Creating the new normal

I grew up in Co. Durham. Dad was a police sergeant responsible for training police dog handlers and Mam worked as a shop assistant in the local supermarket. They are both in their 90's now and in a care home. Dad has Alzheimer's although Mam is still very much 'on the ball' and can remember everything and everyone. Recently, my brothers and sisters and I have been remembering the sayings our parents, grandparents and neighbours used to say. Many of these sayings have stuck with me throughout the years and have influenced my behaviour, including how we brought our own kids up and it actually reminded me of a training course I attended in the 90's when I was at Bass Brewers. It influenced me more than any other course I ever attended.

It posed the question to us, as a group of Sales Managing Directors: 'Who determines what is normal'? After some debate, we agreed that PEOPLE determined what is normal. I will argue that it's the same in terms of how our life will be post-Covid19 too - it won't be the businesses that succeed in bouncing back stronger, it will be the people. Specifically, it will be the behaviour of the people involved and that behaviour is driven by a whole series of factors.

I remember Dad had a saying, "you don't get a second chance to make a first impression".

You might have seen the picture above before, but as a reminder, it all starts with our conditioning. What experiences did we have when we were growing up? Did your parents give you feedback or guidance - what was it like? What kind of school education did you experience, what about university or early work life?

I remember Dad had a saying, "you don't get a second chance to make a first impression". That stuck with me and has popped into my head on numerous occasions, especially job interviews, media appearances and important meetings. It has influenced my planning & preparation particularly, as well as my body language, eye contact and how I would introduce myself and say goodbye. Your conditioning is heavily influenced by your parents, siblings, school-teachers, colleagues and the media. It's your conditioning that fuels your beliefs, including those about yourself. If your parents constantly tell everyone that you're shy, the chances are that you will ultimately believe you are shy. If your parents tell you that you're incredible and can achieve anything, you will feel good about yourself and always have a go. Growing up in an age where the police and teachers were respected, I've always respected them and believed this was essential for our children to do so too.

"If a job's worth doing, it's worth doing well'.

Mam & Dad used to say to me, "just do your best, son", that's all you can do". Again, I've always tried to do that and I remember repeating work at school and university (and even in work presentations) because I knew it wasn't my best work and I was rushing it to get it finished. I could hear Dad's words in my head,"if a job's worth doing, it's worth doing well'. I've always believed therefore in putting 100% into everything I do and that's been one of my own personal values.

Your beliefs and values will determine your attitude - to work, towards other people including your family and towards your own personal ambition and determination. Your attitude will drive your feelings and emotions and so in my own case, I hate to see people not trying, giving up before they have even thought about the problem. I also dislike the '9 to 5' mentality that exists in many organisations. I've always been taught that you work until you get the job done, if you have to stay a bit later, so be it.

It's those feelings and emotions that heavily influence your behaviour and this creates your own 'normal' approach to how you live your life, how you bring up your kids and how you manage teams of people.

My daughter, Caitlin, now a senior manager at Sky, won't thank me for reminding her, but we used to have conversations when she was competing as a runner at national schools' level and talk about winner and loser behaviour. Winners are always part of the answer, losers are always part of the problem. A winner makes a commitment, a loser promises to do something too readily. A winner works harder and has more time, a loser is always too busy. She might remember the list she had on the back of her bathroom wall.

But sometimes, something seismic happens and changes our beliefs, which can ultimately lead to a change in our behaviour.

It's actually quite difficult to change your normal behaviour because it's been built up over years of conditioning, beliefs, attitudes, feelings & emotions.

But sometimes, something seismic happens and changes our beliefs, which can ultimately lead to a change in our behaviour. The best example I've heard of this, came from the training course I attended at Bass. It struck a chord with me because I was a runner and the example used was the breaking of the 4 minute mile.

If you think you can, or you think you can't, you're right

Prior to 6th May 1954, no-one had managed to go under four minutes for a mile. People said it couldn't be done, that it was physically impossible, that the lungs would explode. Countless number of people tried to break it but somehow never managed it. They believed it could not be broken. However, Roger Bannister went under four minutes on that amazing day at the Iffley Road track in Oxford and set a new world record of 3 minutes 59.4 seconds. What's incredible is that in the two years after this event, the record was broken a further 43 times. Why was this? It was simply because people now believed it could be done and it changed the new 'normal' for them.

It was at this training course that I also picked up the great quote from Mark Twain:"If you think you can, or you think you can't, you're right". Ultimately if you set your mind to something and back yourself, you can achieve anything.

Which brings me to the point of this article. Can the Covid19 crisis be the seismic event that allows us to press the 'reset button' when we get back to work and create a new normal? What will this look like? Well, YOU will decide that and your behaviour will create a positive or negative experience for your teams. How you respond will set the agenda for your organisation and it needs a bit of thought.

Here's an A to Z of 'less and more' that you could start with:

a) more flexible working using home desks as opposed to physical office space.

b) less travelling across the world for meetings and more use of video conferencing (Zoom, Google Hangouts, Skype and Teams). We should have convinced ourselves we can still get the job done even if we are not always in the same room.

c) more trust placed in staff to do the job even if you are not always able to see them from your office window.

d) less doom and gloom from our business leaders and acceptance that this is how it will always be.

e) more self-belief, backing yourself to get the job done

f) less 'going through the motions' and doing just the minimum

g) more taking a leaf out of the NHS / Key Workers' attitude and giving it your best shot, all day, every day.

h) less acceptance that you cannot make a difference

i) more belief that you can do it!

j) less sticking to "the same old, same old" ways of doing things

k) more creative approaches to problems

l) less belief that only you can fix things

m) more collaboration with those around you, especially others in the same boat as you.

n) less 'winging it'

o) more planning and careful consideration about what needs to happen

p) less 'saying no'

q) more saying 'how can we?'

r) less focusing just on yourself

s) more attention to the needs of others

t) less behaving like an arse

u) more being kind and considerate

v) less thinking 'how much can I charge for this?'

w) more thinking, 'my pleasure, glad I could help'

x) less point-scoring'

y) more of a 'we're in this together' mindset

z) less acceptance that the new 'normal' will be worse than the last!

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Stewart Regan is Founder and Owner of Ascend Global Consulting Ltd. He is a global consultant to FIFA & UEFA, former CEO of both the Scottish FA and Yorkshire County Cricket Club and has worked with leading brands, higher education establishments and sporting organisations during a 34 year career in the brewing industry and professional sports administration.