It’s Virtually Gone and it’s Virtually Crazy

Well, what a year 2020 has been …

For some this year has been the most brutal – entertainment, restaurants, pubs, and other businesses have been devastated as restrictions and market uncertainty conspired to keep customers away.

For others, health has been impacted – either through contracting the virus or through mental health being adversely affected – loneliness, isolation and lack of human interaction being a huge factor in this outcome.

And others have thrived through their involvement in exciting projects, stretching challenges or just because they have loved working from home.

I, personally, am very keen to see the back of 2020 and think forward to 2021 and all the opportunity a New Year can bring. Let’s get it right this time … planning for new beginnings!

I say this time, because we have had almost a whole year to make a difference to the way we are as humans – and yet, dishearteningly, what I see (most clearly) is a yearning to get back to what we had. I find it bemusing that the very way we lived, and that brought us to this place, would be the thing that many folk craved to return to?

It seems to me that we have been invited, universally, to rethink … to reflect on what might be; to innovate in a way we have never done before. To actually be different… 

As one of my colleagues put it – this is a time to reflect, reset and restart.

My reflection:

2020 has been a year of virtual everything. My most frequently heard word of the year has to be “bonkers” … and it has been totally bonkers. The online interactions, while meaningful for connectivity both professionally and personally, have been driving most people virtually crazy!

Whoever thought they would hear the words … “I miss my commute.”? Well, I have – and they were heartfelt. A loss of space and time to think.

The virtual world has brought humanness into play too. We have got to peek inside our colleagues’ homes, meet their pets, their family members – it’s made us more accessible as people. 

In innovating for a different future – I would love to keep the humanness and get rid of the old ways of doing things. Celebrate difference. Drop the fa?ade of ‘uptightly professional’ and simply be ourselves.

My reset:

To only work on the things that bring me joy. And, that I can see will make a proper difference to the world. I want to be part of building strong, capable, responsibility taking, thoughtful leadership teams and individuals. Leaders who are prepared to stand up and be counted, to voice when things don’t ‘feel’ right, to step up and to help their colleagues to see and understand what is right and what is wrong. I want to help build leadership that matters, that places humanity at the heart of business because this is a stronger foundation to build profitability from – not just shareholder profitability – I’m talking societal profitability… (see Alex Edman’s work on Purpose led leadership and why this counts).

My restart:

Honestly, this is harder for me. I am clear on what I would like to move away from and have some fuzzy thinking on what to move towards. More balance is key – I am passionate about systemic leadership teamwork - purpose centred thinking and the impact leadership teams make among themselves, that radiates throughout the business, to the stakeholders and the communities they serve …. As you may have read previously this year, I have also had the space and time to reconnect with my more creative self and I am loving that outlet. So, my restart will certainly be about building proper time to continue that creativity, while focusing on team functionality. There’s more to write here … only after I get clearer in my thinking.

This year seems to have passed by extremely quickly and, as the title of this piece alludes to, is virtually gone … 

I look forward to witnessing the creativity of us all in 2021 to understand how we might build a thing together that moves us away from this virtually crazy time towards a less bonkers – or at least bonkers in a positive way – space.

As I wrote that last sentence, I playfully thought I actually like the words bonkers and I kind of hope what I might hear next year is – “Tania, it’s totally bonkers … look how brilliant this is! We would never have got to this outcome without that virus. How fab that something so good could come out of that global pandemic!”

As you pause for thought – what are your reflections, your commitments to reset and how will you restart next year to make sure you bring the best of yourself and your experiences of 2020 to a meaningful place?

Let me know …

Tania Watson is the founder of Creative Coaching and an executive coach, organisational consultant and leadership specialist. Creative Coaching is a successful company dedicated to the development of senior leaders in organisations through one to one coaching, intact team development and group facilitation. If you or someone from your organisation would like to have a no obligation conversation about how Creative Coaching may be able to help, please email Tania directly at [email protected].