This is the time to make a move
This year hasn't started out exactly the way we planned.
The omicron variant has refueled the pandemic, many of our co-workers, family and friends are fighting the virus, our return-to-the-office plans have been postponed and organizations are struggling to staff their operations due to illness, quarantines, school closures and severe weather.
The good news is that 21 months into the COVID-19 pandemic, we're accustomed to handling the unexpected and have acquired the necessary skills to adapt and persevere through the myriad, complex challenges being thrown our way. Although everyone has their own ways of navigating life, I have found that making a move, whether physical or mental, is essential to survival and ultimately, success.
When reflecting on the ways that a move can make a difference, my mind wandered through a host of memories. A particularly vivid one is of me as a 1970s schoolgirl in my small hometown. Our stern gym teacher is supervising a dreaded game of dodgeball, which appeared on a recurring schedule in our junior high.
The game is a Master Class in the power of movement. If you weren't particularly adept at pelting a red rubber ball fast and hard enough to hit an opponent and cause them to be eliminated from the game, you could at least avoid pain and humiliation by moving quickly enough to evade the incoming balls. The moves didn't need to be large or dramatic but did need to be well-timed and quickly executed.
Fast forward to today, when rubber balls have been flying at us from every direction for almost two years. Although we might be perfectly comfortable curled up on our couches binge-watching another Netflix series, we are unlikely to be making progress toward our personal or professional goals if we stay there too long.
It's easy to feel stuck when surrounded with so much bad news and continued uncertainty. The best way to change your current circumstances is to make a move.
Read an article, call a friend, take a walk, start a journal, dig into a work project or make a plan. Your move options are exponential. Admittedly, the first step is often hard, but once you start moving the benefits start accruing immediately.
As the president and CEO of HR Source, an Illinois employers' association, my team and I have the privilege of supporting more than a thousand organizations in their human resource challenges and struggles.
While I have always held a deep respect for the business accomplishments of our members, I am truly in awe of how tenacious and resilient their leaders and teams have been during the pandemic. If the virus itself didn't create enough stress, the plethora of new government regulations, supply chain disruptions and The Great Resignation certainly did.
The combination of these and an array of other complicating factors depending on your industry, geographic location, company size, family status, etc., have created an environment where the deer-in-the-headlights look is both commonplace and understandable.
No matter what your individual or business expectations were coming into 2022, you'd best be prepared to make a move. Maybe your move(s) will be carefully planned and implemented, and smoothly advance you to your goal. Or maybe your move(s) will be more dodgeball-esque, quickly timed and executed with little advanced planning. Either way, making a move is instrumental to your progress and success. Go for it.
• Mary Lynn Fayoumi is president & CEO of HR Source.