Our vision is clear – our eyes have been opened.
It’s safe to say that 2020 has been an interesting year. As a society, we’ve experienced a global pandemic and resulting quarantine. We’ve had to make hard, life altering decisions about jobs, finances and our futures. We’ve been given a grandiose magnifying glass, and we have seen ourselves and our systems up close. We have seen the issues, the flaws, the weak points that need serious improvement. What has been a shock to me, is how have we gone along this whole time and not made a difference?
In a time of uncertainty though, there have been great efforts of commUNITY.
Within the last 3 months, I have been overwhelmed with every possible emotion as I watch businesses after business, community member after community member rise to the situation and make things happen. Meals have been donated. Masks have been made. Fundraisers have been established. When our ability to control an overall situation has been taken away, we refocus that energy on something that we CAN control – our actions. Ladies and gentlemen, we can accomplish a lot if we work together. We have experienced four full months of 2020, what have we learned?
Sacrifice is necessary.
The whole dang world shut down. It felt like overnight, ba-bam – we were confined to our homes. Many have sacrificed unnecessary spending. Others have had to sacrifice their employment (not by choice). We had to learn how to work, instruct, discipline and worship in brand new ways. We have been shown that there are serious flaws in our business plans. Many companies did not have disaster plans in place, and were left scrambling trying to keep their data secure as people worked from home. Some businesses sacrificed profit in order to still reach their customer and provide a product/service at a reduced cost or no cost at all.Other businesses, who were lucky to keep their staff in place, were panicked with how to share data with a remote team and how to manage workflow and production. We’ve had to sacrifice our typical normal because sometimes, it takes coming completely unglued to be put back together even better.
Simplifying isn’t a bad thing.
As our lives seemingly became unglued, we were forced to examine the pieces. Are there any extra parts that don’t belong to the whole? What do we really need to put this back together? How can we come out of this leaner, meaner, stronger? We have had the opportunity to really deep-dive into processes and procedures to see what can be improved upon. As families, we have had ample time to review our homes and our belongings to determine what we need to keep. We’ve had to look at finances to trim the fat and we’ve suddenly taken an interest in cost comparisons with cell phone, internet, insurance and utilities.
We can’t continue to work as we once were.
Literally everything has changed. We have as people, but buying cycles have changed. The economy has changed. Our cultural dynamic is very different than what it was just 2 months ago. We cannot continue to blindly forge ahead in the same way we had in the past. What is needed now is increased sensitivity, a stronger shift to relationship building and problem solving in addition to significant strategic plans on how to recover.
Be a part of the solution.
That damn magnifying glass has really shown us our flaws – up close and personal. We are in a great position to get involved in our chambers of commerce, local government, and other organizations to fix those flaws and fill the void. We are spending time asking the why questions and should probably put more time asking the HOW questions. How do I turn this into a positive? How do I reach my customers? How can I make a difference? How can I grow from this? Instead of feeling punished, we have unique opportunities to be relentless in pursuant of change. Step up, learn more, get involved and help educate how we can repair this and work together.
2020 has certainly opened up our eyes and allowed us to see the good, bad and ugly. The question remains: which one will you be?
