Just when I thought 2020 couldn’t be more bizarre, there I was last week on a private beach on Cape Cod. I was playing in the sand with my children when a small “pet” pig appeared next to us, trailed by some distance by its young owner. Much like a puppy, the pig seemed to take a playful, yet overly persistent liking to me – getting more excited as I tried to nicely move it aside away from us. It must have taken that as a sign of play, because it began gnawing at my legs while wagging its tail. Pretty sure that a pig wagging its tail doesn’t have the same meaning as a dog wagging its tail, but I took it as a hopeful sign. The young owner finally caught up, but being only seven or eight years old, had absolutely no control over the pig. We all started to walk away – and the pig started aggressively following me, so I instructed my own kids to go the other way, while asking the young owner if his parents were around since no animals are allowed at the beach. Apparently, the pig must have taken that as an insult, as it jumped onto my leg and opened its mouth wide. Admittedly, I was starting to envision myself potentially succumbing to a “Lord of the Flies”-like demise, but at least I had the presence of mind to wriggle my leg out of its grasp and move a little faster away from it. Luckily, I was a little faster than the pig, who decided it wasn’t worth it to follow me into the ocean. Checking myself out, now with all of us at a safe distance, there were no punctures to my skin, so all was fine as the pig rejoined its owner and headed down the beach.

Other than looking and feeling a little foolish – it was either fight the pig and horrify all of the children, or taking flight to the safety of the water – I ultimately found the whole episode really funny. I’ll always have that story now.

It also got me thinking. There will always be uncertainty at times in our lives. We don’t wake up expecting to have a deal with a “pig attack” when our plan is a relaxing day at the beach. We cannot plan for all possibilities and contingencies. Things happen. Sometimes good, sometimes bad, sometimes tragic, sometimes bizarre.

The same is true with work. We can’t always prepare for every possible sudden change. Instead, we must be resilient, pivot when necessary, fight for what is right, walk away when that is the best decision at the moment.

Not that I will say that my training in improvisation saved me from the pig – but I was thinking, improvisation is a great parallel to handling change. When we improvise, we have no idea what might happen, but we are prepared for uncertainty and we embrace it. Studies have shown that improvisation helps build resiliency – I believe because it can be a little scary for people, and yet helps train the mind to handle uncertainty and change and to adapt to new realities on the fly.

With all that has gone on in 2020, we would love to engage in a conversation about how we can help your team with adversity, how we can build team resiliency and improve change management. Let us know some of the changes you have had to face, or feel free to contact us about how we can help. And we promise, there won’t be any pigs involved. At least that won’t be the plan.

What’s the most bizarre thing you’ve experienced this year?

How did you handle a bizarre change at work in 2020?

You Don’t Wake Up Expecting to be Bitten by a Pig at the Beach…

Team Building vs. Building Teams

Do You Have My Back? The Power of Psychological Safety at Work