A road trip to the New Normal: Are we there yet?

Since the beginning of the Covid-19 crisis, we have heard countless mentions of “unprecedented”, “once in a lifetime”, “Unique Black Swan Event” etc etc., and finally much speculation and anticipation of the when and what of the “New Normal”.

New acronyms and idioms have become standards, like WFH (Working From Home), FOMZ (Fear of Missing a Zoom), ZoomBombing, Zoom Shirt, and everyone is now an authority on vaccine trial phases and virus testing protocols.

Much is made by the various media of the “New Normal”, and I got to thinking, what does this really mean and are we really anywhere near it yet?

To begin, let us first define what the “”Old Normal” is or was. For most people this would have involved a job or school routine with a 5-ish day working week, regular hours in the region of 8 per day, with a more or less predictable commute from home in the morning and return in the evening. The word and idea of “Normal” is related to routine, the usual, standard, expected, predictable. That is to say there is a high degree of correlation between one (working) day and the next, or one week and the next. Holidays for example are by definition not “normal” days or weeks.

So where are we on this trip to “New Normal”? For many countries and professions, the journey has begun with a period of lockdown, whether shorter or longer, of greater or lesser stringency, and a pile of exceptions for essential workers and activities, variously defined. This has meant an instant pivot to “Working from Home” for millions. Most commonly schools have been suspended and/or moved to distance learning for some period, with significant impact on the home situation for everyone. So is this the “New Normal”? It doesn't seem so. Many schools have reopened, or expect to do so in the new semester. Many parents are breathing a great collective sigh of relief, and the appreciation for teachers is at an all time high. Has anyone else had to dredge up memories of Differential Equations? Fractions perhaps?

While some companies have extended “work from home” or “Work from Anywhere” mandates, beyond official lockdown periods, for many companies and employees the novelty has worn off and people are ready to come “back to work”, at least for some of the time. So is this the “New Normal”? More flexi working with partial from home or some non-centralised location? With periodic mask-to-mask get-togethers in smaller groups? Supplemented or even concurrent with some participating by videocall? Again I don't think this is it, yet. Many managers have had to significantly adjust their management or leadership practices to be properly effective in this type of environment. Some have succeeded more than others. While instantly snapping existing teams, tasks and projects to temporarily distributed locations, many organisations are struggling with things like employee burnout, engagement, difficulty onboarding and integrating new team members, and letting go of “Presenteeism Management” practices. In addition, in many industries remote work is simply not possible. Examples include but not limited to Hospitality, Medical Services, Public Transport, Energy production, Sanitation (how do you remotely clean a toilet?), agribusiness, etc etc.

Finally, as I write this in mid August, in many locations repeat lockdowns are being imposed albeit more localised, in for example Manchester, Melbourne, Oman, and other increased restrictions in e.g. southern Spain and Paris. Global positive test results numbers continue to rise, with about a quarter million new infections reported per day, and globally about 6000 people a day are dying from this. So I doubt we are out of the woods yet, despite Russia announcing an approved vaccine today.

So is the “New Normal” the expectation of constant change and adjustment? Rolling localised lockdowns and daily changes of rules and restrictions? Countries closing and opening borders, changing travel regulations with no warning? Everyone in masks, elbow bumps and no hugs. Will this be the situation for months or even years? If that is the “New Normal” then I think we are there, although I suspect that this is not what everyone had in mind with the word “Normal”.