Flexability believes that challenge and innovation are two sides of the same coin. Winston Churchill said, “Out of intense complexities, intense simplicities emerge.”

Many of us around the world are developing new routines required by orders to “stay at home” in order to slow the spread of COVID-19. This is a time to extend patience, kindness and gratitude to our families, our colleagues, and our communities, both near and far, as we develop creative ways of working and connecting. We all are learning the necessary technology tools in real time.

Flexability uses these guideposts, drawn from the Center for Courage and Renewal, to create safe and open spaces to connect with our stakeholders and our community:

• Be 100 % Present and Welcoming
  Set aside distractions. Practice empathy and compassion. We are strengthened when we feel honored, welcomed, and heard.
• Listen Meaningfully
  Listen to others’ words and body language. Listen for communication in the spaces between. Balance listening, thinking, and speaking.
• Respect Silence
  Build community with silence. Silence allows us to consider, process, and find common ground. Be reflective, not reflexive.
• Take A Beat, A Breath and Then, Be Curious
  Slow the reaction time. Before reacting defensively or impatiently to feedback, ask the speaker: “Tell me more.”

We begin with gratitude and then focus on innovation to serve all Flexability stakeholders in this uncertain economic time. We are people first and here to help. Those of us who are working remotely for the first time are creating physical and emotional spaces for work, family, exercise, and entertainment. Flexability recognizes that people with disabilities have been navigating and negotiating the remote workspace for years and have developed many of the current strategies and methodologies for productive communication and collaboration. We honor these pioneers in the workforce and look to them as leaders in the field of remote work. People with disabilities have prepared the world for this crisis and have made this experience easier. The Flexability team knows that universal design benefits us all.

Flexability is focused on connecting companies to a workforce that is ready, willing, and able to help keep the economy moving. We are working to source talent in the industries and for the companies that need to supplement their existing workforce, regardless of the workplace. Many “essential” businesses are in desperate need of workers: store clerks, certified public accountants, health care workers, construction workers, warehouse workers and managers, delivery drivers, vehicle mechanics, customer service representatives (especially call centers), and technology specialists. Even the US Postal Service is hiring 1000s of workers. Flexability continues to serve as a resource for information related to disability inclusion, employment, consulting, and advocacy. We want to collaborate with your organization and community to center inclusion and equity in your thoughts and actions. We have many inclusion strategies for employment and for consulting in the workplace, especially in these unusual economic times.

Finally, please take a moment to thank the health workers, first responders, volunteers, neighbors dropping off meals, teachers providing instruction while parenting, business owners who are re-tooling to help those in need, and all who are doing the right thing because it's the right thing to do.

To paraphrase Seth Godin: We only get Today once. Why waste it? We can spend it in fear, or we can create possibility for the next person.

It takes action to make change happen. Flexability is here to help.

Be Well,

Crosby Cromwell, Nancy J. Geenen, & Gregory Weitzman

For a PDF version of our statement, please click here.