Our smooth transition amid rocky circumstances
The last few weeks have been anything but business as usual for every organization — and household. And amid the pandemic that is profoundly shaping our daily lives now and indefinitely into the future, those organizations and households are becoming one in ways we certainly didn’t anticipate as we rang in the new year just three months ago.
Yet here we are, having set up shop in home offices, at kitchen tables, on folding tables in basements. Our cowork spaces have kids, dogs and cats instead of colleagues. We are avidly waiting for updates from the governor’s office, trying to understand how the shifting landscape in our home state is affecting our Pennsylvania clients, while monitoring the conditions across the country and around the world. Bravo is a global operation, and our clients extend far beyond our state borders.
Nothing is the same, and yet everything is the same. I was in the office on Monday, March 16. Tuesday morning, I was firmly installed in my home work space, not a hitch in my client calls, not a technical issue to be found. My biggest learning curve was adjusting to a dog who can open my office door and getting used to looking at my face on video calls. A few lessons I’ve learned in the last two weeks.
We have long touted our workplace flexibility as a value add when you join the team. This same flexibility is now the foundation that keeps us not just running but flourishing.
What was flexible is now foundational
Bravo has long touted our workplace flexibility as a value add when you join the team. This same flexibility — working within the Google Suite, a laptop and phone for every employee, generous collaboration tools — is now the foundation that keeps us not just running but flourishing.
What was new is now the new normal
I mentioned getting used to seeing myself on video chats, and just a week later I had been on more video calls than the whole previous year. We have several creative workshops that we’d hoped to conduct in person, but we’ve rebuilt the delivery mechanism to handle them virtually. Not what we expected, but what we need to get the work done, on schedule and to the standards we require.
What was optional is now essential
I have a confession. I was not into Slack. It was something I murmured to trusted colleagues in frustration. “I just don’t get it. Email me what I need to know.” I realize now the power of a real-time tool that communicates with our larger community.
Above all else, I see Bravo’s core values at work in powerful ways that were certainly present pre-pandemic but are impossible to miss as we rally around our clients and each other.
- We move fast. We joke that every day is different at Bravo, but our nimble actions over the last couple of weeks have demonstrated that yes, in fact, it is possible to move even faster.
- Low individual ego, high firm ego. The heroics of the last couple of weeks are shared wins.
- Less hierarchy. It’s all hands on deck, and no one is above digging in.
- We lead. As our clients navigate their complex challenges, we provide not only service but strategies to accelerate their growth and help them meet their goals, COVID-19 or not.
- Integrity above all else. This one speaks for itself, but there’s no group of people I’d rather see at our 5 p.m. Google Meet Happy Hour on Fridays. Kids and dogs welcome.
