A mantra to take with us into 2021

As 2020 draws to a close, and the majority of us find ourselves in another lockdown, it takes some doing to reflect on the year we have had. ‘Unprecedented’ has become trite in our ‘year like no other’. But when the impact of Covid was first felt, way back in March – who would have expected we would be here at Christmas?

We all know the challenges the NHS, the country and indeed the whole world have gone through this year. So, rather than dwell on those, I would like to focus instead on what we have learnt and can take forward into the new year.

Early in the year, many at the helm of some organisations worried whether employees could be industrious at home and not be distracted by the glimmering lights of Netflix or the chance to improve their green fingers. They need not have feared as studies have instead proven that productivity increased during this time. Perhaps the structure of work provided a level of certainty which was needed during this uncertain time. Sure enough, soon all organisations found that placing trust in their employees only helped give their staff a sense of purpose with autonomy. Something maybe some of us had not seen the likes of before this unparalleled time thrust it upon us.

Trust was a theme throughout in defining our response to the pandemic – whether that was the NHS trusting new innovations and embarking fearlessly on its digital journey, or the pharmaceutical industries who globally trusted each other and worked together to deliver us the much needed and valued vaccines. Trusting each other got us there. It made us resilient against the challenge at hand.

We, at Acumentice, have also learnt from the trials presented by this year. We adapted our strategy and adopted differing working methods both internally as well with our NHS partners.

Our focus this year has been to support Integrated Care Systems find their feet in supporting restoration and becoming more resilient by trusting their partner organisations. This has led to some of the most amazing innovations I have seen in my time within the NHS and it feels incredible to be part of such journeys of discovery.

Our focus next year will be to maintain this reignited strength in collaboration, to build on the trust in our teams and partner organisations, to take stock of how adaptable we have proven ourselves to be when needs must and to start the year with a sense of confidence, resilience, and hope.

I wish everyone a happy and safe Christmas and a much brighter new year!

‍Karina Malhotra

Founder and Managing Director at Acumentice