Does Covid mean we should stop planning - or does planning make you stonger?
Why bother planning in times of uncertainty - isn’t it a waste of time?
I play in and help to run an orchestra in Bristol. Like everybody else, we are desperate to get back to doing what we love most - playing concerts. Our last gig was in March 2020 - we just sneaked in before the first lockdown. We came close to doing an outdoor concert in the summer (but weren’t allowed because, whilst professional groups could play, amateurs could not…). Then in November we were within 10 days of playing a socially distanced concert when Lockdown 3.0 happened.
And here we are again - our next attempt was for a concert was on May 15th - but that is 2 days before things start to open up so that plan had to be canned. We now have an option to try and play on May 23rd or wait until after the summer.
Planning in times of uncertainty can be a bit soul-destroying and there have been a few dark moments when I have erred on the side of giving up until there is more certainty.
But what the Covid world has re-inforced for me is that planning makes you stronger! Let me tell you why:
By having zoom calls to discuss what we could do, it made many people realise how important the orchestra was and gave us a renewed sense of purpose and hope
It has made us all realise how much we missed making music
As a committee we found creative ways to solve problems that would never have happened before
More people were willing to invest their time to help
We’re not quite there yet (another planning Zoom is imminent) but when we do get back together the orchestra will be stronger and more committed than ever before.
Applying this to my business life, I realise that there can be disappointments when plans don’t work out as you hope. Given the level of uncertainty that surrounds us at the moment, the act of planning and being flexible are both even more critical to team bonding and therefore success.
Please do get in touch if you want more ideas about how to get the best results from yourself and your team: [email protected]
