PIVOT

December 16, 2020 – Usually my end-of-the-year article is dedicated to recapping all of the holiday parties and events that give us an opportunity to end the year on a happy note. Unfortunately, my not-so-favorite five-letter word had other plans. Not only were all the holiday events canceled, but most of us had to deal with the burden of having to figure out which of our friends and family members we wouldn’t see during the holiday season. Covid has been a cruel, uninvited guest.  

When Covid-19 got real for Terra in March, we didn’t hunker down. We decided to PIVOT, and adjust to the new normal. We accepted the challenge and even had some fun with it. Here’s what we did:

• Terra expanded its VPN capacity so that every single employee could work within Terra’s secure network environment from home.
• In March, the country learned more than we needed to know about PPE. About that same time, my friend Joe Auer from Bearse Manufacturing stopped by my house to drop off a dozen masks for my family. His company re-tooled and started to make them. When I asked him for 100 masks for Terra, he gave them to me. Our friend Cindy Phelan provided us with 150 surgical masks, which were critical for our people out in the field.  
• Terra used eBay like a black market to source hand sanitizer and cleansing wipes. We paid through the nose, and everything we sanitized and cleansed smelled like bad tequila.
• To get our people back to the office in June, we reconfigured the Park Ridge offices to promote socially distanced spacing. Our offices in Columbia, Columbus, Minneapolis, and Nashville were already there.
• Before we got back to the office, adequate safety signage needed to be in place. Bring in Sgt. Dennis Senemuongdong, who put a patriotic spin on the Terra covid office signage, which was used company wide.
• For the first time in 26 years, we needed a mailbox at 600 Busse, and Keith Bonadonna was less than impressed with the mailbox I laid on the front steps. Keith put his DIY hat on and made our company mailbox a country lane beauty.
• Lastly, when other, more forward-thinking companies turned Covid into SWAG opportunities, Terra was not going to be outdone. Bring in Barb Garvey of Garvey’s Office Products, who sourced our very stylish company gaiters and safety keys.  

On St. Patrick’s Day, I was in an EMPTY O’Hare Airport for a flight to Traverse City. I was scheduled to attend a plan commission meeting there. I had plans to meet a college friend and her husband after that meeting. Michigan was shut down while I was in the air. I spent the night in my hotel room, dinner was courtesy of Burger King. The following day I flew home on a seven-person flight. There were four crew, three passengers. Covid made a proper introduction to me March 18th. Nine days later, one of Terra’s employees was hospitalized with the virus.

Terra Consulting Group has been blessed to be an essential business during this awful time. It’s our people, all of us, who have made this work. To the employees whose lives have been turned upside down with childcare, medical, and family issues: you gave us a plan on how you were going to take care of all those issues AND do your job, BEFORE you took your computers home. We are eternally grateful. You make us great, and you know who you are.

I want to give one last shout out to Mark Cichon, Director of Emergency Medicine at Loyola Medical Center in Chicago. When thousands of people were asking for your time, you helped me out, every time. God bless you, man! The next time I call, we’re getting a drink!  

My hope is that when you are reading this next month, the vaccines and other therapeutics are effectively pushing Covid to an exit. Let’s all keep our fingers crossed.

JZ