“Live in the moment. Don’t carry baggage from the past. Put that baggage in a history book and learn from it, but don’t carry it on your shoulder. You will feel lighter and be able to enjoy the present and the future.” In this episode, I share my advice on how we should see our recent adaptions as a mobile workforce as opportunities to shape the future and avoid returning to our inefficient past. You know I’m all about CONSTANT ELEVATION!
Links
- 2021 CrossFit Open Leaderboard (search for Gabriel Avilla to see my score): https://games.crossfit.com/leaderboard/open/2021?view=0&division=1®ion=0&scaled=0&sort=0
- Revival Fitness: https://revivalfitnessmd.com/
- Leadership as a Domain podcast: https://www.rhoneccg.com/podcast/gen-cq-brown-jr-chief-of-staff-usaf
- Link to episode 12 of Leadership as as Domain podcast, where I was the featured guest: https://theleadershipdomain.com/podcast/2020/04/21/lieutenant-colonel-gabriel-gaberock-avilla/
Here is my advice on how leaders need to prevent the New Normal from becoming the Pathetic Past:
People
- We’ve essentially been operating in the “New Normal 1.0” since the pandemic hit. The closure of numerous factors of our community and society to prevent the spread of the corona virus has pushed us to transition both our personal and professional lives whether we liked it or not. They are no longer mutually exclusive, but are deeply integrated and effects everyone differently.
- There are lots of factors that need to be balanced, but you can’t consider them all. Leaders rarely have the luxury to make decisions with 100% of the data in front of them, but that should not prevent them from leading. We still have a lot of runway in front of us to adjust any early decisions made, but remember that you have to make those decisions if you’re in the position to do so.
- A specific milestone to consider is to plan to be able to achieve “New Normal 2.0” by the end of summer/beginning of the next school year, assuming a large amount of vaccines have been distributed.
- Please consider individual and family situations as much as possible. I’m not saying everyone with extenuating circumstances should be accommodated, but take things case by case. The individual themselves, what is their job, their family considerations, their potential hesitation to get vaccines.
- If you are at a higher level, empower leaders to make decisions. They can make the best informed decisions on people and their relationship to the mission. Front line supervisors will have a better understanding of their team’s needs and concerns to drive mission accomplishment. Leverage that leadership!
Presence
- Certain jobs require the use of on-location resources: tools, rooms, security measures, physical proximity to each other or customers
- We spent the last year adopting new solutions and tools, why get rid of them all?
- If you deal more with information or data, how much presence is really needed? Instead of full-time, could you go part-time? As a team, can you decide BY EXCEPTION when and where physical presence with each other is worth it and use telework tools as usual?