HALFTIME IN THE COMEBACK

If you have ever been far behind in a sporting event you’ve probably heard the halftime speech – “We can’t get it all back at once, we just have to chip away at it, gain momentum, and get some breaks.” It feels like it’s halftime in this recovery. We’re chipping away at it, but we continue to have setbacks and we are occasionally our own worst enemy.

Our workforce is not back to work, but they will be. Some may work from home, others will work differently, and perhaps robots will begin to do more of the repeatable tasks, but we will have our “full” workforce back over time. Our “just in time” manufacturing, airline, and logistics systems have all partially failed during this difficult time, but they will be rebuilt and likely be better than ever once they are. As frustrating, and costly as this is, it will get better if we use our creativity, build new systems, and manage and govern them with the knowledge we’ve gained during the pandemic.

Finally, we must repair trust. Leaders must regain trust with those that follow them, followers need to regain the trust of leaders, and we all have to do what we can to deescalate the small issues and work together on the biggest problems. Once again, none of this can be regained immediately or all at once. We will have to build on small wins, slowly gain momentum, get some breaks, and avoid unforced errors.

Let’s continue to have patience with these systems and with each other, and finish the game. We are a great team and I know that we will come out on top. Let’s have a spectacular week.

-Kenny McDonald