I saw Bonnie Raitt in concert the other night at a wonderful musical venue in the Berkshire Mountains of western Massachusetts. You can sit in an open-air pavilion or out on the expansive lawn: with regular seating for 5000 indoors and another 1500 on the lawn, it’s usually very comfortable. But in this first season after Covid, ticket sales doubled.
· The long lines to park and again to get in stressed their ability to create memorable service and experiences.
· It looked like they have been struggling to find enough workers; those they had were inexperienced and untrained.
· Their ticketing system was unable to handle the crowd, and this added confusion and stress to the overcrowded situation.
· Like many, they apparently failed to foresee and plan for the pent-up demand unleashed by the pandemic’s end.
I’m not pointing fingers – nobody could have foreseen a pandemic, its effects on businesses big and small, and the staffing challenges that are now prevalent everywhere. We should stop and digest the lessons learned from these past two years. Like: (1) be prepared for anything – and when you’re not, take ‘time-outs’ to allow management to take a step back to think and consider alternatives; (2): don’t be too proud to ask for help – look for leading thinkers and ask their advice; (3) remain flexible – that will allow you to react and respond appropriately and effectively; and (4): don’t be so overanxious to recover fully that you hurt your chances to recover at all. Nobody foresaw this pandemic, but the proof of anyone’s capabilities is in how they plan and act. Begin to plan for future challenges today.
Bayard Rustin (1912 – 1987): African American leader in social movements for civil rights, socialism, nonviolence, and gay rights.
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