Time to move forward.
When I think back to the past 8 months, I am reminded of the Kubler Ross Change Curve.
This is my attempt to align the MCE “COVID” journey with that model. Rest assured this is not a dire message but instead one of positivity and hope.
March 5, 2020. I was on a flight back from beautiful Portugal after a perfect vacation. There were 4 cases of COVID-19 in Portugal that day. Nothing to really worry about. Things at the airport were quite normal. Things at MCE were great.
March 13, 2020. Plans were being activated to shut down the college campuses. MCE’s offices are in the Stoney Creek Campus. Everyone gathered their laptops and planned to work from home for a while. In the next few weeks, as everyone knows, the bottom fell out.
March – April 2020. Shock and Denial. Shock at how quickly things shut down, however we did not really experience Denial as we could see by our numbers the reality of the situation. Frustration? Sure – we, as a team, liked the way things were going pre-COVID. We loved our face-to-face client meetings and training programs that allowed us to connect and build such strong relationships. We loved our team and I am sure there was Anger as we started to downsize and lose people. Maybe even Depression.
Everyone put on a brave face though; everyone put our customers first and foremost. We looked after each other with weekly team calls and one on one check-ins.
We supported our customers and began to Experiment with virtual training offers. We invited customers to join us on our journey by offering complimentary webinars where they could learn about Zoom, chats, breakout rooms, annotate and live polls alongside us.
We made the Decision and we converted all our programs to virtual in record time. And we have been successful, for which we thank our loyal customers who stuck with us throughout this journey. We are also grateful for our new customers who we never expected to come on board during a pandemic.
Virtual learning, Zoom team and client meetings, working from home, taking on new responsibilities, new ways to network, COVID safety policies ….all part of the Integration process and we, the MCE team are working diligently to keep our curve moving upwards.
The virus has not left us; however, we know we need to keep moving forward. As the leader of MCE, it is my job to think about the future. It is my job to get us through to the other side and build plans for growth and sustainability. It is also my job to keep an eye on the present; on the curve, to make sure my team, customers and colleagues are moving through it too.
We at MCE are not unique; many of you have experienced the same journey. We would love to hear your stories.
