We all do it, whether we want to admit it or not. We all procrastinate. Procrastination does not discriminate and it’s extremely versatile. It affects men and women equally, along with every race and religion. It requires no training, one size seems to fit all, and it can be literally hazardous to your personal or credit union’s health. Consider this, you are never more productive than when you are procrastinating. Think about it. When you are putting something off that you really hate, like doing your taxes, you start cleaning out closets.
So many credit unions had good intentions with their project list, but often “putting out fires,” sitting in non-productive meetings, or being a slave to email kept us from getting the really important things done.
We had time to prepare
Few really listened when Bill Gates warned of a pathogen-based outbreak five years ago. Yet today, that now very famous TED Talk (that was a succinct 8 minutes and 37 seconds long) has been viewed by over 28 million people.
“We are not ready for the next epidemic,” began Gates. “We can have the tools we need, but those tools need to be put into an overall global health system. And we need preparedness. So I think this should absolutely be a priority….we need to get going, because time is not on our side.”
I have not heard about many credit unions that were really ready. None had a “global pandemic national disaster recovery plan,” which included closing lobbies, call centers working from home, social distancing with remaining branch staff, and a complete shut-down of non-essential functions. And how about the economic impact of massive unemployment? We, like most of America, were not prepared.
