Facing My Pandemic Anxieties: Finding Opportunity During the COVID-19 Era

In March, thousands of New Yorkers packed up their desks – our laptops, chargers, perhaps a notebook or two – and left our offices for what we thought would only be a few weeks. With spare shoes tucked under our desks and drawers filled with documents and personal items, we embarked into the unknown. After all, who would have thought we’d still be working remote over five months later?

Now, it’s midway through August and, thankfully, New York is well on its way to recovery. However, as the threat of a second wave lingers and scientists continue to unearth more information about the coronavirus, many of us are still unsure about when we will be able to return to the office.

These past few months have been scary – there’s no denying that. I remember the moment that I realized that the COVID-19 pandemic was not going to be resolved in just a few weeks. In that instance, my first feeling was anxiety. I feared for the health of my loved ones, for the economy, for international relations, and for rising polarizations. And, perhaps most of all, I was deeply concerned about my employees: How could I possibly help my employees navigate these strange, frightening times and stay connected despite the challenges of working from home?

I decided that I could not let these anxieties weigh me down – instead, I needed to embrace this uncertainty to spawn new ways of thinking. Of course, I may not be a scientist capable of crafting the silver bullet treatment or vaccine, but I am a business leader and a communicator. So, I took the first step to finding solutions to my most pressing concerns: I asked questions.

 How long could we keep our culture and social bonds alive – and thriving – with everyone working remote?

I’ll be the first to admit that I struggled with the transition to full-time remote work. I missed walking around the office, participating in breakout brainstorming with colleagues in every department and working together to tackle our clients’ urgent problems. Moreover, I knew that our employees were starving for information about the pandemic: When will the office reopen? Are the subways safe? Is our business going to suffer? I felt helpless – at least temporarily – for not being able to provide concrete answers.

Without the in-person interaction, I feared that the tight-knit, collaborative and transparent culture we worked so hard to cultivate would inevitably crumble. As such, I made it my mission to think creatively about new and innovative ways to bring us all *virtually* closer together. 

With the help of our HR team and other fellow leaders, we devised a schedule of weekly Zoom townhalls with our U.S. and U.K. staff – something that I never would have thought of if it weren’t for the circumstances! These meetings have been extraordinarily effective at bringing together large groups of people to share updates on client work, show off funny Zoom backgrounds and give shout-outs to other teammates. What’s more, it’s a perfect venue for providing topical updates on the pandemic and how it will impact #LifeAtRF.

Could we stay creative and keep evolving and innovating as a company during times like these?

In my experience, so many groundbreaking and creative ideas are borne from water-cooler or chance conversations around the office. Truthfully, the opportunity to walk up to colleagues to ask a question or to workshop a problem is one of the great joys of the working world, and it’s responsible for so many spontaneous conversations that often lead to significant breakthroughs. 

But with everyone working remotely, I wondered: How could we possibly continue to uphold this level of water-cooler collaboration, fueling breakthrough ways of thinking in order to push our business models forward?

Here’s the truth: Disruption is a profound catalyst for transformation. Frankly, the only way to overcome the challenges related to the pandemic will be to innovate your way around them. For example, a recent Fortune study of Fortune 500 CEOs found that 63% believed the pandemic would “accelerate” technological advancement, while only 6% said it would “slow” innovation.

In the absence of water-cooler talk, I’ve personally made an effort to chat and catch up with my colleagues at the beginning or end of Zoom meetings and calls. I’ve also made sure to keep asking people what they’re reading in the news, what stories they find interesting and what they’ve seen that’s impressed them. The setting may be less “ad hoc,” but the insights are just as rich. In fact, through conversations about the rising importance of video storytelling and digital content, we're inspired to delve into new areas of video that we’d never tread before. Now, we’re proud to have brought Osmosis Films, a full-service creative strategy and production studio specializing in story creation through film, animation and more – into the Ruder Finn portfolio. Our partnership is proof that, even during a global pandemic, companies can still be innovative, ground-breaking and forward-looking.

With so much unknown, how could we offer clear, decisive and transparent leadership?

In times of great uncertainty, one must act quickly, remain transparent and, perhaps most importantly, listen. Throughout the pandemic, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has embodied this approach – balancing fact and emotion in a way that calms, inspires and informs. In a mere matter of months, Governor Cuomo successfully transformed one of the world’s worst epicenters into one of the nation’s safest areas. As a result, New York is planning to reopen schools this fall, which is an enormous (and important) feat.

Governor Cuomo’s actions prove that a time of crisis can be an opportunity for good leaders to become great leaders. As Colin Powell said: Management moves an army from point-to-point, while leadership moves an army to places never thought possible. We must create opportunity out of this period of uncertainty, and use this moment to push ourselves toward new possibilities.