Leading Through Lockdown: Jason Myers
A series of in-depth interviews with inspirational business and not-for-profit leaders brought to you by Inspiration Point. We investigate the learnings, challenges and impacts of COVID-19, and how these will shape their organisation moving forward.
Jason Myers, CEO, New Zealand AIDS Foundation
1. What is the best piece of advice you’ve been given recently?
Someone helped me see that we weren’t ‘working from home’ during Covid-19 alert levels 3 and 4 but rather we were locked in our houses during a global pandemic trying to work. There is quite a difference and we need to be careful about using ‘learnings’ from this time to inform any kind of potential flexible working policies in the future. It was so far from what flexible working under ‘normal’ circumstances has the potential to offer.
2. What’s been the most challenging part of the lockdown journey?
Maintaining the boundary between work and home when they literally became one place. I formed bad habits and worked the longest hours of my life simply because it was right there and there was always something else to do.
3. What’s the smallest change that’s had the greatest impact?
Moving to online meeting platforms! We used to promote the idea that meetings needed to be face-to-face for people to feel truly connected and collaborative. What we learned is that meeting online provides new and different opportunities for people to feel part of their team or the wider organisation as a whole.
4. What’s been your biggest learning?
That the world wouldn’t have ended if I didn’t work as hard as I did through Alert Levels 3 and 4. As I look back, conscious that I ultimately set the pace of the organisation, I would do things differently if I had the chance to do it again. What is the sweet spot between looking after an organisation and its people at times like this, and looking after ourselves?
5. What have you been surprised by?
I have realised how much I do actually need human contact and connection to feel my best. I didn’t realise this until I returned to the office and started to have those water cooler conversations again.
6. What’s the biggest opportunity lockdown has created for your organisation?
We were forced to think about things differently, questioning our taken-for-granted assumptions about the best or only ways to do things and giving ourselves space and permission to create and innovate. The challenge is holding onto this as life returns to something more like ‘normal’.
7. What are you most proud of?
That the strength and resilience of the team enabled us to continue to provide important programmes and services to the community through Alert Levels 3 and 4.
8. Have you implemented any changes that you will keep post-lockdown?
We have allowed people to keep working from home one day a week if their roles allow it while we keep exploring potential for flexible working into the future.
9. The future of the non-profit sector is…
Bright! We make such an important contribution to the well-being of New Zealand. We need to be nimble and responsive, getting better at the telling our success stories and increasing the level of consciousness as to what life could be like without the important (often life-saving) work of NFPs.
