Hybrid Is The New Normal, Not The New Goal

I have been a member of three public speaking clubs since early 2019. Three times per week, I drove to three different places to attend club meetings. Each meeting was scheduled for 1.5 hours or so, plus a social time afterward ranging from 30 minutes to one hour. Coming back home, I would have spent at least 3 hours for the meeting. The organization had run the meeting format since 1924. One of its features was the family-like gatherings within the clubs.

I enjoyed the family-like environment for barely one year. March 2020, California Governor Gavin Newsom issued the Stay-at-Home order. The rest is history.

Helped by the global HQs, we quickly transferred to virtual meetings. Despite the hustle and bustle of setting up Zoom meetings and endless technical problems, we almost didn’t miss one single meeting. After everything was settled, we pondered the unprecedented change, we all missed to death the good old times.

The interaction between the speaker and the audience, the snacks and drinks, the dress-up, the body language, the bounce on the podium, the energy that went through the roof.

But humans are the most adaptive creatures. Before we realized it, we were already celebrating the world of zoom meetings. We applauded the passing of commutes on the highway, the hustle of setup and buying snacks. We embraced the era of pajamas and bare feet, the privilege of jumping into the meeting at the last second, the freedom of peeking at the speaking notes unnoticed, having pets running left and right while speaking (they all shout through the screen, cute!).

We wondered how we went through life before.

As the vaccine rolled out in the US, it quickly turned from the most dangerous place to the safest in the world. Since middle May, a discussion has swept through our organization, and certainly across the nation,

Are we going back to the (good) old times?

All of a sudden, all the routines one year ago look remotely unplausible. Spending 3 hours for a 1.5 hours meeting? Being stuck in the traffic? Shopping for food and supplies? Even worse, when the meeting theme happens to be cooking, are we supposed to make it, like a “Devil’s Food Cake”, and bring it to the meeting? Let alone, hand-shaking and hugs.

With great irony, a voice is speaking so loud, like the one last year. Last year, “I hate the virtual meeting.” Now, “I hate going back.”

Some are planning to quit the club when the meeting turns in person.

Again, the HQs reach out to help. But this time it’s not a guideline of in-person meetings, it’s a “Hybrid Structure.” They didn’t provide much information about the in-person because, clearly, the post-pandemic life is unchartered water for everyone. Actually, there is a sound that resonates around the world:

We are never, ever, going back.

The vaccine is still largely behind to get the global population, many countries are still under coronavirus attack, vaccine-dodging in the US is increasingly worrisome, variants are still wild, no one can predict what the future looks like. A hybrid seems to be the most reasonable path we can get on for the time being.

Beyond our organization, many cooperations and employees have also determined that “hybrid is the new normal.”

Meanwhile, we realize that even though hybrid becomes the new normal, our goals should remain the same be it pre or post-pandemic. Because meetings can be hybrid, goals can not. Our goals define something fundamental in our life. A crisis even as big as the Covid can’t avert them, and shouldn’t. Not to mention, when well planned and executed, a hybrid solution will make the inevitable transition more smooth, more effective, before we hit the goals.

So what shouldn’t be affected by hybrid? We’ve worked out some points which I think should also be shared beyond the clubs.

“If the plan doesn’t work, change the plan, not the goal.” — Warren Buffett

1, Don’t get hybrid with your goals. As the saying goes, “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.” Now the threat is fading, as well as the fear, if the progress has been stalling, give the goal a push. Want to have any change? Turn it up a notch.

So many have faced the death threat during the Covid crisis. They say they would slow down now, listen to the heart, enjoy the present. But studies show that a strong immune system largely helps to defend the Covid. Set the health plan, go to the gym, start running, get mental health checked.

2, Don’t get hybrid with your neighbors. We have made a couple of neighborhood gatherings since May (all under CDC’s Covid protocol). We had no house visits, nor did we visit others, for almost a year and a half. Having neighbors in the house feels weird now, but refreshing and terrific. No hybrid can bring half of the joy.

3, Don’t get hybrid with nature. Two weeks after our second shot, my son and I had our first hiking in more than one year. We found the parking lot at the mountain foot was fuller than before, but the trails were less crowded. Six-feet! What an incredible gift the Covid has brought us.

Now we go to the park every day, walk around, play basketball, listen to the birds. After more than one year of lockdown, we need the outside world more than ever. Get away from the computer, away from “The Amazing Nature” channel on Youtube, they can’t give you the feeling the barren terrace at the park gives you. Then you realize, the atrocious Covid almost made no dent on nature, it only did it to your heart. Stay with nature, your heart will be healed.

4, Don’t get hybrid with the vaccine. Let’s not forget how we got through this crisis, not only with grace and fortitude, more importantly, because of science. Your hesitation of getting the shots only keeps the threat and fear lingering wherever you go.

“The struggle ends when the gratitude begins” — Neale Donald Walsh

5, Don’t get hybrid with gratitude. Once again human beings have beaten a monster, but not without tremendous loss and death. We survive this crisis while many have died. We survive not because we are stronger, smarter, but because so many people have helped us, the medical workers, the essential workers, the scientists, every single one that has followed CDC’s Covid orders. Ultimately, we are just the lucky ones.

If this can’t open the floodgate of our gratitude, what can then?

6, Don’t get hybrid with self-growth & productivity. We are the owners of the nonprofit organization, so self-growth is the key. For the cooperates where capitalism takes command, productivity is the key. However, several studies over the past few months show productivity while working remotely from home is better than working in an office setting.

I am glad that our clubs are adapting to the transformation quickly. It’s time to build new culture and communication. Some big cooperates blame that hybrid work is diminishing collaboration and company culture. No surprise, they are facing clashes from their workers.

But what’s company culture? Isn’t it ever-evolving? There is always something that has been stuck there for years, now the pandemic has provided an unparalleled impetus to change it, make it more pragmatic, more human, and ultimately, more productive.

“Keep your eyes on the stars, and your feet on the ground.” — Theodore Roosevelt

Conclusion

Let’s face the era of hybrid. Let’s believe it will bring us to our goals, it’s just a new pathway. It’s a transitory state. Once everything settles down, life enters a new humdrum, until the next hybrid shows up. Let’s not forget that something in life is never transitory, never hybrid.