In Practice A Holistic Response to a Crisis

like COVID-19

BY ANN ADAMS

On a “normal” day people make hundreds of decisions. Because they are “routine” decisions, we don’t really think about them. They are part of our daily “policies and procedures.” It may be that we stop for a cup of coffee at a certain coffee shop or we stop at the gym in the evening.

In the spring of 2020, that “normal” changed for everyone in the developed world in one degree or another. Suddenly, so much of what we took for granted has become disrupted and a potentially dangerous activity. Of course, this is not the first time that the world has had to deal with an epidemic, and we have a lot of resources and knowledge to aid us. And, because it has been awhile since we are on this global emergency level footing, our decision-making must be at a more conscious level for us to survive and potentially find the opportunities for positive outcomes. It is a time that calls for great faith, vigilance, and adaptation.

In March 2020 I was on a “known” path. Today, I find myself questioning almost every action when I go “outside.” I am blessed to live on land where I can graze my goats so my daily routine of taking them out to pasture in uninterrupted. Likewise, because I was already working from home, my daily work routine has not been severely interrupted, although the number of zoom calls has increased exponentially.

But, my “outside” is going into town for groceries or going to the post office. Our family has had to develop new policies and procedures based on what we believe to be safe, not necessarily what we are hearing from the news (since those procedures continue to evolve). The toughest part is staying away from extended family, like the grandkids. There’s a temptation to address those short-term needs in ways that may have long-term consequences.

That’s why having some formal decisionmaking process that forces you to consider the big picture and the long-term outcomes is so critical in an emergency. I have found myself taking the time to question each facet of my life based on responding to new realities. Whom do we allow into our homes? Whom do we visit? What precautions should we take when we go

On the business level, we have to consider

customer changes, labor shortages, and delays in vendor and customer distribution. HMI held a webinar on “Effective Decision-Making during Challenging Times.” During the webinar we dove into the Holistic Management® DecisionMaking questions and how they helped people determine if they were going to invest in multi- species pasture cropping or shift their grazing operation to a stocker operation or any number of other options. While this holistic decisionmaking tool has been helpful in less-stressful times, so many people are saying how helpful it is to have this tool in a time of emergency. For that reason, I want to articulate what this decision-making process does to help you to respond to an emergency or crisis and adapt to new realities.