Change in Changing Times

In these uncertain times, we have figured out how to stay at home, work from home, and do business from home. But we are becoming anxious of what is ahead, what is next. We are not sure whether we can live the way we lived earlier or is it going to be different. It seems strange to live without a vision 

The future is blurry. For example a woman goes to buy groceries with a mask on, and after reaching the shop notices that people around are not following social distancing neither have masks on their face. It was unsettling for her and she became anxious to protect herself while others ignored the severity and put her at risk.

The future may be that we do not need to go out to buy groceries and they are delivered at our house but the woman being anxious feels that her life is disrupted with the new way of buying groceries and this change has disrupted her wellbeing.

Another person is worried about the change in his job as there is no clarity from the leadership of his organisation. He is not sure about his own leadership role. And how should he take decisions. He is unable to decide in these ambiguous times.

Doctors and nurses are navigating these unclear waters which are in fact a characteristic of their industry. Though the rules and laws imposed are for their own good that is additional work or circling around the procedures to take care of patients. In this situation of pandemic people are looking for paths that better suit their passions and purpose with a hope to emerge out unhurt while the severity of their profession may take its toll.

We all hate to be between black and white, in grey (ambiguous) situation, where we are not sure whether we are wrong or right, bad or good and this creates anxiety and causes stress. 

With this uncertainty creating more anxiety and loss of productivity I think this is the best time to innovate and do things that people were attempting to do it for a long time. Everyone is in a fix and lonely, without a clear path forward and this is the time to build relationships.

We live in a perceptual reality as our brain takes a situation and creates a story around it. The best way can be to make up an imaginary future, build a story and who knows that may become a reality. The story may unfold in unforeseen ways with the roles of participants changing and creating a new future.

With a blurry future we can use our creative genius to reinvent realities and acquaint ourselves with the change as this crisis has created an opportunity to make the imagined reality work for real.

Various people are at different stages like some have stalled in their careers, some are reorganised and not sure of how the new organisation will treat them, some are simply burned out, they are drained out emotionally and they all need a boost in their career. They need a plan to move forward where they can use their time and energy more prudently and live a happy life.

To do this they need to have a career goal and decide what they love to do, what is their passion and imagine that if there were no bindings or limitations what job they would take. Once decided on the passion they need to chart a career path focussing on the qualifications they need or have to achieve the desired professional level. 

People need to understand to project a right image about them, polishing their performance on social media or else their own post published may become an obstacle for growth.

We love to live in habit driven way. What we have done yesterday is very comfortable to do today rather than doing something new today. We resist change and every human refrains uncertainty. But this is the time for intelligent leadership.

Showing self-confidence and communicating empathy will help to gather support, as people decide from their hearts first and heads later. Commit the deeds to the speech as this will help building trust. This is a time for optimism. For example even if you do not know how to home school your children, do not exhibit worries, pretend you know how to. But at the same time be honest and work out a solution together. You will realise how others support.

People are awkward doing something new and this is chance to guide and help them. Now is a time for new routine and you can make people accountable for the new work they do. Positive feedback will boost people in right direction. Little cheer-leading helps in long run. 

Think further today as it will help in making better decisions for tomorrow though it seems uncertain. It’s a test for everyone to forget the old and clasp the new. This is the time to learn how to change in crisis

These are chaotic times in a crisis and looking for opportunities will help in building our future as future is going to create itself. Of-course it’s going to be different, challenging to use new methods, tools and observe ourselves how we can adapt in innovative ways to create our future.

One way to cope up is to think reverse in everything we do. The way we worked earlier, the procedures we followed, reducing the elements that are not necessary.

For example delivering food to people at home instead of making people sit at a table in restaurant, delivering entertainment at people’s home, celebrating birthdays and anniversaries or even marriages on video calls, cooking class videos to teach everyone including kids at home how to cook making home a learning center. Aggregation seems to be the new business model with better margins, less waste and more satisfaction.

One more example is of virtual trainers. People are signing up for such trainers to receive instruction through video instead of going to the gymnasium.

Business minded people were fast to fill the unmet needs understanding the gaps in our society.

Change is everywhere around us and it is time to adopt new ways of doing things. Time demands that we should change even though it is agonizing as we need to grow in this competitive, disrupted environment and that is the only way to survive.