But then March came. The pandemic was well underway and panic began to rise up in people at an alarming rate. The cases of infections were skyrocketing, hospitals were struggling to keep up with patients, and ventilators were one of the greatest needs of the hour. I remember at one point, New York City was making contingency plans to build temporary graves at Central Park if the morgues couldn’t keep up with capacity. Insane.

Then, as people began locking down and creating stay-at-home orders, the economy took a nosedive. The stock market crashed hard, reaching a real low around March 20 with stocks down 30-50%. The pandemic crippled entire industries such as airlines, vacations and cruises, theme parks, movie theaters, entertainment and restaurants. 

With government officials scrambling to put together a stimulus, millions of people were jobless and waiting for some kind of support to keep food on the table. Small businesses, many of whom operate payroll-to-payroll, suffered greatly as their sales declined. Anjali Sundaram of CNBC reported back in September that Yelp data shows 60% of business closures due to the coronavirus pandemic are now permanent. That’s roughly around 100,000 businesses – a staggering number.

I could keep citing more bad news, but I think every American, political affiliation aside, would agree that 2020 has been a rough year.  As a result of the physical impact of COVID-19, bad news, and financial hardship, the CDC reported skyrocketing mental issues such as anxiety and depression, increasing rates of substance and drug abuse, trauma, and suicide increases. This doesn’t even include the continuing election saga — but I digress.

Needless to say, 2020 has been taxing on the American people and the world. 

With Thanksgiving upon us, it’s time to reflect. With all the bad news of 2020, what could we possibly have to be grateful for?

Let’s start with the definition of gratitude. Merriam-Webster defines grateful as: feeling or showing thanks, feeling or showing thanks to someone for some helpful act with synonyms such as appreciative, appreciatory, glad, obliged, and thankful.

Glad… in 2020? For what?

Hopefully I can inspire you with a different perspective and help you frame a different narrative than what we are being fed by the media. If you’re a person of faith, Proverbs 18:21 states: “The tongue has the power of life and death.” I believe that speaking and declaring true statements of gratitude has the power to change our mindsets. Gratefulness is the vaccine against discouragement.

What is there to be grateful for in 2020? Well let’s dive in to a short list:

• I’m grateful to be alive! Without health, we have nothing. Who cares how big your business is and how much money you have if your health isn’t in order! If you’re on this side of the dirt, get grateful about it!
• I’m grateful that I beat the disease! If you did contract COVID-19, then be grateful you are here and reading this blog. You beat it!
• I’m grateful for my family and friends! Yeah I get it, there’s likely some Jerry Springer drama. Some families have it wearing Wranglers and some have it wearing Burberry, but we all have it. The fact is, what we focus on we magnify, so let’s choose to see the good in our friends and family – it’s there! 
• I’m grateful to be living in America! This is such a great country and if you are here, raise up your voice of gratitude! What other place has the kind of opportunities, medical care, and freedom than America? We are truly blessed!
• I’m grateful my business is growing! You just read the data from Yelp. If your business is still in business, that’s something to celebrate in 2020. The odds were not in your favor.
• I’m grateful for me! Yes, it might sound crazy but dang, you were born for something great. Thank God today that He made you and that there is so much more ahead in your life than the bad news pinging off the paint.
• I’m grateful for my team! If you’re a business leader or a part of any organization, look around at the wonderful faces of the people you work with and let them know how much you appreciate them. One second of gratitude can change the atmosphere of your entire team!
• I’m grateful for (you fill in the blank). Trust me, just writing about what I’m grateful for in this blog post is uplifting.

Discouragement is rampant right now. People are really hurting, but let’s encourage each other during this Thanksgiving season. No matter if you are visiting family in-person, or doing it via Zoom, speak about what you are grateful for. Encourage others to do the same and notice how it will lift everyone’s spirit.

Gratefulness truly is the vaccine against discouragement. 

I’m grateful that you took the time to read this, Happy Thanksgiving.

-Zoran

In a recent Retail Leader article written by Thad Rueters, he cites EVP of Global Digital Reid Greenberg of Kantar: “Where we are now, in terms of how we shop and purchase items, is where we would have been 10 years from now. In other words, over the course of four months we’ve pressed the fast-forward button on shopping methods. The retailers (and brands) who have been over-investing in building digital, ecommerce and omni capabilities are emerging as the clear winners during COVID-19,” says Reid Greenberg, Executive Vice President of Global Digital and Ecommerce at Kantar.” 

Think about it: in 4 months’ time we are where we would have been 10 years from now. That’s massive. And unless we can quickly and efficiently transform our own organizations to conform to the new expectations, we will be late to the party. Here are six truths I believe we need to embrace in order to undergo our own digital transformations to see exponential growth:

1. You don’t need as much time as you think 

Stop making excuses! COVID has devastated the globe – but it has also revealed that we have the ability to greatly accelerate ideas and solutions that just four months ago we believed were 10 years down the road. Whether it’s a facilities management issue or strategic business goal, why do we create so much buffer in our timing for projects, allowing six months to complete what could have been done in a week? Hopefully COVID has made us look at time and deadlines differently.

