And climbing is in the Olympics for first time ever, which is fantastic. 40 climbers from all around the globe will be battling it out across three climbing disciplines of speed, lead and bouldering on the world's most watched wall of the year.

Of course only a few can ever achieve the dizzy heights of Olympians, but if we want to see stories of inspiration, joy, heartbreak, determination, strength of character, disappointment and pride, there is no better source than the Olympics. It’s called the ‘Greatest Show on Earth’ for a reason and again, like the Pinnacle Club pioneers, we can be uplifted by it for our own stuff.

Just take Tom Daley for example. His victory has inspired the strongest emotions across the nation since the Olympics started. All the hope, disappointment and despair Tom had endured these past 13 years was cleansed with his wonderful Tokyo gold. His tears on the podium reflected his long march to Olympic glory - and my, how joyous we all were for him.

Life never unfolds smoothly for any of us, and the way in which Tom Daley sealed his victory with his diving partner Matty Lee, with a series of stunning and seemingly nerveless dives, spoke of his resilience and tenacity. His achievement owes much to a remarkable resolve that's also helped overcome struggles away from the pool. 

Yes, I know the pandemic has wreaked havoc on Olympians wellbeing as well as training schedules, and many medal hopes have been dashed because of the strain, but they are still an inspirational story of endurance and hope. The triumphs are proving bigger than the empty stadiums. And after so long in darkness, it’s magical to watch.

They have a set of impressive values - honesty, teamwork, respect, self-belief, passion and fortitude. And show us that, if at first you don’t succeed, you can try again and that passion can take you far if you want something enough.

We can take our own hope and inspiration for our own achievements. And, like Tom Daley, we can dig deep about things we feel strongly about with that determination burning brightly. Our achievements might not be as exceptional as an Olympic gold medal, but they are still mighty.

Best wishes

Claire

You can follow me on Twitter @ClaireMolloy2

Click here for more information about the Pinnacle Club.

Freedom, football and fatigue

It will have not escaped your notice that there have been a number of very positive things happening this week. 

On Monday the Prime Minister provided an overview of the Government’s roadmap to ease all covid restrictions. So called ‘Freedom day’. We also celebrated the NHS 73^rd birthday, not a landmark anniversary as such, but an opportunity to pay tribute and say a huge thank you for your massive commitment and hard work during a difficult and unique year.  And of course, we got the rare celebration of England getting through to the final of the Euros.

So, hopefully these things will have lifted your spirits a bit and provided some moments of joy.

But the mood still feels a little flat. People are anxious about what a return to ‘normality’ will bring in the context of rising covid cases. There don’t seem to be as many England flags and pennants on cars as you would expect and I even managed to drag my hubbie out open water swimming when the football was on so he missed the first half. Not sure he would normally do this!

And, for staff in the NHS, we are grateful for the appreciation people have shown during the 73^rd birthday celebrations, it is absolutely right to pay tribute to the courage and compassion of our staff. However, we know that this year has left its mark and many people are tired and burnt out and worrying about what the next year is going to bring. We know that demand for our services and expectations on our ability to deliver are rising and this is going to be incredibly challenging when we start from a place of tiredness.  

At the start of the pandemic, people were anxious, of course. But also highly motivated and engaged. You absolutely rose to the challenge. In recent months, however, exhaustion has set in. The sheer length of the pandemic, the yo-yo effect of good news followed by bad news, staffing pressures and increasing service demand are stressors that have brutally worn people down. 

And this isn’t just about those on the frontline. If the thought of another day of back-to-back MS Team meetings makes you want to hide under the covers, you are not alone. If you boot up your laptop, open your inbox, and see hundreds of new messages — many beginning with, “I hope you are well” - and your heart sinks, you are not alone.

Corporate teams have also had the redesign consultation on top of this. It’s been necessary to go through this structural change, which is partly financially driven, but we know it’s been hard. If we could have done it in a different way at a different time, we would have. I am sorry about the extra pressure this has piled on.

We also can’t separate work pressures from home pressures, whether we’re working in a ward or at the dining room table. They don’t sit in separate boxes.

As I’ve highlighted before, some of you have lost loved ones. Some of you have partners who have lost their jobs or children who aren’t coping. Some of you have missed out on experiences and life milestones, like weddings and funerals. You may be tired of the safety protocols. You may be tired of the pressure to have made ‘good use’ of the restricted free time or make up for it going forward. I certainly felt that if I heard one more time that Shakespeare wrote King Lear while in quarantine during a pandemic, I was going to lose it!

Being mentally and physically exhausted tends to lower resilience and boost feelings of dread and helplessness. And if we’re exhausted and our ability to cope is lowered, then we’re less able to do anything about those negative feelings. Stress and burnout will undermine everything we are trying to do if we don’t find solutions.

Our board is taking this extremely seriously and discussing what we can do; from securing more funding from commissioners to looking at innovative workforce solutions, there will be a significant focus on workforce development over the coming months. And also, because we can’t expect you to thrive professionally if you’re struggling personally, we need a holistic approach to wellbeing which is attentive to the needs of the whole person. We need to think about how to help you recover in a good way.

And it continues to be important that we take every opportunity to show our appreciation, so we are exploring what a staff appreciation event might look like to say thank you for everything you have done over the last year.

It is so positive that the NHS has received the George Cross collectively for 'acts of the greatest heroism'. Coincidently, it was my 37^th wedding anniversary the week of the NHS 73^rd anniversary (and I did think I deserved a medal for making it so long in a marriage!), but how well deserved is the George Cross award to the NHS. Absolutely amazing.

So, we will keep working hard to find solutions and do everything we can to support you. We know it’s tough out there still. In turn, please look out for yourself and others. Make sure stress assessments are taken within your team. Take regular stock of how you are feeling and coping. Try and set boundaries, work regular hours, and please make sure you take your holidays.

You are the beating heart and pride of this organisation - our most precious resource.

Best wishes,

Claire

You can follow me on Twitter @ClaireMolloy2