Keep Moving Forward...Together

Like other social platforms these days, LinkedIn has been flooded with advice and resources on how first to survive, and now how to thrive, in our new (pandemic) normal. Recently, many conversations have focused on the idea of reopening and how we can’t and won’t return to how things were.

But. . .even if you think you’ve heard enough about “reopenings” and “new normals,” take a moment to reflect on a miraculous thing called connection that has prevailed in spite of our circumstances. From the beginning I was struck by the social distance coined phrase “together while apart.”

Nearly three months later, focusing on how this concept has flourished is a welcome break from worrying about how to keep my family healthy and what the future will look like. I hope this article helps you to pause and, maybe even discover something new and worthwhile.

******

Even though organizational change is my trade, I’ve felt ill-equipped to deal with the pandemic and its fallout. The “change curve” I help my clients understand? Well, it feels like it has both sped up and slowed down at the same time. I mean, what IS time, anyway? Like many of you, I now wrack my brain before I can name what day it is.

What’s more, I find myself going through the emotions of denial, anger, understanding, and acceptance on a daily, if not hourly, basis. This grind of emotions—coupled with not knowing what milestones lie ahead for my family, my co-workers, and my community‑—have led to some serious change fatigue. (Side note: This particular combination—emotional overload and uncertainty—also often happens to employees during major transformations.)

So how do I cope with it all? Through connections with my people. Before the pandemic, I thought of well-being in terms of work-life balance, exercising, personal growth, and the like. But now I know that little things—a brief conversation with a barista at a coffee shop, lunch with my co-workers, or a play date for my kids—contribute mightily to well-being, too. If nothing else, this global pandemic has taught me that connectedness in our DNA. It fuels our daily lives, brings us contentment, and can happen in many ways, big and small, old and new.

Some of these new ways to connect have been fantastic—more open and honest conversations about mental health, more small gestures of kindness, more patience to help others learn new technologies. But with the good comes the bad, and days packed with back-to-back Zoom calls, no hugs for grandparents, or missing out on a graduation takes its toll. And now, as stay at home orders loosen and more businesses reopen, we’ll be heading into a new phase of staying connected.

But what will this new “connected” normal look like? Well, we’re figuring that out.

So as we keep moving forward, what ways of connecting do you hope to leave behind? What do you hope to keep? Share some of your connected Leave/Keeps in the comments below.

I also asked our team to reflect on their efforts to connect with family, team, clients, and communities during these past few months. Check out this video to see what some of our Pioneers had to say!