The opportunity of change

By its very nature, things are different after a period of change than they were before, and this means we need to think about what we need to change or alter in ourselves to operate, and indeed thrive, within the new environment.

The past two years have given most of us more change than we’ve ever had. Of course, there was the shared experience of Covid and lockdown, but life carried on as well, bringing with it a range of different and unique life changes for each of us as individuals.

For us as a business as well it’s been an intense period, it is time for us to start thinking about how we make the most of the opportunities change has given us.

We have fantastic businesses which have weathered a storm like no other we’ve seen and fared better than many. But things are different, our structure is different, our ways of working are different, the opportunities available to us are different. How we adapt to the changes will be key to how we grow as individuals and as a company. I was reflecting on my own role, joining a business during lockdown, building a new team, meeting new people. In an ideal world I’d never have done any of that remotely, I like being around people.

Joining BGL has been a huge inspiration, I’ve seen people cope amazingly with the change and create opportunities from it: new business ideas, new partners, new deals, development and promotions, new joiners, CSR activities, celebrating success – none of this has stopped. We’ve proved how good we can be at seizing the opportunity change brings, however uncomfortable it may feel at first.

I was inspired by the stories I’ve read about former colleagues who accessed our ‘Leaving Well fund’ to pursue a long-held personal dream, long distance lorry driver, Baptist minister and coffee shop owner are just a few of the new paths people have followed. All of those paths mixed excitement, drive and more than a few nerves.

I’m not usually one for quoting Greek philosophers, but this from Socrates hits the nail on the head for me:

“The secret of change is to focus all of your energy not on fighting the old, but on building the new”.