Talenttalks | Learning, unlearning and relearning

“There is no going back to what we knew. This means becoming more change resilient and adaptable through learning; Unlearning and relearning,” says Charlene Govender, Organisation Effectiveness and Change Management at Coca Cola Beverages Africa in sharing her learnings from the past year.

If you could go back one year into the past, what advice would you give yourself?
Prepare yourself for a change like no other you have ever experienced or can fathom. Learn to slow down, laugh more, show more love to those around you and be more compassionate to yourself. Your mental and physical wellbeing and resilience will be the key to you adapting and moving forward. Become more tech savvy but make sure you have strict boundaries or else you will become consumed with staying connected. Create harmony and balance in your work and life and schedule frequent “me time” moments as you will not be able to serve anyone when your “cup is empty”. What is coming will change the course of history and there is no going back…see this as an opportunity to rediscover yourself, and decisively become more aware of self and others…

What surprised you over the last couple of months?
People’s compassion; the resilience of humanity to change trajectory in a matter of days/weeks and how speedily humanity can work together for a common course – our survival. On a personal note, my ability to manage my state of mind by reflecting; rediscovering and using my inner strength to deal with the crisis from my little space in this world…praying more; showing up completely; giving more (in any way I can) and loving more (through compassion and non-judgement). Most importantly, Time! such a relative concept – time to learn (functional and soft skills) and time to purposefully connect with family and friends. My eureka moment was when my 11-year-old said to me that she thinks COVID is awful, but she is also happy because she could spend so much time with mum and dad talking, laughing and playing games.

What learnings are you taking with you into the future?
Future-proofing myself and my family for a completely new normal – there is no going back to what we knew. This means becoming more change resilient and adaptable through learning; unlearning and relearning. Continuing my journey to become more tech savvy and using this new knowledge to collaborate where time and space are longer my guardrails. Re-evaluating my purpose and priorities and making better choices, not just for myself and my family but our precious earth and all its creatures. On a personal note, taking time to stand still and enjoy life’s simple pleasures because merely surviving is no longer an option – every day I am determined to be a better version than I was yesterday.