What is 'Normal', anyway?

I enjoy a good debate. Its one of the reasons I spend far too much time on Twitter! One of the things it helps with is seeing that there are multiple perspectives on just about any subject you care to mention.

The reason for this is pretty simple; we all view the world through our own, very unique lens. At one end of the spectrum there are those of us who are immensely selfish and narcissistic. At the other are those that bleed compassion, putting others well before their own comfort and safety. And in the grip of a crisis, where communications haven’t been the greatest element of the government response, we can see this played out in the streets, on the playgrounds, and on the beaches of the United Kingdom. Yesterday, the Metropolitan Police openly admitted they were ‘fighting a losing battle’ in the parks, with hundreds sat eating pizza, drinking beer etc.

So, as we tumble into week eight (or is it nine?) of the Corona-Crisis, what does this mean in terms of normality?

One thing is becoming increasingly apparent, is that it means different things to different people. That isn’t unusual in itself, but it doesn’t bode well for the overall picture for business. Or does it? Many years ago, maybe a decade or so, I went to a very exciting presentation on remote and mobile working. If you don’t already know, I live on the Isle of Man, a self-governing Crown Dependency which can pretty much do what it likes in respect of domestic law, strategy and policy. So what an opportunity! one of the phrases used, which I hadn’t heard before was ‘Agnostic platforms’. The idea was that there was this big central system, and you accessed it via your preferred method. That might be a Mac, a PC running Windows or something else. It was whatever you were comfortable with. It was a great aspiration, and wholly achievable. Unfortunately we had a central technical services division that didn’t quite get the idea that they were there to facilitate for their ‘customers’, and the whole thing fell flat on its face. Fast forward to 2020, and within 14 days over 3000 Government workers were suddenly able to work from home!

I mention this little story because it made me wonder on how much of an ‘agnostic’ approach to life we are now going to be able to take? Are we going to be able to pursue access to the central things; work, leisure, travel, governmental services, in a way which we choose to? Are we going to be able to choose to not access them at all? Can we honestly adopt an approach where one size doesn’t fit all?

There is no doubt we became conditioned over time. The ‘big office’ approach was the norm. We endured the daily commute - the misery of the tube, the drudgery of the rainy motorway, all in the name of getting to work. We’d run a car we might struggle to afford, or pay a swingeing amount of cash to a train company that actually was incapable of running a bath, let alone a complex infrastructure to move people.

And then when we got there, how much was actually productive? Those inane meetings where nothing was ever really achieved, the distractions of the scandal and drama, and the stress of having to deal with some people that you wouldn’t in a million years chosen to have had a relationship with given the option!

Suddenly, without warning, all of those ‘norms’ were broken. With that disturbance, we have been given opportunity to re-evaluate what we might like normal to look like. Just before all this broke, I was offered a senior position with a company to develop their management structures. The reason I declined? I couldn’t find anywhere within an easy 30 minute commute of their offices where we (the wife and I) could see ourselves living. It was as simple as that. Having spent thirty years having to go to to operational bases (that was where the cop cars were) and gone through the subsequent life laundry having left that line of work, I was much better placed to make choices as to what I wanted my second career - and my second life, to look like. So I see the opportunities here in clear focus.

Barclays Bank currently have something like 70% of their worldwide employees working from home. They are already asking themselves what do they actually need all these buildings for. Just this week I spoke to a very helpful lady from Lloyds, who was chatty, cheerful and in her own house. A friend of mine who is an architect is saving around ten hours a week even on this little island, just by not being able to go to physical meetings. They now occur online, and are much more productive. He is investing the payback in time in his own well-being. We actually chatted about whether the home of the future (perhaps in a repurposed bank?) might have a dedicated work space designed in from the outset? Even if we have to switch in and out of lockdown, it seems like a good idea.

There is an interesting tension now developing, between organisations which will be seeing a real opportunity to save the millions they currently spend servicing their estate, and employees who have in fact adjusted to a much more parochial existence. It may be that if both ostensibly want the same thing, then the collapse of the office as the hub of business rapidly accelerates.

But what does that mean about managing people? How will onboarding work? How will we train people? It may be that these aren’t concerns at all. We can assess productivity easily enough via technology, and monitor interactions with customers by the same means. Having more of a ‘hands-off’ approach may actually be beneficial, and could remove some of the difficulties that occur in management relationships when a clash of personality happens. Managers can become more facilitative, providing better pastoral care as and when it is needed. For recruitment, why should there be any need for a face-to-face interaction? Dyfed-Powys Police recently ran their promotions process for the senior ranks online. And education has adapted swiftly and surely to the challenges of the abandoned classroom, so there is no reason this can’t be expanded into the world of business.

For the foreseeable future, I’ll provide my services online. I’ve always liked to ‘see the whites of the eyes’ of clients, and meet them physically, but there is without doubt a new way of working, and I’m not sure the product is of any lower quality than what went before. I personally do think we’ve stepped round a corner, and all have the opportunity to be better for the new perspective. It might take a few years to fully settle down, but its important that we define our new normals, on a personal and business level, as soon as we can.

Derek Flint Cert. Ed., MCIPR