Renew, not resume

The end of this year’s Catholic liturgical calendar seems to coincide with a holiday season where everything is going back to normal. It has been more than two years of the pandemic, and at least, the light at the end of the tunnel has never been so brighter. As we in the field would say, “back to business as usual.”

However, wouldn’t it be such a wasted opportunity to just go back to our old practices before the pandemic? I offer three questions for reflection as we hopefully truly move towards the post-pandemic era.

First, what old practices and work norms can we dispense with? The pandemic has been an opportunity for numerous workplaces to radically experiment with work setups. In the course of these experiments, we stumbled upon work arrangements that can replace the old ones. It is possible (or even preferable) for some industries and sectors to not require employees to come to work every day. There are time, personal energy, and monetary cost savings. Managers must be courageous in inquiring whether we can do away with old work habits that are not anymore viable in a more hybrid-oriented setup.

Second, what old practices and work norms can we revive? The pandemic has shown us that communal activities and cultivating a culture of belongingness cannot be effectively done only through digital setups. Teambuildings, informal gatherings, or simple get-togethers are some of the things we may have neglected and missed dearly during the pandemic. Facilitating human connections and interactions are important to invest in.

Third, what new ways of working should we consider given a more hybrid or omnichannel work setup? As we undergo yet another transition, it is important to open ourselves to change and embrace a mindset that allows for continuous piloting of improvements and work setups.

Hopefully, by pondering on these three questions for reflection, we collaboratively find answers that can make our workplaces more humane. The challenge for managers and organizations is to not merely resume but renew our way of doing business. Dare I say, the challenge is to renew our way of life.

Luke 23:35-43. Christ the King

[DAILY GOSPEL INSIGHTS AND REFLECTION FOR MANAGEMENT AND ORGANIZATION 324: NOVEMBER 20, 2022]

Mission drift

Steering away from our intended mission is called “mission drift”. And since we live in a world that can be characterized as an open system, many forces emanating from structures that surround us can distract us from pursuing our goals. Just as waves and weather can stop ships, so to can other forces stop our trips.

This is why being self-aware or at least committing to examine our selves is very critical. Just like a shipwright needs to fix the ship or know when to recommend that the ship pause its travels, so to shall we need to fix our weaknesses and understand our identity and align ourselves towards the mission we aim to fulfill.

If we find ourselves drifting from mission fulfillment often, we should reflect: are we really committed? Is it time to pivot? Or do we need to rebuild ourselves so we can better do what we are meant to do?

—
Luke 19:45-48. “My house shall be a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves.”

[DAILY GOSPEL INSIGHTS AND REFLECTION FOR MANAGEMENT AND ORGANIZATION 322: NOVEMBER 18, 2022]

Maximizing our potential is an obligation, not an option

These past few days, we’ve been interviewing applicants of the Applied Corporate Management program. And maybe the overarching question is: have the aspirants done their best in maximizing their potential and opportunities given subpar and suboptimal conditions?

It’s not easy to summon drive, passion, and discipline in an online setup.

It feels risky to go outside our comfort zone when the world out there seems to be so unsafe.

But if we are to authentically pursue integral human development, we owe it to ourselves to be self-aware, to know our weaknesses, and do our best to flourish and bloom where we are planted.

—
Luke 19:11-28. The parable of the coins

[DAILY GOSPEL INSIGHTS AND REFLECTION FOR MANAGEMENT AND ORGANIZATION 320: NOVEMBER 16, 2022]

Insight requires not only intellect, but faith too

The moment before the insight experience arrives is mired with anxiety, uncertainty, and the feeling of being lost. These moments require faith.

It is easy to dismiss the relevance of faith because hindsight may make it seem that every success story is predictable and linear, when it fact, beneath the sanitized version of success stories lie the messiness and the struggle. At that challenging moment, it is very easy to compare the direness of the situation with a Sisyphean situation – absurd, meaningless, futile.

Sometimes, what we need to gain some sort of insight is for our faith to save us.

—
Luke 18:35-43. “Have sight; your faith has saved you.”

[DAILY GOSPEL INSIGHTS AND REFLECTION FOR MANAGEMENT AND ORGANIZATION 318: NOVEMBER 14, 2022]

Jogging around the court a hundred times and then planting rice

I remember that during my high school basketball days, our after-school training started with stretching, then jogging around the basketball court one hundred times, then doing footwork drills that ended with the dreaded “planting rice”.

I recall the early weeks when I was still getting used to the endurance drills. I won’t sugarcoat it – there were many times when I could feel my vomit creeping up my throat. My vision felt blurry. In those moments, it felt like inhaling all the oxygen in the world cannot satisfy my deflated lungs.

It felt like I was punishing myself. Imagine a 7am to 4pm class schedule followed by trainings that lasted until 8pm. If my more athletic teammates struggled, what more for me? I was never the most athletic in my team; so what I lacked in athleticism, I had to make up in terms of willpower and mental fortitude.

But those challenges were really instrumental in instilling discipline in me. There is something about pushing one’s self to the limit in any kind of endeavor. It is transformative because we get to know our selves without any pretentions. We get to see our ugliest versions, eyes almost white with fatigue, sweat and tears indistinguishable, muscles feeling the burn, and the mind not able to entertain any distraction because the present is all that mattered.

It is good that we are more aware of mental health and holistic well-being. Maybe the next step for us is to be more courageous in pushing our mental health to the limits akin to how student-athletes grit through training.

We keep jogging a hundred times then planting rice, again and again, persisting, because holistic growth is never convenient but always fulfilling.

Luke 18:1-8. ‘While it is true that I neither fear God nor respect any human being, because this widow keeps bothering me I shall deliver a just decision for her lest she finally come and strike me.’

[DAILY GOSPEL INSIGHTS AND REFLECTION FOR MANAGEMENT AND ORGANIZATION 316: NOVEMBER 12, 2022]