Humans have been adapting to crises for more than 200,000 years. There have always been fires, earthquakes, wars and conflict, plagues and more. Along the way our ancestors have encountered two or three crises but never more than today:
* Covid health
* Economic
* Isolation
* Social Justice
* Political
* Global Climate
* Mental Health
Our brains have never had to confront so much stress, so much complexity, confusion, and chaos as we have for the last year. Adaptable as we are, and humans are incredibly adaptable, the last year has outstripped our ability to expand, embrace, and adapt. But here we are, getting closer to worldwide vaccinations and the possibility of eating in restaurants and going to theaters again. Imagine shopping in a mall or going to a sporting event.
So, we now have to consider that things are going to self-regulate towards 'normal' as we move away from this chaos. The question is, "Are we ready to create our new normal or will we leave it to chance? " We need to learn how to move from surviving to accessing our resilience and to recovery. This process means that we must begin thinking about 3 critical concepts:
* how to create environments that are safe, inviting, and foster wellness?
* how do we use this time together with staff to build deeper connections?
* how do we define 'success' going forward and imbed that in our budgeting, planning and expectation setting?
In order for there to be more 'normalcy' in our near future we must gather ourselves, our best thinkers, our leaders, people of creditability and respect and address these questions. Life confirms that either we do that and that WE create our new normal or life will do it for us, the society will do it for us, our competition or ecosystem will do it for us.
Start now!! start thinking about what you want your days to look like when we are able to meet in person, work in our offices, travel, eat out and be in contact with others. Start considering what we and our staff want to be thinking and feeling and experiencing as we 'return to an unforeseen future'.This may well be the opportunity of our lifetime. It is a time when we can both learn from our past and apply that learning to our future.
