Reaching out during interesting times
“There is a curse. They say: ‘May you live in interesting times.’” - Terry Pratchett, Interesting Times.
While this isn’t actually a real saying, the amazing Terry Pratchett captures the meaning well. There’s no doubt we are living in interesting times right now. So how do we get through them?
The answer is easy: together. The best way we get through crises like this is to look outward and prioritise the safety and wellbeing of everyone. At Eleven, we want to help make this happen.
This is challenging when we are seeing constant messages of fear from around the world. Fear is a powerful emotion that makes people want to put up walls, and focus only on protecting themselves and the people close to them. This is an understandable response to a frightening situation, but is not the response that will help us get through this. Instead, we need to be thinking about what we can do for each other to maintain everyone’s safety and wellbeing.
However, this pandemic has interrupted many aspects of our lives - including the things that keep us entertained, connected, and mentally well. Chances are many of us are holding concert tickets, or travel itinerary, we can no longer use. Many businesses will be anxious about what this next few months will look like, how they can keep their staff safe, and how long this will last.
So at Eleven, we decided we wanted to start talking openly about how this pandemic is affecting our team, our clients, and our community - and share our ideas about how we can keep our collective spirits up. As always, we believe the key is understanding each other and connecting with shared values. Here are a few things we are going to cover in more detail over the next few weeks:
Looking after your team
Supporting business leaders
Managing the pressure as a government agency
Connecting to anxious customers
Unfortunately, we will be living in interesting times for the next few months. However, this doesn’t mean we need to bring all of our lives to a halt. Here are some things to think about right now to stay connected:
Everyone’s inbox is full of Covid-19 plans right now (which is great!), but if you are reaching out to customers think about ways to share some positivity as well. Share some humour, and good stories.
Reach out to people and ask them how they are feeling! If you need to change things that impact your customers, ask them what they would like to do instead.
If you are worried about a local business or organisational partner, reach out and ask them how you can support them.
Trial working from home. It’s very possible this is a precaution we will all have to take in the next few weeks, so take this opportunity to figure how to make it work with your team. Check-in with everyone across your organisation to get a good understanding of the challenges people might have.
Check-in with the people around you regularly. Encourage people to talk about how they are feeling without needing to solve anything. You could set up a space online (Facebook or Slack) just for this purpose!
Ensure everyone has access to Zoom or Skype (or another way of remote contact), including customers or clients!
