Mindful Management of the (Un)expected

Managing and making sense of (un)expected unfolding events during the pandemic has required a balance between change and stability while remaining vigilant and defensive. With no experience in crisis management, my approach to ensure “business as usual” in education at the Business School, Nord university was colored by “learning by doing” based on the terms given by the corona virus. Managing faculty employees and students in the digital space from my home kitchen table. I brought my private mindful practice into my management, enhancing my capacity for attention and awareness to the multifaceted consequences of the pandemic in the many aspects of our educational activities. Mindfulness also enhanced my capacity for resilience to deal with the many surprises and high stress level over a long period of time. But resilience is not inexhaustible, and defeat can be triggered by small insignificant trifle. Exactly one year after the Norwegian government first enforced a national lockdown on us to curb the COVID-19 pandemic, the government overrode its own infection control initiatives in the Bodø municipality and enforced yet another lockdown because of a new spike, making me lapse from a mindful mental state to a mindless management of the crisis.