“It is a cliché that most clichés are true, but then like most clichés, that cliché is untrue” – Stephen Fry.
We often turn to clichés when we don’t know what to say. We’ve all been there before: we’re asked a question we don’t know the answer to. Or we weren’t paying attention when the question was asked and we don’t want to admit it. As a result, we casually offer a waterfall series of meaningless clichés that could generically answer any kind of question. Our answers generally go something like this:
It is what it is.
Take it one step at a time.
After all, that’s all we ever can do, ya know?
If you’re smiling sheepishly because you know you’ve done this, it’s okay – it means you’re human.
Let’s face it, the tendency to speak like this can be annoying. It’s particularly irksome when a substantive explanation is needed. But as ill-conceived as a string of clichés may look in those moments, those same linguistic shortcuts seem equally appropriate for times like the one we now face. The COVID-19 pandemic has created a previously unfathomable situation for most of us. The new rhythm of life is so jarring that it’s entirely reasonable to fall back on vague or empty phrases. It’s even expected.
We simply don’t know what to say.
Because of this, organizational decision-making is especially difficult right now. The environment is so fraught that virtually any serious decision is bound to feel like an under reaction or an overreaction. Why? Because (a) so much is still unknown and (b) there’s a vast array of lived experiences unfolding all at once due to the pandemic. And yet, important decisions, with weighty consequences, must still be made.
We’re left then with a choice – a decision if you will – about how we’re going to make decisions. And no matter how bleak things may feel in any given moment, two realities are generally peering back at us over the horizon. First, things are generally never as good or as bad as they seem. Second, there’s always an opportunity to bear hope for the future regardless of the nature of the current circumstance.
And that is perhaps the strangest element of our current moment – the paradox of widespread suffering running simultaneous with daily displays of genuine grassroots kindness, compassion, and hope in response to that suffering. The bright light of that paradox – the consistent display of kindness and compassion – is what the noble profit sector is perfectly placed to organize and maximize. So our decisions do matter in these moments. If anything, they matter even more so.
Our responsibility is to remain positive, hopeful, and energetic in pursuit of the most effective ways to create impact. While it’s—wait for it—cliché to say there are always silver linings in crisis and opportunities to learn and grow, the cliché holds as true. Among the myriad consequences of COVID-19 is the fact that businesses in all sectors are forced to examine their operating models. This means agencies have to embrace new lenses for viewing their operations. Many organizations are being driven to scrutinize various sacred cows; some of which may have long exceeded their shelf life, crisis or not.
We’re all operating in a different space, and it’s likely whatever we look like a year from now will be markedly different than what we looked like two months ago. Given the inevitability of coming change, we’re best served if we craft the change to our liking and benefit as opposed to reacting to it posthumously.
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By Jarrod Sanderson, LCSW