It’s got to be the strangest start to a year I’ve ever experienced. I was fully geared up last month to tell you how Norseal were going to take on all door sealing challenges 2021 could throw at us.

I stared at my screen…nothing! I frequently avoided calls from marketing asking where the hell my blog was. I even occasionally lied “I’ve just finished it!” hoping the creative juices would once again flow…nothing!

Maybe I could get away with using an old one…does anyone actually read these bloody things?

Don’t get me wrong, I’m doing the team a total injustice. Business is good and they have returned from the break as eager as ever. I just think it may be my turn to go through that Groundhog Day phase.

After all, it’s dark when we get up. It’s dark when we sleep. And we aren’t allowed out when it’s light.

Anyone found themselves repeating the phrases “not long now!” and “once we get the vaccination” and even “I could murder a pint”? I’ve even dreamed of a pub poured pint of Guinness. Is that wrong?

I’m sure we all thought we were being a bit cheeky in Lockdown 1 doing a Zoom meeting dressed from the waist up. Anyone in Lockdown 3 done a Zoom meeting from bed? Asking for a friend.

Getting by seems to be a common theme when discussing this with friends and colleagues. We have to also be acutely aware that this beginning of the end could still take a quarter of a year before we are all vaccinated and it’s not time yet to relax on support for our teams.

We remember the halcyon days of life before Covid. We think we have adapted to the new normal, but the home workers who we were all jealous of a year ago are still there, but just a little bit more detached and a little bit more derailed after months of home schooling.

My mission this month is not to concentrate on the sales. The Norseal Team is great at that. I’ll instead concentrate on the Team itself. If you want to see who I’m talking about take a look them here: https://www.norseal.co.uk/meet-the-team/ they are a motley crew! But they are our motley crew!

I wonder how many of them have picked up the phone to a colleague just to talk about the latest shite on Coronation Street? I hope all of them!

I’m looking for new ways of interacting with a far flung team. How do you engage your Team of home workers? How do you praise them like you should?

Michael