HOW WE'RE APPROACHING OUR WORK DURING COVID-19

In recent months, I’ve written about how I’m thinking about this time, about questions that we can ask as leaders as our states and counties begin to reopen, about weathering the storm, about being selective about what we add back in, and about not going back to normal. 

Today, I’d like to share a bit about how we are thinking about our business strategy and operations during these current times, and what this means for our work.

Overall, one of our values at Zing Collaborative is integrity. This means that in anything we do, we consider: what is the path of highest integrity? What does it look like to act in full integrity in any given moment? What are our values, and how can we live out these values through our words and our actions? 

We are taking the same approach during this time. As we consider how to navigate the months ahead at Zing Collaborative, we have been asking three key questions:

• What is the data telling us? This includes: science, research, and thought leadership from experts in medicine, science, infectious disease, virology, and biology. 

• What is in the highest good of all involved? This includes the highest good for our clients, for our community, for our society, for our country, for our world, and for our team. 

• What work needs to be done in person, and why? This includes asking: what is the desired impact, and what are the different ways that we can achieve this impact?

Based on these three key questions, here’s how we’re currently thinking about things.

The Data

Based on the data, we know that the virus has not gone away, and we can predict that it may not go away for a very long time. Many experts are thinking about COVID-19 as an endemic - stubborn diseases that resist efforts to eradicate them. HIV, Measles, and Chickenpox are all considered endemics. 

The data is currently showing a spike in cases as social distancing measures are relaxed, and as people once again begin to gather. Here in Wisconsin, where Zing Collaborative is based, we have seen a record number of cases in recent days as the state’s safer-at-home orders were overruled, as people began to gather in mass at bars, and as overall COVID-19 related orders have been relaxed. 

The data also tells us that we need to be exposed to an infectious dose of the virus in order to get sick. This could come from a cough, a sneeze, and possibly through breathing and talking. This site, created by Erin Bromage to share information during this time, has excellent information about the number of droplets in a breath, a sneeze, and a bathroom, along with what we know so far about how COVID-19 spreads. Current estimates state that at least 44% of all infections - and the majority of community-acquired transmissions - occur from people without any symptoms (asymptomatic or pre-symptomatic people) and that we can be shedding the virus into the environment for up to 5 days before symptoms begin.

Disclaimer: we are not medical professionals, virologists, or epidemiologists. Instead, we are looking to the research and thought leadership of experts in these fields. 

The Highest Good of All Involved 

Since its inception in 2013, Zing Collaborative has operated on the principle of Triple Bottom Line: People, Profit, and Planet. 

This remains at the heart of how we do business, how we think about things, and how we make decisions. 

In this current time, this means considering the health, safety, and well-being of our clients, our community, our society, our country, our world, and our team, in addition to the health and wellbeing of our business in anything that we do and in any decision that we make. 

We honor each of these things equally which means, for example, that we never put the health and wellbeing of our business above the health and wellbeing above the members of our community or the people who we are privileged to serve. 

What Needs to Be Done in Person, and Why 

Finally, we are considering this key question. What work do we need to do in person, and why? 

And, more broadly speaking, for anything that we do - what is the impact that we desire, and what are the various ways that we can create this impact? 

Much, if not all, of the work that we do can be done virtually.

In some cases - for example, for a coaching client where we have always coached virtually via phone or zoom- there is no change. In others, there’s a small shift - meeting via phone or zoom, rather than meeting in person at my office. And in other cases - for example a multi-day leadership experience typically held in person - a restructuring, redesign, and rebuilding on the back end has allowed us to serve our community through a virtual, versus a live, experience. 

What this Means For Zing Collaborative 

Based on the above, we are continuing to work virtually for the time being. 

We have been hard at work behind the scenes, adapting and transforming many of our offerings to be highly impactful in a virtual format. We are grateful to be receiving great feedback so far on these new virtual offerings, and are tremendously grateful to be able to continue to partner with our clients to design creative solutions during these times. This has always been part of our long-term strategic roadmap at Zing Collaborative, and our current reality has provided us with an opportunity to focus on this part of our business strategy in a new way. 

We recognize that being able to continue to work in this way is both an individual/company-level choice, and also a privilege. We also recognize and honor the fact that this is not an option for many types of professions, businesses, and industries. Meanwhile, we express gratitude to those who have continued to work in person serving our communities throughout this time - those working in healthcare, at grocery stores, on construction crews, and providing essential services to our communities. 

Where to go from here 

If you are interested in talking about virtual solutions for your team, your organization, or your event, we’d love to talk with you.

If you desire a more traditional format with an in-person keynote speaker for your conference or event in the next couple of months, we will happily refer you to one of our brilliant colleagues. 

If you have questions about our approach, or about how to navigate some of these questions for your own business or organization, please don’t hesitate to reach out. 

Thank you for reading - and we look forward to continuing to serve our community via the path of utmost integrity and highest good for all in the weeks and months ahead. 

With Gratitude,

Sarah