April 20, 2020

Jackie Ross
Apr 21, 2020
3 min read

Hi Gang,

Do you find that the magnitude of this crisis hits in waves? I’ve been holed up in the redwoods for over a month, which is a fortunate retreat. But I feel so disconnected from my usual rhythm and community in the city. The best word I can come up with is ‘disoriented’… I don’t have the systems and people and visuals I relied on in the past to keep me grounded.

But, I found some encouragement in nature this weekend. Here’s what I saw:

Something, long ago, pushed these trees down. But they kept growing – sideways – reaching out over the river, finding their way to the sun. We’re all growing sideways right now. But, humans are remarkably resilient and adaptable. We are built to adjust and grow. So… I like our odds.

This concludes the Jack Handy portion of Vital Signs.

News & Resources

RRA Webcast: HR Leadership Through - and Beyond - the COVID-19 Crisis – We are hosting a discussion with leading heads of HR (Unilever, HP, Twitter, Hilton, Vir) about the tactics they are deploying to manage through the current crisis, and to prepare for a post-COVID future. The discussion will be facilitated by our CEO, Clarke Murphy. Register here.
‘The silver lining:’ Biotech IPOs in the time of coronavirus
UC Berkeley’s coronavirus dilemma: What will fall semester look like? – Iots of questions facing families with high-school seniors right now
Logged On From the Laundry Room: How the C.E.O.s of Google, Pfizer and Slack Work From Home – I love that the Webex team was forced to use Webex (serves them right)

Questions & Guidance from the Community

Question for you: We at RRA would like to ‘sponsor’ first-responder units and send meals and notes of encouragement. Is that possible? There’s tremendous variability from ER to ER (within shouting distance, even) – some are nearly empty, while others are overrun. I’d welcome any advice you have on how to identify those hardest hit in various markets so that we can focus resources where they are needed most.

We covered these topics in prior issues; here’s a report back. I’d still value your inputs on these topics:

Virtual Celebrations – How are you celebrating team victories, aside from Zoom happy hours? Ideas from the community:
- Gift baskets (compile and include a personal note)
- Charity involvement (feature employee contributions, company matches to donations, team up to support a group in need)
- Tools: Kudoboard, Bonusly, Slack (topics like dogs, food, reading), Tandem
Team Games via Zoom – We tried this as a healthcare team. Bottom line is we need more practice. Some screens froze and others didn’t sync up. I’d give it a ‘meh’, but I suspect that’s mostly operator error
Zoom: add a farm animal to your corporate video call for under $100 – The farm has been barraged with requests for Goat-to-Meeting! Some of you arranged tours for your teams. I’m still waiting on the llama Zoom-bomb screen shot…