Things I've learnt during lockdown (so far...)

I shared some notes with my team, just some ramblings after many weeks of social distancing, working from home and keeping the lights on, with a sprinkling of home schooling a 4 and 6 year old. Would be fascinating to see if these resonate with you, or what your own experiences may be?

What surprised me:

• How focused you can be working from home. We haven’t always had the luxury to do this in the past in corporate South Africa, it hasn’t been a massive part of our culture (we do a LOT of meetings) but my sense is that our staff, and ourselves very quickly settled into a working routine at home.
• Staff logged into meetings where they may have missed them in the office. I’ve never experienced such high participation in squad stand ups, project meetings, legal reviews and emergency engagements. It is easier now for staff to dial in and engage in a meeting than boardrooms and physical distance often allowed.
• The hours are longer, more condensed and more intense. This may also be because of the time we are in, everything is urgent and pressurized, but shifting from one call to the next, while my whatsapp buzzes and I miss multiple phone calls on my cell has become the very new normal. It has certainly not been uncommon to be on calls from before 8 until after 6, and responding to emails from before 6 and until after 11. 
• Collaboration across areas is better. Sometimes we are restricted to where we sit in our physical office buildings. In my greater team, we have Commercial card on one side, consumer card on the other (in the Johannesburg office). Now, if we want to have a hybrid meeting, its as simple as dialing someone into a skype or teams call.
• Video calls are better for social meetings.  99% of my meetings are voice only and I believe it drives higher concentration than when we are looking at the screen the whole time. It’s great to have some video calls, but largely for connecting one on one, or social calls to catch up, that way we can have less intense conversations and leave the focused work for voice calls.
• I literally have no downtime.  I think once we have done “work from home” outside of a global pandemic then we can compare how hectic and demanding it can be during “normal” conditions versus now.
• How many articles I have read telling me to make the most of the “time off”. Per the point above, there has been no time to learn a new language, knit a blanket, build a treehouse or any of the other fanciful ideas sprouting all over social media blogs. We did teach our four year old how to ride a bike though and that probably does count for more than a freshly knitted blanket anyway.
• We can actually build new products during a pandemic. Building and launching the SEFA solution which we did in partnership with the department of small business for the benefit of our many small business and spaza shop customers, considering new products that meet market needs and participating in tenders to grow business can be done while simultaneously trying to keep the existing business afloat. The ability to be creative amidst the challenges is what keeps the future of the payments business exciting. 

What didn’t surprise me:

• No-one has to wear a suit, or a collar and tie, to be effective and professional. I literally haven’t dressed formally once, thank goodness, and I now get why fintech’s focus on output and less on dress code ?? Whether my formal wardrobe will still fit after lockdown is a different debate, lets just say thank goodness we are now able to get out and exercise again and leave it at that!
• We can engage with anyone, anywhere as easily as we can in person. Don’t get me wrong, personal engagements can never be beaten by a Skype call, but in order to get things done we really can do these over fibre networks. Now my calls with colleagues in London are the same as my calls with the teams in Joburg or Cape Town, the physical location doesn’t really mean anything anymore.
• It’s difficult to keep kids busy without turning on a TV. They definitely miss their friends and family, and take stress in ways we don’t experience. This causes them to act out more which ultimately ends up with one parent having to step out of a meeting and resolve issues. With this in mind, I couldn’t comprehend homeschooling kids. They need the social engagement and they need time away from their parents, and vice versa! 
• If someone needs to track you down, they will. The excuse of not connecting with someone in the office often comes down to not being able to get into their diary. Now everyone is a phone call away, sometimes even between meetings and there is almost no excuse not to get back to someone as we are all in the same boat.
• The shift to digital. This period is a perfect indication of how we have been ready to shift, whether in our engagements, as well as the way we pay and learn, for some time. We just needed a push. The challenge with this one is that it also exposes how much we needed to have made this shift in certain spaces more quickly, because when the world turns, you need to be able to adapt or die. Thank goodness we had made a shift (if not “the” shift) in our sales and servicing channels prior to this period.
• How much I miss watching sport. This might be a personal one, but being able to play sport and watch it on TV or live, is absolutely essential to my life. It actually causes a form of depression in me when there doesn’t seem to be an end in sight for the commencement of soccer, rugby, cricket, tennis and golf. I spend far too much time after switching off work in the evenings trying to see what is happening with "project restart" in the UK in the hopes that we will get live football soon.
• Our existing revenue streams are disrupted. Physical channels, spend in certain industries, double digit growth. All possible but not in the way we have been doing it for years. We have to be operating in new areas and looking at new partnerships, because what worked in the last decade will not work in this one.

What definitely won’t change:

• Working from home. I don’t think it is for everyone, and some meetings should be done in person, but sitting in traffic for an hour each way, or losing the time in the morning to clear an inbox doesn’t seem to make as much sense anymore. I think we need to consider how we manage this going forward, without needing to see our teams or each other. We also don’t need such expensive and substantial office locations (but do need the coffee) 
• Signing contracts digitally. Now that digital signatures are acceptable and you can use your own hand written initials or signature as proof, physically printing, signing and scanning documents now seems three steps too many.
• Getting to bed earlier. We are literally exhausted at the end of each day. This is often without even leaving the house. It is because the days are longer and for the first 6 weeks we couldn’t even get out for a run. Your body actually takes a beating, by not getting enough exercise and too much time in front of a screen focusing on work.
• Not taking our home and space for granted. We are lucky to have a large garden and loads of space, even being able to work in different areas and enjoy home pleasures making lockdown completely more palatable. I cannot comprehend how those living in tiny spaces or informal housing can be managing. This makes the point that “we are all in the same storm, but not in the same boat” that much more valid. 
• What could have been a meeting, can probably be an email and can definitely be a call. All day sessions that many business units are fond of are definitely only for special occasions. We can get a lot done in a properly managed call and even multiple emails can be converted to a conversation. We have often preached this in the office, now it has become reality.

This is (hopefully) a once in a lifetime event, we will go through many other challenges, but socially, medically and economically this sets a new baseline for how we engage, work and socialise. Understanding this and coming to terms with what will result from it may be the hardest adjustment we need to make. One thing is for sure, South Africans are equal parts resilient and creative and we will emerge stronger.