Champions Adjust!
/It is the first month of a new year. Not just any year, either – a year following what we have all heard described repeatedly as: Unprecedented. Anomalous. Exhausting. Chaotic. As the “craziest year of our lives” requiring us all, in many senses of the word, to “pivot.”
Like every other individual and organization, all the forecasting and planning that we put together to map the year 2020 was immediately rearranged as the threat of the Covid-19 pandemic arose. Then, shuffled, rethought, and rearranged again as the worst-case scenarios we feared took hold, and reconfigured yet again when the pandemic persisted for many weeks and months, all the way up to today.
It is not a surprise that organizational course corrections are sometimes needed. That is why we track initiatives, priorities, and statistics, hold performance reviews, organize work plans, and create budgeting and maintenance forecasts. Often, small tilts of the wheel are enough to keep the plan moving along the track when circumstances change around us. However, the magnitude of the changes that occurred in such a dizzyingly short time frame posed significant hurdles for our entire staff, even without the backdrop of a global public health crisis.
But in 2020, every department rose together, again and again, to meet the (many) challenges PBC faced. When groups were barred from coming to our beautiful Blairstown Campus and meeting in person, program staff used their resourcefulness and ingenuity to create virtual programs for our students and online audiences. When classroom learning was abruptly moved online, and teachers and students shared the challenges and mental health impacts of this format, program staff and communications staff created a weekly SEL email for teachers that could be used in Zoom classrooms to enhance social connections and SEL skills while adhering to social distancing. Finance staff successfully applied for Federal Paycheck Protection Program loans and continually tracked and readjusted budgets to keep the organization fiscally sound. Maintenance staff scaled up their plans, tackling extensive repairs, deep cleanings, and other tasks that would ordinarily be too disruptive while students are using Campus facilities. Perhaps more amazing is that these changes were implemented successfully on top of the changes the pandemic created in many other facets of everyone’s lives.
The Senior Leadership Team meets each January to identify our organizational priorities and set the plan - and tone - for the coming year. In reflecting upon how the organization reacted and continues to adapt to the changing landscape, they came up with a working mantra for the year: Champions Adjust.
It is abundantly clear that large-scale changes for the Center, and in our personal lives, will continue until Covid is squarely in the rearview. Until then, we’ll adjust.
