The end of the year is always a time for reflection.
It has been said in many different forms, but the emergence of COVID-19 really did turn our world upside down…
It would be easy to write about the impact of COVID from a removed perspective, but COVID-19 didn’t just affect business. It affected, and continues to affect, each and every one of us. Some lost loved ones, some lost their jobs or a significant portion of their income, some had to balance looking after their children full-time and working simultaneously, some were isolated for months on end, the list goes on…
It’s been a year of grieving, a year of adaptation and a year of testing limits, personally and professionally.
Looking back, perhaps one major change is the recognition of how challenging a work/life balance is.
COVID reminded us that we can’t separate work from our personal lives or build walls around who we are. The things that affect us in our personal lives inherently come to the workplace.
A large portion of the population was forced to work from home, look after their children, in some cases home school their children, while managing grief and other stresses. This has pushed us to connect with one another on a more personal level. We are now asking each other more sincere questions about how we are coping. We are also getting glimpses of each other’s lives as we take virtual meetings from our living rooms and have guest appearances from our children and spouses.
The recognition that we are all human is a lesson we will take with us for years to come. At the end of the day, companies are nothing but the people who pull together to make an abstract concept become a reality.
We certainly didn’t expect to launch a company in the middle of a global pandemic and entirely virtually (our team hasn’t been physically in the same room since March!). It has only been possible because of our incredible team, who are taking a bold idea of turning every building on this planet green and working to make it a reality.
And as the humans with personal lives and families that we are, it’s time to switch off our computers and enjoy some festive food and quality time with our loved ones. The Sintali office will be closed from the 24th December until the 1st January, as we all take a much-needed break from an arduous year.
To all those celebrating this holiday season, we wish you a very merry one.
To our colleagues around the world, we wish you a good and healthy end of 2020, and we look forward to reconnecting in the New Year to help make a vision of a sustainable future a reality.
