The idea of a pod was introduced to me this summer when our neighbors formed a child-care pod with two homes and a total of four adults and four children. This pod has created an idyllic scene of childhood play and love outside our window since early March. The children run from house to house and play endlessly--it is a happy scene remininscent of my favorite childhood book, The Children of Noisy Village by Astrid Lindgren. In fact, I'll buy each family a copy of the book as I'm sure the children will see themselves in these fun loving Swedish characters.
Since that time, the notion of pods has grown greater in society as people connect with a few close people intimately to stay safe from the viral spread. To me, the notion of a pod is similar to concentric circles. There's that very intimate circle at the center and then pods once, twice, and three times removed.
Before the pandemic ends, I think we should give some serious consideration to the strength of the pod-notion as it's much easier to build a strong society, when you work with the concept of concentric circles of care. Leadership teams can begin to think about how we support the needs and opportunities of our most intimate circles and then work out from there. Too often, I believe that society begins with more distanced circles rather than zeroing in on the most intimate pods--the close family groups.
What can leadership teams big and small, close and far away do to serve our most intimate pods--our family groups of the people we love and care for most? For starters, I believe that we need to focus on the basic needs of adequate homes, safe environments, warm welcoming communities, healthy recreation, optimal nutrition/health care, great education opportunities, clean protected environments/natural resources, fair wages, and fair work conditions. If we provide that to all the nation's and world's people, we'll be off to a good start, and as we all know there's lots of work to do in this domain.
On a more personal level, I'm thinking about my circles beginning with my most intimate pod. For them, I want to have a healthy, happy, warm, and welcoming home. I want to be there to support their needs and wishes. For the next circle out, I want to give when I have what they need, stay in touch, and enjoy some good times together. And the next circle, I hope that we'll be able to recreate and plan anew some of the great times and endeavors we've enjoyed in the past. After that lies the circles I hope to work with to build positive opportunities and structures in life that help us to be a good strong community, and further is the share I do to learn, exchange ideas, and forward positivity to help people live good lives.
As you think of your pod, who is in your closest pod and who makes up those pods distanced from the center? How do you hope to nurture those individuals in the days ahead--what can you do? And, how can we use this concept of concentric circles to better care for and support our families, communities, nation, and world?