Hindsight (2020)

They say hindsight is 2020 – and there’s been a lot to learn from last year.

Climate change (bushfires, flood, and hurricanes), geopolitical instability, economic sanctions, EU infighting, racial inequality, police brutality, and a bizarre US election have all managed to be overshadowed by a global pandemic that has fundamentally shifted the way we live and work.

From the beginning of COVID-19 I felt that there were 3 types of business…

1. those that were always going to win (i.e., video comms – see “Zoom”);

2. those in industries that were destined to lose (i.e., travel – see “Virgin”) and;

3. the vast majority; those that would have to rethink their offering if they wanted to keep their customers and staff.

As a research and events organisation, Public Sector Network fell into that third bucket – we had to do something, as doing nothing would have likely resulted in us going under.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella famously said in April, “We saw 2 years of digital transformation in 2 months”, and whilst technology has undoubtedly played a part in our survival, it’s through the lens of people, process and purpose that I will explain how we managed to not just survive, but thrive (using our B Corporation Impact Areas as guidance):

1.    Workers

It goes without saying that employees’ health and wellness was of paramount importance for all businesses during this period, with almost every business shifting to a “work from home” model.

The distinct advantage PSN had is that we had already set ourselves up as a distributed business – i.e. work from anywhere – from the outset, meaning we already had the technology and processes in play to succeed.

Whilst this is more commonplace now, when we first set the business up it was a distinct USP when it came to hiring and was based on our belief system (trust your people) and management style (outcome-based).

I have always argued that if you need to supervise someone 24/7 then they’re probably not the right person for the role, and what this pandemic has proven is that working from home, works.

Personally, I think that we will end up seeing most major businesses with a hybrid work model – days in office for collaboration and clients, and at home for autonomous tasks and admin – which should greatly benefit organisations in future as they build a more flexible and inclusive culture.

 2.    Customers

Clearly, all businesses need customers to exist. COVID-19 really put a spotlight on the true value of what businesses deliver for their customers.

Despite many of our customers being under enormous pressure (and dealing with major budget cuts), PSN believed that we could continue to serve and help them navigate this period of uncertainty.

However, to do this we had to effectively build a new product line – almost a new business -overnight, turning all of our services digital and hosting them online.

This was a huge risk for the business but also a huge risk for our clients, as we were asking them to trust us to deliver something that we weren’t well-known for (at this stage).

So how did we manage to do this?

We managed this thanks to our customers’ loyalty and faith in the brand, something that has been built over years and years of doing the right thing – under-selling and over-delivering, keeping our promises and owning any mistakes that we made along the way.

This gave us the platform to not just keep our existing audience, but to win new business and grow our client base at a time when much of the rest of our industry was in decline.

3.    Governance

All of these changes we made in full-sight and plain view of our team.

What I mean by this is that we had to be even more transparent than before about the potential risks and impact of COVID-19 and prepare everyone for the worst (whilst hoping for the best!).

For example, we spoke to the whole team at the beginning and suggested that – if work wasn’t forthcoming – that we move the whole business to a pro-rata employment model, meaning we would scale back everyone’s hours rather than having to lose any one person in particular.

It speaks volumes to the team’s ethics and sprit that this was immediately agreed upon, with senior management also offering to take a pay cut if it helped save their staff.

I am delighted to say that – thanks to a good strategy being brilliantly executed – not only did we not lose staff (or cut 1 hour), but we ended up hiring additional staff to support the excess work.

This was only made possible by engaging the whole business, being honest about our situation – and objectives – and getting everyone to buy into the plan.

4.    Environment

One of the few upsides to COVID-19 has been the short-term environmental wins (i.e. reduced air and water pollution) brought about by the lockdown.

One of the biggest challenges for us as a B Corporation is reconciling how much (physical) waste is generated by events (second only to the construction industry, apparently) and looking for ways to minimise this.

Over the years we have employed various techniques to minimise our environmental impact, but none have had such a significant impact as running everything online.

By not hosting “in-person” events, there were significant reductions in energy, travel, food, and building materials.

There are too many “wins” here to simply return to business-as-usual in the future, and this is why PSN remains committed to providing a digital option and delivering hybrid events wherever possible.

5.    Community

Public Sector Network’s mission is to help government executives to network, benchmark and identify best-practice – to help them deliver better citizen services.

In the current climate, it was even more important for governments to share their stories and identify innovative ways to provide critical frontline services – healthcare, education, transportation, security, etc – for the community.

This was why – as a “for-purpose” B Corp – we felt it was imperative to contribute at such a critical time, making a difference to the education and growth of the community. As such, I’m pleased to say we engaged and helped educate over 30,000 government executives across 5 countries (Australia, Canada, New Zealand, UK & US).

We would not have been able to do this without such exceptional, trusting and invested staff, sponsors and speakers, so I would like to end by thanking all those that helped us make a difference in 2020.

As the Greek philosopher, Heraclitus said, “Change is the only constant” – let’s make sure we’re all ready for it!

Happy New Year to all.