Envisioning Success in Post-pandemic Times
Written By Natasha Dalmia | February 1, 2022
On the eve of welcoming the year of the Tiger, I get a sense of déjà vu akin to what I had experienced as we welcomed the new year, 2022 (about a month ago). This sense is a sharp need to envision success for the new year, after redefining what is success, now. This ‘now’ is not only the stage of one’s life but the stage of one’s life in the pandemic world where wishing for the return to normal is akin to wish for super powers to turn back time.
In the wake of this sense, my conversations in January 2022 meandered to new depths and new expansiveness birthing new possibilities. Encapsulating the essence, I invite you to try it out, to be taken once a day, not only for 5 days but with 5 people in your circles, personal and professional, as you exchange new year greetings.
Capturing the essence as 2 questions, I invited responses in virtual meetings, in coaching sessions, in face-to-face conversations. This allowed for individuals, teams, and organisations to reflect afresh on the meaning of success for themselves. It allowed for people to acknowledge changes for themselves from a place of empowerment that was a powerful game changer.
- What is success, now? I am calling this the green capsule, deliberately moving away from the red and blue capsules. A natural pattern is to look back at the past year to assess how far one has progressed and to look ahead to create new milestones; new year resolutions, goals, OKRs (objectives and key results), intentions, hope. However, if one has not revisited the essence of what success looks like for oneself, especially in changing circumstances, the form of success may change till one cannot recognise it. The progress does not match up to one’s expectations. Reason: We are still measuring the new realities of the current pandemic with the old lenses and forms of success.
Example — new reality of the current pandemic: Travel is not what it was before. The form of travel is determined by the rules of the country you are currently living in, the rules applied to you depending if you are a local/foreigner in today’s global world, the rules of the country you wish to travel to, the rules of the airlines you are choosing or are forced to ‘choose’, and a myriad other rules. If you have not paused to ask yourself, what is success, now, the old lenses of travel shows up in conversations like ‘2021 was abysmal with little/no travel,’ or worse still, ‘travel is a nightmare’.
For those who reflected, new lenses showed up that matched with the new realities. I was flooded with posts of their travels, inspiring and heart-warming stories of people travelling to meet families after a 2 years hiatus. For others, letting go of the need to travel to connect but focusing on connecting within the means possible redefined success for them and their loved ones.
What is your story as you visit what is success for you, now? What are you letting go? What are you allowing?
2. What can success be, for you/the team? [Personalize it] I am calling this the white capsule, and a canvas. A forgotten pattern is to look within oneself at one’s inner resources, strengths, capacity to dance with change, capacity to learn, even as one looks outside of oneself at the COVID-19 news and the changing world. If you are reading this, you are probably around 2 decades or more. One could not have passed 2 decades of life without facing any personal challenges and changing circumstances. What did you learn about yourself? How might what you learnt about yourself support you in staying open to what success can be? Reason: We are still measuring the new depths of change and transformation the pandemic evokes with the old heights of accomplishments and success.
Individual breakthrough example- A client finally mustered courage this year to speak to her manager about expanding her role that reflected not only technical and functional expertise but also an area she had dreamt of pursuing in the industry, which was the very reason why she had even joined that industry. However, her expertise led her towards a different way of contribution which became comfortable but lost its meaning over time. She could go with her expertise to any other industry but at the expense of her own dreams. Alternately, what can success be? What else can she accomplish? She planned out her steps to be taken towards realising her dream in the current industry that she believed in, while building a strong team doing justice to her expertise and legacy.
Team breakthrough example- Another client was rewarded with additional responsibilities and additional teams this year. He had gained a reputation of leading a high performing team despite the pandemic. He visualised the conversation with the new team focusing on the new project and the responsibilities. This had worked with the old team. However, he had a doubt if this would work with the new team members whom he barely knew. We shifted the conversation from ‘what can success be, for the project?’ towards ‘what can success be, for you, and for us as a new team?’ He shared the surprise of the new team members who felt seen and heard. He shared his own surprise of how he began to see things differently and ultimately, worked together for the success of the project and the purpose.
Envisioning success is a process. It is a different conversation with yourself, your team, your organisation. My own path has been to travel to places in the mind and the heart, envisioning success, and enabling others to do the same. I hope you enjoy this path with ease, not only in the beginning of this new year but throughout the year, and every year.
Originally published on linkedin.com.
