Adapting to Change

Keeping Communities Safe

Firstly, my congratulations to the Teachers Matter magazine team on your 50th publication! What a great achievement! Nga mihi ki a koutou katoa. You have certainly seen changes in those years. Speaking of changes, my current phone has so many applications that I don’t even know what half of them are for – let alone use them. Similarly, my Ford Ranger Wildtrak truck has applications and buttons that have only been used a couple of times. Don’t get me started on the new smart televisions in our home. The other week we started using Disney+ and a phone call to my daughter in med school in Auckland resolved the difficulties I had trying to get the app onto one of our televisions. Her advice of simply following the instructions and not overthinking it finally led to success.

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The benefits of adapting to these new devices and vehicles are amazing though. Change is good once embraced, although it may be painful at times. As the saying goes, “No pain, no gain.” The pain seems to always be worth it in the end.

So, when the Covid-19 world pandemic came along just over a year ago, I was already in the middle of all kinds of changes occurring around me. I was constantly having to learn new things, and the korero of “every day is a learning day,” certainly came true.

However, (as I suspect we all were) I was caught off guard with the changes Covid-19 brought. They were and have been major paradigm shifts. I went from travelling around the world on planes, trains and automobiles to speak at conferences on leadership, to going for walks and bike rides with my wife on empty streets
during lockdown. Fortunately for me, unlike some more recent technological changes, the new Covid-19 information did not require med school intelligence to work out. Aspects such as the four levels introduced seem common sense now.

As a leader of organisations, I have a few phrases that I live by. Here is one of them: Don’t be that guy on the front of that newspaper with that bad news about you or the organisation you are leading. When it comes to Covid-19 I have transferred this thought to: Don’t be that guy who brings Covid to the people and community you love. Don’t be that guy on the news or Facebook that everyone is calling an egg. A few weeks ago, my wife and I attended a friend’s funeral in Whangarei. We arrived there on Sunday and left after the funeral service on Monday. Those same two days there was an outbreak of Covid-19 in Whangarei. Although we were not in any of the places identified as immediate contacts with the people infected, we treated ourselves as though we had been, for the sake of the people and our Rotorua community that we love. Upon our return, we self-isolated and got Covid tested as soon as possible. We stayed self-isolated until after our negative tests results were returned. It seemed the common sense thing to do and once again, did not require med school intelligence to work out. It was also just a part of the changes we have come to accept in the Covid-19 world. Having said that, it was a bit scary sitting at home watching even more Netflix wondering if our tests would be positive
or negative. One of our comforts were those who dropped food off at the gate after phoning us and asking if we needed anything. The people and community we love returning the aroha we were giving them.

So I just wanted to say thank you to all of you who have self- isolated without people knowing about it because you wanted to

keep your educational community safe. You know who you are and you are the unsung heroes of education. I guess the only possible indicator that you have done this is the absence of Covid-19 in your  communities. Let’s keep each other safe, Nga mihi, don’t be that guy!

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Ngahi Bidois


Ngahihi o te ra Bidois
Ngahihi o te ra Bidois is an international keynote
speaker, businessman, author, husband, father,
columnist and MBA. A Maori Boy from Awahou.
For more information, visit:
www.ngahibidois.com