Pandemic developments

One of the best things I learned from reading books in the early ‘80s as I was starting my career is to develop the habit and skill to be able to see the positive things in each day even when on certain days when I had to look harder.

During a Q&A session, I remember when questions were thrown at me together with a couple of other speakers. I could not remember what the questions were and what answers I gave, but one of the panel speakers whispered to me and said. “I never see things the way you do; you are always so optimistic in your outlook.”

2020 is a year that will always be remembered as a year dominated by disease, deaths and danger. Not to dismiss nor reduce the pain and sufferings the pandemic has caused, a long hard look into the year produces some developments that came out from it.

1. Acceleration of innovation.

The crisis is an accelerator. While it was challenging to convince organizations to transform themselves into the digital economy during pre-COVID days, you suddenly see many trends happening right before our eyes. Business organizations are now adapting to change and reassessing their digital assets. They realized that digital is the new default, and they have to retool and reskill the people to handle the digital transformation.

What are some of these transformations, you may ask? You have work-from-home being one of the apparent, conducting meetings and even transacting business virtually. You have online shopping boosting your internet presence, and these may have taken years to happen, and now with the crisis, the transformation accelerated overnight.

2. Resistance around change weakens.

One of the biggest leadership challenges is resistance to change. There will always be a thousand and one reasons people can present to defend the status quo. “Change Management,” “Culture Change,” “The Digital Transformation,” and a list of seminar titles have been conducted, producing little effects and buy-in. Guess what happened? You did not have to change because the pandemic did it for you. It seems like everything you wanted to change is suddenly changeable. And anyone who is still resistant is viewed and opined as a villain in an action-thriller movie.

3. Leaders learned and showed empathy and generosity.

Leaders show care. Companies began providing “wellness” training and webinars. I even had a client that started distributing office chairs for their staff, knowing that they need a good piece of furniture since they will be working from home a lot.

4. The pandemic has ushered in healthier habits.

There is an enormous sense of consciousness for people to eat healthily and to stay healthy. Locked down in their homes, many are eating better and becoming healthier. With apps available that provide stretching and exercising tips even in small places, many had made daily exercise a habit they would never have taken before COVID-19 happened.

5. There is a higher appreciation of the simple things in life.

We begin to appreciate the simple things in life. Simple does not mean cheap but that which is valuable though they may not be expensive. While a year of lockdown has been challenging and harsh towards the travel and hospitality industries, a year without travel may have turned out to be a gift of time spent with the spouse and family. It may also be the time to change the pace of life and to enjoy it more. Looking back, you probably have some refreshing family and personal rhythms you discovered and would not want to change it ever.

People miss people the most. And perhaps one positive development the pandemic has brought is that people begin to value communities. Something we all have taken for granted during pre-COVID days.

Call me an eternal optimist if you like. The younger ones who do not even understand the term correctly may even label me indulging in “toxic positivity,” and I would not mind.

The habit and skill of looking for the positive things even in very dire circumstances have kept many going and catching the earliest signs of opportunity when things begin to turn. Meanwhile, it has assured us that tides will turn, things will be better. God is still in control, and He knows what He is doing, and I need to learn the lessons the crisis is teaching. We do not want to waste the crisis, but we want to profit from becoming better people. There, now how is that for being positive and optimistic?

(Connect with Francis Kong at www.facebook.com/franciskong2. Or listen to “Business Matters” Monday to Friday at 8 a.m. And 6:30 p.m. over 98.7 dzFE-FM ‘The Master’s Touch,’ the classical music station.)