I recently interviewed my friend and mentor Martin West on The Dunham Podcast. Martin’s company, XGAP, has helped Dunham+Company and many other organizations succeed in incredible ways.
Toward the end of our conversation, he turned the tables and had a few questions for me relating to how things have changed since the pandemic.
I hope you’ll find it helpful…
Martin: Trent, as a company, have you started something or stopped something as a result of COVID? Is there an initiative or an offering you’ve kicked off, or something you’ve wound back, as a result of all this?
Trent: Well, I would say two things. And one was forced upon us. I was on a plane every week until the second week of March. It was months before I would set foot on a plane again.
My wife even said, “Do you still have a job?” Our business has shifted so much from personal interaction to online and communicating through technology. That’s probably the biggest shift.
Secondly, we’ve transitioned some of the things that we did in person almost exclusively to virtual operations, and it has worked. I think there is an empathetic understanding that we’re all in the spot we find ourselves in, so let’s not say the work can’t go on. Instead, let’s find creative ways to get around it. Not only has our team been on board with that, but the clients have, too.
The flexibility, the nimbleness, the willingness to test things, I think those are all good outcomes that we want to continue to embrace, even when things return to “normal.”
Martin: Now Trent, you are not a natural extrovert. Here you find yourself interviewing me on a podcast and having to interact with your clients via video conference. How have you found that? How do you do it?
Trent: It’s different. The Zoom fatigue is real! There are days you find yourself far more exhausted than you ever found yourself in an eight-hour workday, pre-pandemic. I think part of that is a result of the implications of constant Zoom meetings.
But also, what’s been interesting is that the timing of life has shifted. I was reading an article the other day about podcast consumption. The peak morning consumption has shifted an hour and a half almost. Point being, how people operate in life has shifted.
So for me personally, my mornings look different now. My routine was very regimented, I was up at 4:45am every day, pre-pandemic, unless there was an extenuating circumstance. During the shutdown, I was up an hour later, having a better workout, having a better quiet time, and getting in the office.
The work hours have actually extended, in some ways. But, the ability to even have dinner with your family five nights a week, around a table, that’s never happened in our family before.
I just believe God has blessed and amped up the amount of work, while at the same time He’s amped up the thing he knows we need to really be investing in.
For more helpful insights on setting your ministry up for greater success, be sure to check out The Dunham Podcast episode, Executing Your Vision with Martin West.
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