Bruce's Blog

January 1^st, 2022

Here we are. A brand new year lies before us. My question is not so much “what are you going to do with this year“, but “how are you going to accomplish the things that you hope for, dream of, and need in this new year.”

Frankly, 2022 looks a lot like 2021 except with more snow. The coronavirus continues to wreak havoc with our health and well-being, breaking up families, over loading hospitals, and generally making the population fairly miserable.

The good news is that there is great potential in the 12 month stretch that lies before us. Be extra careful. Be vaccinated. Have the booster, and still wear a mask and distance physically inside closed buildings. Avoid large crowds particularly those that may have a number of unvaccinated people in them. With these precautions there still is much productivity, innovation, joy, cheers, and tears ahead of us in this bright new year.

“Happy new year“ just doesn’t seem to be the appropriate greeting for this particular season. There is too much death, too much sickness, too much despair In the World for those words to ring true.

My word for the year is “focus“.

During this first week of the new year the staff at UCOM has an in-service time of planning together for all the new adventures before us. On Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday in 90 minute segments (via ZOOM of course) we concentrated on strategic areas that will affect how we pursue our mission this year.

First we completed a draft revised mission statement that we will take to the board for their discussion
in February. Then we focused on revising our diversity, inclusion, and equity statement that we hope the board will take up by March. Finally we took a close look at position descriptions and revised them to more accurately reflect the responsibilities of those positions. Tomorrow each department will set some three-month and six-month goals that we will evaluate in April and June.

I am telling you this to let you know that this year we will focus on making one change at a time inside our structure. Then as we reveal each initiative that we will launch this year, you will have the inside scoop on how we arrive at decisions that positively impact our neighbors.

We are here, listening to our neighbors and being guided by them. UCOM is open to rich, new leadership from the community. We also want to hear from you. What do you see as major challenges that we can help our neighbors to surmount? Where do you see yourself fitting into UCOM? How would you change us? In what areas would you challenge us?

What’s next? Nobody knows what joys and sorrows 2022 holds in store for us individually, locally, nationally, and globally. We do know that good change does not happen without our careful listening, practical planning, and eager implementation. We really are all in this together. My success is bound up in yours and yours depends on mine and on our neighbors’.

If you are looking for a partner in catalyzing change for the better in our community, UCOM is a place you can call home. Please comment at will below and let’s see just how powerful we are when we combine all of our assets and work together.

Watch good things happen.

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