Moving Beyond the Pivot

How many times did you hear the word “pivot” in 2020? When COVID hit, you probably experienced pivots at work, at school, and at home. Everyone had to adapt and evolve. The challenges were great and many are still ongoing. But, the silver lining in all of this is that we have all learned to expedite our use of technology, and we’ve created and developed new ways of doing business and new ways of living our lives. Most pivots have included remote work and education, social distancing, consumer introspection, and enhanced use of technology. And, most of the pivoting we’ve done has worked. At least to some degree.

What’s Beyond the Pivot?

But, now what? We’ve pivoted, but how do we get beyond the pivot? What skills can we take as we move forward beyond the pivot? If what they say is true — a crisis is a classroom — how do we take the lessons we’ve learned in this crisis into a new season? One thing is for sure, we don’t move forward without continued innovation. We also don’t move forward without clarity and courage. To forge ahead and to embrace the changes that have occurred and that will continue to occur, we need courage. We also need some critical skills that will help us stay the course and to remain resilient. Critical skills like creativity, tech-savviness, leadership, adaptability, emotional intelligence, and leadership.

Communication & Connection

I don’t know about you, but I think there is one critical skill we need above all else to take with us as we move beyond the pivot and into this next season of life. Ironically enough, it is a classic skill. It’s the classic skill of verbal communication. That’s right. As great and efficient as technology is, nothing replaces good, old-fashioned voice-to-voice communication. How about using the phone as a phone? What about chatting over a cup of coffee? A face-to-face meeting? There is efficiency and then there is humanness. Connection. If we have learned anything through this crisis, we’ve learned that we need each other. We need connection and we need interaction — both verbal and physical. We also need kindness.

Kindness Matters

In a crisis, kindness matters. And, it matters after the crisis is over. A lot. More than ever, people need kindness. Empathy. Understanding. So, how do we move beyond the pivot? There are many different ways to grow beyond the pivot, to evolve, innovate, and succeed, but there is one way that will move us into a better future and that way is through basic human decency and kindness. Kindness is our hope for the future. So, let’s get back to the simple skills that we were taught as youngsters. Be kind. Help others. Show concern. Be a friend. Talk to people. Pay a visit to someone and spend time connecting at a deeper level.

It’s time to pivot back to the basics, so that we can move forward to a better tomorrow.