We don’t know about you, but the past two years have taught us a lot about human nature and resilience, connection and compassion — and that you can never have too much toilet paper or hand sanitizer.
In the business world, some of the biggest lessons that have emerged from the COVID-19 pandemic involve technology and flexibility. Fortunately, Current360 had plenty of both on Day 1 of the shutdowns.
See, when the Not-So-Great Snow Storm of 2010 knocked out the electricity to our
building on East Washington Street in Butchertown, we were forced to pivot to remote
work long before it was the norm. We were SO NOT prepared. For one thing, we
needed special equipment for video editing and other creative applications that
couldn’t be done on a regular laptop.
But like we always do, we found a way to make it work. And more importantly, we
learned from these challenges, and took steps to make sure we were never in the
same position again.
While a public health crisis is not the same as a weather emergency, the situation we
found ourselves in nearly two years ago felt eerily familiar — to continue doing business as usual, our team had to work from home. Most of us transitioned to telework in March, but a few stayed in the office until Derby.
In another serendipitous turn of events, our office was set up for social distancing
before that was a thing — workstations were already more than six feet apart. Even
so, we were careful. Team members who stayed on site strictly followed CDC safety
guidelines. (Yes, we used A LOT of Clorox wipes.)
All in all, during our shift to remote work, we never missed a beat.
Managing the Pivot
Just like other businesses, we relied heavily on technology to make a successful transition to working from home. One of the key components was our workflow management software, CurrentTrack, which quite literally kept all our projects on track.
Business communication platform, Slack, became a vital place for collaboration. Our
team check-in — the Morning Jolt, every day at 8:43 a.m. — went from an in-person
meeting to a conference call. We also used a number of videoconferencing tools to
meet with each other and our clients, ultimately landing on Google Meet as our app of
choice. (Sorry, Zoom.)
Our clients told us more than once how much they appreciated our seamless
transition. We did everything we could to maintain the personal touch they’ve come
to rely on, despite not being in the same room with them.
Speaking of personal touch, the biggest thing we learned from this whole experience
is that, just because we can all go our separate ways and still get the job done, that
doesn’t mean we want to. In fact, the thing that makes us, well, us, is our culture of
connection. There is nothing as good as a face-to-face brainstorming session to get
the creative juices flowing.
Simply put, we make each other better when we’re together, and no matter how
sharp the resolution on the screen, the energy of an in-person meeting just can’t be
replicated on video. Don’t get us wrong, technology is great — but only when it’s used
to supplement human connection, not replace it.
We’re glad to have the option of working from home when it makes sense, or saving a
few minutes of travel time with a quick Google Meet. But we hope those will be the
exception moving forward and not the rule.
Being in the room together is where the magic happens at Current360, and we could
not be happier that the magic is back!