2. Touchless has always made sense 

From a physical branding standpoint, clean restrooms have always been important to consumers. COVID has once again brought to light just how unsanitary it is to “touch” anything in a restroom. The fact is, touchless components should have always been in the gameplan. As people return more to brick and mortar stores, public schools, and airports, keeping people safe means keeping hands off of items that can easily spread germs. Investing in touchless bathroom components such as touchless faucets, soap and hand sanitizer dispensers, touchless hand dryers, touchless urinal and toilet components is a must. Every public bathroom in the world should be touchless – yet we’re operating with archaic solutions.

3. Invest in infrastructure 

Whether it’s your technology core, ecommerce platform, the team, and marketing and advertising – a solid infrastructure is the highway you need to go fast. One thing we learned during the outbreak of COVID back in March was that we weren’t prepared. We didn’t bus-proof the business well enough with infrastructure to allow us to respond quickly to changing market demands. We built it – but it was hard, time consuming, and costly. But, we did it. Now we are positioned for future growth and can continue to look ahead asking “What if…?” because this is certainly not the last disruption that will occur.

4. Disruptions expose what already needs to be done.

If you ask yourself honestly, didn’t you know what changes you needed to make in your organization – but were “waiting” for better conditions to do so? True innovators build the future – they don’t wait for it. Jake Lenhausen who leads Business Development for our outsourced platform said that “The unfortunate reality of COVID is that it ripped the band-aid off many different industries. It forced the innovation that was already happening at different levels in the different industries.” I say it this way: “When the tide goes out, you see everyone who’s not wearing any shorts”. Well, the tide has gone out and for now, and it has yet to come back in.

5. Your supply chain matters, a lot.

One of the big takeaways for me during this pandemic was how much we outsource to other countries. We have the talent and assets here in the US to source domestically, but unfortunately, the hunger for more profit moves much of our manufacturing and dollars overseas. If it weren’t already clear, the pandemic has further shown that whether our supply chain is made of contractors, manufacturers, distributors, or raw material vendors – we depend on them. We need great working relationships that are built on mutual trust so that when the unexpected happens, we are able to continue to deliver for the customer. One of our business strategies for supply chain relationships is simply to keep them around for a long time. So long as the expectations are being met and prices are fair, a long-term supply chain creates stability. That stability leads to better outcomes for customers, which is the reason we are all in business. Since we are also a vendor, we see that organizations who continue to select vendors based on bottom dollar prices have tremendous supply chain churn. This leads to instability, quality issues, and higher long-term costs. At Trillium, we believe in our supply chain so much that we consider them “Partners”, not merely vendors.

6. Embrace automation.

Major disruptions can cause major problems to different business sectors, forcing your core team to “wear additional hats.” In these types of crises, time becomes even more valuable – and thus, we must identify areas where we can quickly become efficient. While it’s tempting to revert to the processes and systems we are most comfortable with in trying times, many of us learned the hard way that doing so can leave you in the dust. Whether it’s through automating email streams, investing in a new project management technology, or using facility management software to help streamline workflows and increase your vendor network, automation frees up labor to be used on true value-add work.

Ready to bring your organization through digital transformation? At Trillium Facility Solutions, we offer a wide range of solutions ranging from general maintenance to upkeep of systems requiring specialist knowledge to facility management software. Our solutions are designed to save you the time, hassle and headache associated with keeping your facility operating at optimal capacity. Trillium Facility Solutions has been serving in the facilities maintenance industry for 17 years. We take pride in the work we do and look forward to providing facility management benefits that keep you, your workers and customers safe. Contact us for more information at 844-372-2699.

People buy from others they trust or have in some way connected through a piece of content, a post, or some other message. We’re more than buyers and sellers, we’re people…first. It doesn’t if you’re in facilities management or facilities maintenance, or whatever you want to call “getting things fixed”, the fact is we are people who simply desire to go home to their loved ones after working with team-members and vendors they can trust.

So here we are. You and me. First blog post during one of the craziest times in our world with Coronavirus (Covid19). People are panicked, companies are closing down, uncertainty and fear are rampant.

In our industry, restaurant facility managers and their teams are getting smashed, retail facilities are closing, malls are closing, and many others – all to help stop the spread of this disease.

Yet we blog on. We work on. We love on. We continue on in our hopes and dreams even through the uncertainty. We chose to love our families well and lean on each other in the business community during this time because our heart beats for better days ahead.

So whether you are a facility manager, executive, entrepreneur, facility maintenance technician, janitor, procurement – whatever your “role”, remember this one thing: You can be a carrier of infectious hope. Words have the power of life and death and I believe it is in you to infect the world with something much greater than the fear and uncertainty we are seeing now.

Hope is alive.

-Zoran