Polarising’s Best of 2020: against all odds.

When I was growing up, a vinyl collection with the “Best of” songs was released each year. Of course this was in the late 80’s early 90’s, platforms like Spotify or YouTube didn’t even existed and the Internet was taking its firts steps.

I guess this habit of making lists is not new. Perhaps because in contemporary societies we need to make sense of everything, to establish achievable goals that allow us to measure progress, providing some kind of control.

2020 is no exception: with the end of another year approaching, we are ready for a wrap-up and a new soundtrack! And what a year. It’s a well-known fact that this is a historic year, for the worst reasons. And not just to the music but all sectors.

Indeed, the impact that the Covid-19 pandemic will have is yet to be assessed. And its consequences are evident in all areas of our lives, from personal to professional.

Image: inspired here.

Track 1: Hapiness is a warm gun.

But honestly: was it really all bad?

So the entire world was caught in a quick and vertiginous roller coaster. What we expected from the future wasn’t even close to the result of the previous year’s balance sheet. But aren’t plans supposed to change?

As to what music is concerned, so many artists have reinvented themselves from their homes, giving live-streaming shows on Facebook and other plarforms. The RHI Stage was one of those inniciatives, that also allowed the audience to pay their work using the RHI app developed by Polarising.

Many achievements in science have been remarkable; in record time, a new covid-19 vaccine is being distributed as we speak. And the drop in carbon dioxide emissions over 2020, even unintended, is creating more awareness and effective policies around climate change.

Track 2: Don’t stop me now!

Although at Polarising we are used to remote work, it was hard not to get together. Especially for major events and monthly happy hours. There is nothing that better showcases our company’s culture like when we can meet, since we are dispersed by different clients and projects throughout the year.

But would you believe that we did it? Of course, considering such an unusual change of context we also had to change our mindset: if we can’t be physically in the same space, let’s make sure we’re all doing the same thing at the same time!

That’s how we celebrated (or shall I say: cooked!) Christmas dinner with Chef Chakall live from his El Bulo. Or toasted to the rentrée with the Checkpoint Kit we had delivered at each one’s home so we could make a collective toast via Teams.

On June 1st the office reopened complying with all the rules. But it was necessary to implement a process that allowed its access safely. So, we created Polarising’s Registration app.  Now we use this power app to manage the office capacity and everyone can go to República, if they choose so.

In this Polarising Best of 2020 we can’t forget births, we’ve welcomed many babies! The company expanded its business operations to the new Netherlands region, and many new colleagues joined our team.

We quickly reorganized the Champions Academy to a remote format, when they just had started a few days before. And we hosted two virtual Boardgames championships, as well as more of our internal knowledge-share TALKing Sessions than in a “normal” year.

Track 3: 1999 going on 2021.

So you see, there’s always a silver lining. Stopping to reflect is important and healthy: how else can we know what we’ve achieved and what we still want to achieve?

It’s time to turn the hourglass again and get ready to welcome the new year! But before that, did you do your best of 2020 list yet? While you’re at it, remember to put on some music 🙂

Ana Rebelo
Head of Brand and Communication