The world as we knew it has completely changed in recent months. Unpredictability and uncertainty in every area of our life and work has caused unprecedented levels of stress and anxiety. We have had to react in ways we never thought we would need to and work in ways we never thought possible. Anxiety and fear have been elevated to levels we never thought possible to cope with. So how are we keeping going? How are we staying strong?
The power of community is unstoppable. Its spirit can’t be broken. It allows us to support each other, interact and share experiences and worries.
Community gives us a deep sense of belonging and builds valuable relationships. Our communities make us strong, superhero strong. We share our strengths and weaknesses to become resource rich and feel part of something much bigger. More importantly we feel connected. We feel this every week as we clap together to support our NHS heroes, we feel it in the local support groups starting to help the vulnerable. We get a smile and a hello from a passer-by on our walks and feel reassured that we are all in this together.
This undefeatable superpower has enabled us as a business to support our staff and customers in a way we never thought we could. Just a few weeks after the first outbreaks in the UK of this terrible virus, we worked as a team to ensure our staff were able to work safely from home. 100s of staff were set up for home working in just a few hours. Amazing!
The following day we successfully communicated to our entire school network, how we could support them through the monumental task of national school closures using Teachers2Parents and Groupcall Messenger.
We have since been in regular communication, offering resources to support schools and their parents with home schooling and other communication management software. We have sent millions of emails and text messages, alongside regular social media updates keeping our community connected.
As the UK’s lock down commenced, hundreds of video calls later, we felt proud that we were already there for our customers. We felt prepared. We felt in it together.
Every day we will face new challenges, worries and fears, we remain hopeful and positive that we can overcome every hurdle as a team.
We summarise our focus for the future with the words of a man who taught generations across the globe about friendship, hope, love, laughter, loss and most importantly teamwork.
“Whatever we accomplish, belongs to our whole group, a tribute to our combined effort” Walt Disney
Our community is stronger together. It’s our secret superpower.
