Pivot. New normal. Languishing. WFH. #workfromhome. You need to unmute. Zoom. Virtual meeting. Circuit breaker. Doomscrolling. Social distancing. Opportunity. In this together…
What words are you learning to hate during the pandemic? Some are hard to resist. They start off well-meaning, but then become over-used, and finally, they are just plain annoying to hear.
‘Pivot’ and ‘new normal’ are starting to get on my nerves. And yes, I use them a lot. But they both rest heavily on the assumption that we are currently doing things the way we did in say, 2019. The same expectations of society, the same business practices, the same worship services, the same trip to the grocery store, etc. etc. But we have changed the way we live and work and are now preparing for tomorrow.
The ‘pivot’ and ‘new normal’ are already here, have been here for a while, and now we look to how life works as we move forward. We pivoted, and normal changed.
“You cannot plough in a straight line if you are looking back to watch the plough.”
I learned that lesson from my father as a young lad on the farm. In the same way, you cannot look back at the work you did, or the success you had, and expect to map out future possibilities. There is no urgency in replicating the past, as some have tried to do and will continue to do. But there is urgency in how we approach the future.
My new favourite term is ‘re-vision’.
My challenge to all levels of systems is to ‘re-vision’ tomorrow. Bravely telling a new story means taking a hard look at how you have functioned, ask deeper questions about how you do what you do, and make decisive changes for the days ahead. Taking the initiative to learn, grow, and adapt from what we knew before, what we have been through, and who we are going into the next chapter of life. That means home, church, school, work…community.
I think re-visioning means walking through those same basic questions you have asked yourself from the beginning. It may mean removing barriers and changing your outlook completely. Start with these questions:
What is your Purpose? Setting vision and discerning ministry development.
What is your Joy? Celebrating blessings in your midst and how this impacts your team.
How do you Care? Creating a safe environment to risk and share together faithfully.
Did you miss my blog series ‘On Purpose’? That is OK. But if you want to take a look, and it helps you feel a sense of renewal as you strive forward, then I am glad for it. Here are the links to each session, just click on the title to go to the page; let me know what you think:
Lead Freely 