In a few days’ time, we went from our normal way of working to working 100% remotely due to the Coronavirus. News outlets are sharing updates every hour or so. We’ve been told a wave of illness is coming and that we are responsible for keeping the infection curve flat by our actions.
Some people are extremely anxious and others are ignoring the call to practice “socially distancing”. On this date – March 22, 2020 – I am working from my home office and have only gone out for short errands. In a store, I stay at least six feet from people and disinfect my hands multiple times, trying to think about not touching my face.
I am so proud of our team. Everyone has remained calm and followed our remote working guidelines. We are very fortunate because we’ve had a remote working policy in place for years, so that doing so was not a heavy lift for us.
Today, I took some time to review our 2020 plan and analyzed if any of our objectives were at risk due to our new reality. What is great about the plan our team developed in the summer of 2019 is that it’s focused on what we can control: our actions and our mindset. We can complete our tasks remotely so that all or our clients continue to receive the services we promised to deliver. We can communicate clearly and honestly. We can choose a positive mindset, based on facts and reality.
A plan that focuses on the controllables is more likely to be completed successfully.
I am hopeful that when we re-read this post in the future, we will recall how we stayed committed to the health and safety of our people while serving our clients and thus were able to come out of this situation even more strongly committed to each other and our mission, being a great place for people to grow.
– Becky Sharpe, President & CEO
