As we welcome in a new decade, it's time for new ways of working.

This summer, Australia's tragic bushfires have had such an enormous impact: environmentally, socially, politically. It feels like the universe has shifted and we all need to rethink our place within it.

My team met for our first team meeting of the year yesterday, and I won't lie. I didn't get that exciting 'back to school' feeling that I usually do. It felt wrong to say 'happy new year!', chat about our holidays, how much we ate and what Santa brought for our kids.

Mostly, we talked about the fires (#AustraliaisBurning), about single-use plastics, about sustainable travel. We talked about how wrong many of our summer traditions feel (fireworks, plastic toys, Christmas lights, shopping on the sales).

We started to reflect on all our roles and responsibilities: what the Government should be doing, what businesses should be doing, and what we should be doing as individuals. As a team we are only at the beginning of this journey, and though we had lots of great questions (we are research geeks after all) we had few answers.

I don't yet have the answers of how Patternmakers will change, but over lunch a set of #newyearsresolutions emerged. I'm sharing them here to say publicly: we will be working differently in 2020 and beyond.

Patternmakers Resolutions for 2020

We will think about the impact of our decisions, and use our skills to help others understand the impact of theirs.

We will continue to serve the arts and culture sector as a force for good in the world - and we'll explore working with other good causes where we can make a difference.

We will be active citizens: openly reflecting, joining discussions and sharing our ideas publicly and often.

We will work with teams that want to make a bigger contribution.

We’ll prioritise the exciting and meaningful research questions to tackle, over #vanitymetrics and #boxticking.

We’ll be stronger and smarter, not bigger.

We will travel; slowly & consciously.

We’ll stay true to our core values of integrity, support, creativity and positivity.

We’ll put as much effort into looking after ourselves and eachother, as we do into helping others.

Do you have new year's resolutions this year?

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The image featured above is from a Team Day we had in 2018, organised by Penny Cannan with Parva Little Things. We made our own lip balm and body scrub using pantry items like coffee grounds, essential oils and salt. I'd choose something like this over the pub any day!