It Won’t Be the Same, but It’s Likely to Be Better

Things have changed on an hourly basis over the last few weeks and they are likely to continue to do so as our efforts ramp up to put downward pressure on the curve.

Movement and more generally, life has been paused. On the backdrop of uncertainty, it’s of absolutely no surprise that some people are feeling anxious about the next few months, but many have also envisaged what life will be like when things return to normal. I’m going to explain why I don’t think things will return to how they were and why, ultimately, I think this will be a good thing.

On the other side of the curve, I believe that we will put emphasis and value on the following:

·        Gratitude – lock down is helping us appreciate the sights, smells and sounds that we so often miss in our everyday lives that are largely consumed by our iPhones. We will have more appreciation for each other and the role we each play in our society; from our heroes in the NHS who will go from being abused on shift to being heralded as national treasures, to supermarket shelf stackers who worked around the clock to stop us panicking about food shortages, to the undervalued cleaners who did everything they could to minimise the speed and scale of the spread of the disease and to the teachers who kept educating the children of key workers.

·        Information consumption – two weeks into our new way of living, it’s already becoming evident that people are more conscious of the information that they are consuming; where it’s coming from, who it’s coming from and the balance between fact and sensationalism. I believe that we will become more acutely aware of this and start to make the connection to how this ultimately affects our mental health and well-being. As a result, we may become more critical of news outlets, scrutinising their purpose and questioning their reliability. This can be highlighted in the ‘fake news’ emerging daily through WhatsApp chains, where a single hoax image can circulate across the nation, spreading non-factual and unhelpful information at best and terror and fear at worst.

We will reflect on the part we play when sharing news with others, becoming more dismissive of hype, whilst looking towards more trusted sources for key information. One thing to remember here is that internet algorithms enhance our bias; by recording our past search history, they show us more of what we might be interested in reading, which is usually along the same lines as our search history. In essence, we are left with an unbalanced and often inaccurate viewpoint of the world.

·        Parity – Isolation is a leveller. It has created common ground and a sense of unity and community, which has been to some degree lost in our society. The widespread show of gratitude and appreciation for those on the frontline in ‘Clap for the NHS’ on Thursday and the help emerging from our communities to the most vulnerable truly shows what’s best about our country. When faced with fears over our health and that of others, our material possessions become immaterial. It is about neighbours, friends, colleagues and families. The last time we experienced this ‘togetherness’ was probably during the Olympics of 2012.

·        Trust – due to enforced home working for the majority of the population, the future of how will work will evolve more rapidly than we may have once predicted. Line managers and organisations will start to realise that they CAN trust their people. Out of sight won’t mean no work being done and nipping out of the office early to do the school run won’t see eyebrows raised. Businesses will realise their employees do want to do well, are self-motivated and can self-direct. It might be that Covid-19 is the catalyst for business transformation!

·        Shrinking footprints – In time, we will realise that we don’t need to physically travel to get to business meetings, especially with such fantastic technology available in the form of Zoom and Microsoft Teams. We are witness to the earth responding to reduced human interaction and dependence; smog is lifting over China and the waters of Venice are clearing. Seeing is believing and we will understand what we need to do to balance economic development and environmental preservation.

·        Culture>profit - Whilst corporate profit and sustainability will remain critical, culture and people will fast become front and centre of a company’s purpose as we see organisations make bigger commitments towards humanity. Look at what L’Oreal, Zara, JCB and Dyson are doing today, or the small businesses who are closing to protect their communities. As a result, the leader of the future will be the person that reconfigures around their people. The bravest businesses will also embrace the idea of work fitting around their employees.

In short, over the next decade, I think humanity will become front and centre of decisions relating to; B2B supplier relationships, line manager and employee relationships, candidate and prospective employer job moves and customer choices, regarding which brands they shop with.

People will remember how you acted as a person or business during the pandemic so get it right now, because we’re #bettertogether.