Reflecting on the century/minute that was 2021…

I’m sitting here looking at the softly melting snow on New Year’s Eve, scrolling back through the century/minute that was 2021.

It was a LOT.

-       An unrecalled number of weeks working from home.

-       15 ipads delivered to local schools through Give Love Feel Good 5.0.

-       2 staff back from mat leave (welcome back, Becky and Jill!)

-       2 contract staff turned into full time team members (yahoo Taylor and Holly!)

-       1 team member departs to Halifax (a fond farewell, Sean).

-       9 online campaign college sessions with See Jane Run (with the ever-awesome Councillor Tiffany and Mayor Brittany).

-       A half-dozen drone session outings for Kâté.

-       Our second COVID-related office fit-up: plexi for everyone!

-       A bunch of new clients, and really exciting projects.

-       3 Relax and Get Vaxxed posts.

-       4 gorgeous Community-curated Visitor Handbooks spearheaded by Becky.

-       4 road-trips for Kâté and Christianne.

-       Tiktok and Giphy and Stories and Reels.

-       Planning to replan with Liz.

-       1 epic Memorial Cup bid document.

-       Dozens of wonderful animations thanks to Holly.

-       1 Fall contract placement for Wei.

-       1 pumpkin carving contest.

-       Juggling timelines and priorities and workload with Jill and Taylor.

-       3 Summit Awards, including a gold (WOOT!)

-       Many walkies and treats for Obie.

-       Dozens of board meetings.

-       2 new gourmet grilled-cheese sandwiches, thanks to Liz.

This year our amazing team rose not just to the challenge of the COVID grind, but to a full revamp of our internal way of working.

Last year’s end-of-year post promised that Liz would lead a change here at Duke that would bring the sophistication of our processes up to match the sophistication of our work – and she has done exactly that, thanks to the astonishing resilience, flexibility, smarts and goodwill of the whole team.  

The side effect of that transformation? It has upped our game in all manner of ways.  

It has made us even more agile, giving us added time to stay current and competitive with new and emerging tools, techniques and skills.

It gave us the space to bring our strategic chops to bear on every step of every project - not just in the planning stages - increasing the value we bring to our customers.

It took proactivity from a core value to a way of life, allowing us to forecast change and tackle issues long before they happen.

I am so proud of this team, and the wonderful work we are producing for our clients.

Look out, 2022. We’re coming for you.