COVID-19: In The Beginning

Friends, clients, partners, and fellow community leaders,

For most of us, our lives and businesses have all changed significantly over the past week. Throughout my life, my Dad has often provided great advice and one of his pearls of wisdom really resonates right now… “just do your best, no one expects anything more of you.” Our best is the most any of us can give, and Incite is committed to doing just that. Working together, we are confident we will navigate the challenges and uncertainties we are facing.

As a result of our own internal efforts to adapt to COVID-19, ongoing feedback from our clients across multiple industries, and access to a rich network of resources, we wanted to share our key learnings from the first week of operating in this new reality in the event they will prove useful to you.

1. 1. 1. Start and end your day with virtual team huddles. Using Zoom, Teams, or other video conferencing tools helps keep your people connected, engaged, and focused. It also feels good.
      2. This will be more of a marathon than a sprint. Don’t burn yourself out. There is tendency in stressful times to want to get everything done at once, and you’ll start to scramble inefficiently. Focus on what is critical and stay calm. We encourage you to view this as a long process and not a two-week crisis. Contingency plans need to be looking out several months. Again, don’t burn out. You need to work smarter, not harder.
      3. Stay connected, communicate, and offer/ask for help. Now is not the time to retrench into your business. Reach out to your clients and stakeholders. Talk to your teams. Plan to overcommunicate. Find ways to add value and offer to help. Most importantly, don’t be afraid to ask for help. Consider creating a small group of business or community peers to do a video call with twice a week – we can help you do this if interested. Sharing ideas, struggles, and best practices can lead to new ways of doing business… and simply talking about what is going on in your world helps to relieve stress.
      4. Now is your time to shine. The world is always in need of leaders, and now more than ever. The way you show up over the coming weeks for your family, your friends, your teams, your clients, and your community will make a big difference. View this as a moment in time where people will look back and appreciate the way you led with grace, with confidence, and with determination, even when you openly acknowledged that you didn’t have all the answers, didn’t always make the right decisions, or couldn’t necessarily achieve everything you planned on.
      5. Pause and take care of yourself. The airplane analogy of putting your own oxygen mask on first applies in situations like this. Make 30 minutes each day to go for a walk or get outside. Use the coming weekend to recharge and prepare for next week. This past week, each day has felt like a month. Remember to breathe and remind yourself to #justdoyourbest.

We remain open for business, and are fully functioning in a remote work environment. Our team has all of the systems, tools, and resources we need to support each other, our clients, and our community partners and we will continue to be here to provide the support and advice you have come to count on from Incite.

We continue to closely monitor all developments related to COVID-19 and the health and safety of our staff, our clients, and our community remains our top priority. We are making every effort to self-isolate and are diligently following all direction from Alberta Health Services (https://www.alberta.ca/coronavirus-info-for-albertans.aspx). We encourage all individuals and businesses to comply with their recommendations. If in doubt, err on the side of caution.

We know this is a stressful and challenging time. Please know that we are here to help. We are happy to connect by phone, email, or video call to brainstorm or discuss ways your organization can most effectively deal with what is going on, whether you are an existing client or not. Please reach out and we will do what we can to help.

We will continue to provide updates as we work through the realities of COVID-19. If you have any specific questions or concerns about how COVID-19 may impact our work with you, please contact us at any time.

On behalf of the entire Incite team, stay positive, focused, and just do your best. Stay safe as we work through this unique period together.

Best regards,

Ted Kouri,
President