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Before putting 2020 behind you…

There are a lot of people anxious to put 2020 behind them and start fresh in 2021. There’s nothing wrong with that, but before you leave 2020 in the dust, take the time to find and assimilate the lessons from 2020, so you can use them next year.

One of my favorite quotes is:

Many people can relate to dark times this year. Some people passed in and out of them, while others still grapple with devastating loss. Can you relate? I know I can.

The first dark place for me this year was in March when I watched our booked business begin to disappear from the calendar. We specialize in leadership development, and everything we did before 2020 was conducted in person. We initially thought in terms of “postponing” dates but soon realized that COVID was here to stay.

The simple solution was to transition into online and virtual courses. We learned quickly not to confuse simple with easy. Our focus has always been on the results we get, not the delivery of content, so our challenge wasn’t adapting to a new format. Our challenge was finding a way to guarantee the results in this new format.

As dark as it was, we soon realized that we hadn’t been buried; we’d been planted, and we began to grow. After a significant investment in technology and countless hours uncovering the secret to getting meaningful, measurable results virtually, we launched our first course in August.

We knew we were onto something when 100% of people in the first and second virtual course said they loved it and that they were happy they experienced it virtually rather than in person.

We are ready to bounce back stronger than ever in 2021, but it would be a mistake to leave 2020 behind without grabbing all of the lessons we can and making them work for us in 2021.

As I reflect on the lessons 2020 taught me, there is a long list, but I’ll focus on one game-changer:

At KPG, we learned that our belief that we couldn’t deliver results virtually was not only erroneous; it was holding us back as a company. This lesson brought renewed confidence that we can continue to guarantee meaningful results for our clients both in person and virtually and will change our business model forever. It will also serve as a reminder to challenge what we think we know.

What about you?

What did 2020 teach you that you will apply we start fresh in 2021? What did you learn about yourself, your team, your customers, your processes, resilience, etc.?

Now is the perfect time to reflect on the good and the bad of 2020 use it to make the most of 2021.