As Covid restrictions are lifted, we ask what is ‘normal’?
With Covid restrictions lifting in England on 25th February, it is tempting to return to “normal” but now there are questions around what “normal” is.
Pre-pandemic for lots of people it would have involved getting in a car and driving to a place of work – whether your own business or a place of work.
Now, we’ve all got that bit more used to working from home and the adoption of tech has made this much simpler. Trying to get people to use Skype before Coronavirus was tricky at best and “Zoom” was barely mentioned – now the assumption is that all meetings are online – Zoom and Teams seeming to be the technology of choice.
From Friday 25th February will you be returning to normal? Or will you have a new normal in your business?
For CDI Alliance the use of technology has actually increased the frequency of meetings – prior to the pandemic internal comms was less planned though it, of course, did happen. Now we have a directors meeting each Monday morning and project meetings throughout the week.
Working with clients has moved to virtual delivery in a lot of cases – and there’s been no feedback that suggests that we need to return to face to face to deliver a lot of the 1-2-1 support that we undertake. The time spent in a vehicle must have more than halved, and the stress levels have reduced at a similar pace! The positive environmental impact of not driving everywhere can’t be ignored either.
Our masterclass series has been a boom online – highly interactive sessions split across two or three weeks – this has proved to be a better way of delivering much of our 1-2-many training, allowing for reflection by delegates in between.
That’s not to say we won’t be going back to face to face. But it will be with an appreciation of “Why” rather than a default solution.
Recent delivery of support to a business in a coastal town one of the directors did visit rather than Zoom a meeting – it allowed for observation of the location of the business and the potential custom on the doorstep. There are benefits to making the effort to visit clients and this case the observations to be made were key to delivering great quality support.
We’re working on a project at the moment that will involve some face to face delivery, however it will also involve some virtual delivery – and for part of the project there’ll also be hybrid delivery with one of the presenters “Zooming-in” for part of the session. Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater. Think about solutions that deliver the right things for your clients, and your business.
There’s likely to be peer-pressure to return to the workplace but sometimes it’s not necessary. There’s likely to be peer-pressure to not use a mask but it’s personal choice. We can freely visit theatres, nightclubs and other venues – but you don’t have to. It’s personal choice.
If you’re employed then have conversations with your employer; if it’s your business then think before defaulting back to “normal”.
If you want to talk about what your business could look like in the future then get in touch – we’re experts in working with business that are driven by ambitious leaders. For more informaiton about what we do, visit our About Us page.
