The wrong way to create urgency is to wait for some exterior force or event to create it for you. For despite everything that’s taken place in the last year, nothing has been enough to create the urgency needed to bring us back to pre-covid productivity.
“Help Wanted”
On the employment front, it seems that everywhere you look, businesses are seeking staff. “Help wanted” and “We’re hiring!” signs and advertisements are everywhere. At the same time, we hear that people actually need jobs. Why aren’t they applying?
Obviously, urgency has not compelled them to walk in and fill out an application. Some can live off of unemployment or stimulus, so there’s no real need to get a job. Others are unwilling to take a job at which they have to report to a location—they’re only willing to work from home, and obviously not every company is offering work-from-home positions. These people are waiting for a different environment or scenario before they return to life somewhere close to what it used to be.
Other Causes of Waiting
There are other things causing people to wait. For example, governments, both state and federal, are deliberating and passing new economic measures. We’re also constantly seeing mandates limiting and or requiring conditions to able to enter certain venues and areas. What new mandate or government measure—or, perhaps, ones being lifted—might change conditions and cause enough urgency to get people into action?
Changing the Mindset
No matter what the cause, waiting results in nothing but inaction. One equals the other—if you’re waiting, you’re not moving. The only solution is to find ways to change that “waiting” mindset, to get people to come off the sidelines and get into the game.
People need a reason, a purpose, for doing anything. For example, you can pose this question to anyone you’re trying to (re)inspire back into action: if we keep doing what we’re doing, going the way we’re going, what’s going to happen? If we continue down this trajectory, will things get better or worse?
Attempting to “go back” to some state or condition that existed before the pandemic doesn’t really make sense, either. We all know that traveling backward in time cannot be done—at least until someone like Doc Brown comes along and invents a time machine. Looking forward is the only way.
Do It Now
Anytime is a great time to make changes for the better, to cause that urgency. It’s the beginning of something better and most companies are looking forward to doing it and how they’re going to operate in it. The question to ask at this time is, do we really want to spend another 12 months in the same way we have the last two years?
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