COVID is not the only C word with impact this year. Change and connectedness - two other C words that have long shadowed leaders in the modern workplace - have risen to the fore, consuming our thinking and influencing our planning.
Change pushes and pulls at us continually. Connectedness, on the other hand, can be the much-needed antidote to the stresses that come about from change. And it seems this rapid rate of change – into a remote way of working - has meant connectedness has become a vital requirement.
The COVID-19 pandemic forced the 48 face-to-face classroom-based vocational educators from our Navitas Professional Year Program into 72 virtual classrooms with just a week’s notice. Urgent decisions had to be made to meet the necessary online requirements. Total commitment from our team of educators, content developers, administration and compliance officers was all critical to the successful transition to online delivery. Responding to the challenge was all-consuming. Each contributor worked overtime to ensure systems and resources for educators and students would hold up to the demands of virtual delivery and the requirement for high quality learning outcomes.
Managing the change in delivery required quick mobilisation of a tight network of support, and by focusing on the new vision and staying connected, we can attest that remote working can, in fact equal the opposite of remoteness. And while much is still unknown, hopefully our improved ability to respond to change, combined with a new appreciation for connectedness won’t hinder us, but lead to more clarity – another C word we can all strive for.
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