The 3 C's we took seriously in 2020

Let's take a moment to appreciate we've made it to the end of 2020 year. The year that will go down in history for how the world around us stopped and changed.

In March, no one would've anticipated what was coming next - truth be told, it didn't really hit me until my paid projects start cancelling one by one. By April reality had hit and now in December, I find it hard to believe that it's come to an end.

Whilst everyone is sharing their successes, and there was many which I am proud of achieving this year, I wanted to share 3 C's we took seriously in 2020 - which may change the way we think about the world, tomorrow : Community, Culture & Care.

Community

The first "C" therefore is Community. 2020 proved the need for community and the importance of belonging and friendship. A few great examples of community included the coming together of people to protest for what's right through the Black Lives Matter movement; donating laptops to 700,000 young kids who were out of pocket when the school system went virtual and Sikh community members feeding 2,000 lorry drivers as they were stranded in Kent.

This year showed the tremendous efforts and work which can be co-orindated and delivered on short notice, as long as the mission is one of social good and long term social impact.

Through the LMF network, 3,165 people signed up for our educational events, 80 speakers supported the movement and 200+ applied for the first mentoring scheme. Community efforts shifted from vain following numbers to empowering each other to become better. Acknowledging the power of community, Stripe, Charity Learning Consortium & Knowledge Transfer Network pledged support for the second LMF network mentoring programme starting in February 2021. You can still sign up here.

Culture

This leads me on nicely to the second "C". Through all the community efforts, we became more conscious of societal and general working culture. Businesses were actively questioned around diversity, fair trade and equal pay. Some headlines which took centre stage included Boohoo paying their workers in Pakistan 29p per hour, Lloyds paying their black staff 20% less than white counterparts, despite pledging towards equality and Scotland introducing free sanitary pads , a basic right of all womxn.

I believe that 2020 has changed the way we look and assess businesses.

With the new generation of workers entering the world of work, the question isn't why they should work for you but what is your company doing consciously to support progression of talent, fluidity of thought and important of inclusive practises? I conducted research on diversity and inclusion in Q4 - 2020 (report to come out in January) and found that

90% of colleagues feel that there company is conducting diversity & inclusion training to tick a box not because they plan to roll out a long term strategy.

In november 2020, the LMF network hosted a workshop on money mindset. The topic of culture arose alongside conscious spending. Naomi Naidoo, of the Finance Innovation Lab, asked the crowd if they understood pension investment and where companies where investing on their behalf. Nearly 100% of those attended didn't, though over 80% polled that they will be investigating this area to make sure that their investments are in ESG businesses. 2020 has shone a light on businesses who are are aware of their own unconscious biases, the negative impact they are having on a #sociallygood society and yet not allocating the budgets to invest into consciously creating inclusive cultures for the future.

2021, the energy must be on accountability culture rather than cancel culture.

Care

The pandemic has been tough, on our bodies and minds. Who shared that the pandemic is increasing demand for health services, to cater to lived experiences of income loss, isolation and bereavement. In the UK alone, loneliness figures doubled reaching highs of 4.2 million. On social media, it seemed that every third post was about self care and in the last few weeks, I have seen an uptake in those talking about #mentalhealth on Linkedin. The point is, more of us are waking up to the fact that we must look after our bodies and minds before we try to look after those around us. #Selfcare went from nice to necessary. Globally, we saw sourdough baking, zoom calls with loved ones and an increase in digital fitness apps. If you haven't already started looking after yourself, here's a few things to try:

?????♀? Go for a walk, jog or run

?? Limit screen time - Schedule tasks, delete social media apps from the phone

?? Work at your best time and don't force it

?? Be open about your feelings

?? Sleep 8 hours daily

?? Budget your monthly outgoings and shift your money mindset

?? Ask for help

Humans are not machines and must stop considering ourselves as such. There is a reason why we have annual leave, why doctors recommend resting and basic health structures are in place.

Random technology analogy - we rarely let our phones go to 1% battery life so why do we let ourselves?

What are you taking seriously in 2021?

Remember, it's a marathon not a sprint. We have a whole life to live and so it's up to us to ensure that the future life is worth living. Working 40+ hours a week for a culture which doesn't serve us is no longer good enough, prioritising business class over the everyday working person is not viable and allowing ourselves to burnout is not an option.

If I hadn't already mentioned, this was my first year of entrepreneuring. I started the year excited and ended it exhausted. On twitter, there is a constant need to share "hobbies" one picked up this year, but I didn't have time to find a hobby as I was somewhat hunting for my next opportunity. I, alongside 3 million others in the UK, weren't eligible for benefits nor furlough - and so, if you had time to pick up a hobby in 2020, the privilege is real. In 2019 I delivered a TED x talk on resilience - who knew this would be the most important skill we'd require this year? I am sure that my resilience muscle has grown as have the muscles in my fingers typing away and scrolling on Linkedin.

I'm ending this year with a new outlook - focusing my energy on how 2021 can be a year of firsts and betters. I predict these 3 C's will only increase in importance and hope they become central to our decisions. Here's to a beautiful 2021!

My mantra for 2021 is "If it doesn't add value, it's not worth your time".

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Sonya Barlow is an award winning entrepreneur, founder of the @LMFnetwork, diversity business coach and motivational speaker. In 2020, she was named as one of the Most Influential Women in Tech (Computerweekly), Winner of the Women in Software Changemakers (Makers and Google), Top 50 BAME Entrepreneurs (TechRound) and Future Shaper 2020 (Marie Claire). In 2021, Sonya will be a published author sharing her debut handbook on entrepreneurship, business & becoming your own boss!