Now&Next#1
How are we ‘thinking, doing and being’ during a pandemic crisis?
A new series (or self-written take-over I suppose) of this blog site.
Not many of us have lived through a pandemic crisis and many have already lost their lives because of COVID-19. And the newly ordained (and rightly so) key workers are helping save many others and support the newly locked-down societies whilst being safe and civic in our homes.
And through finding comfort in writing lately in my blog posts, I thought it was time to curtail my voice and bring in that of others.
Some of you might remember the lengthy period of time Canadian Rock performer Bryan Adams spent at number 1 in the UK charts in the 1990s with ‘Everything I Do (I Do It For You). It was too long. I didn’t want my blog posts to become Bryan Adamsesque. So I’m turning over the site content to other people. Some I know well, others new to me.
To explore two simple words: Now and Next. What are people thinking, feeling and doing NOW and what are their thoughts on what’s NEXT.
So I’ve started my series with a conversation with a hero of mine from the world of work who’s also become one of my closest friends, business collaborators and confidantes: C-J (Claire-Jayne) Green.
C-J is a former Chief People Officer and then CEO of a large Facilities Management company and latterly the founder and Executive Director of BraveGoose.
So hopefully now I’m avoiding being Bryan Adams and more a mini-biopic writer you’ll enjoy visiting and reading this blog post to continue in our thoughts and deeds of navigating our pandemic-fighting world.
C-J’s take on the world right NOW is one of less confusion and less shock. Now that the reaction of not being near to people has been somewhat negated by our connecting technologies, there is a level of adaptation being shown as we settle into this temporarily distant way of living.
It shows how we can transition and adapt after that period of unsettling confusion and abnormality.
Personal life decisions come into stark reality — the choices we made about who and where we live, what we do and how we are — sharply in focus now as we live our lives with less of those choices and a reliance on people in ways we hadn’t imagined we would.
A trip to the supermarket was a surreal and quite disturbing experience of social distancing and new ways of being with odd looks, hesitance to greet and even smile. It’s the state of fear and uncertainty we’re in.
C-J’s overriding feeling of NOW though was one of gratitude. So much so that she felt she could burst with a feeling of gratitude. To those people doing such amazing things as our key workers. And how lucky she felt to have who, and what around her at this time of lockdown. I think we all feel that gratitude and try and express it as much as we can especially now on our Thursday evening clap at 2000 hours.
Yet C-J was also excited — for being, knowing and loving all that makes us human, communal and in the sense of business, being good. To each other and for each other. This elevated sense of goodness was something that she feels is widening the conversation about all we have in our lives past, present and future.
The previous orthodoxies, constraints and misgivings of life are now somewhat shattered and our field of vision has to be about the wider things in life and not just the narrow existence of our own world. Things that felt different and the commitments we could and couldn’t make before are now somewhat negated by the current situation and may well be different when we emerge from the pandemic crisis.
C-J expressed how much she felt her own desire in working with businesses as clients and many more she could tell were feeling they wanted to do right by their people. (Of course, we recognised there were many who were not — and showing up some harsh and cruel decisions about their people). And that those who were starting from the aspect of looking after their people were all feeling like part of something much bigger than simply economic considerations.
As our conversation turned to our own profession — HR — we also talked about the recent urges for people practitioners to be more commercial, business-like and financially astute. And that wasn’t something we shouldn’t be, yet what has mattered most to many of our colleagues right now, has been about people. Making some horrifically difficult decisions but doing so with compassion, dignity and fairness in some outrageously fast shutdowns.
Trying to make the best of the ‘right now’ isn’t easy and HR has been in the forefront of having to communicate and act on those challenging decisions and actions. And preserve a business venture on the other side of this pandemic lockdown. We agreed there is a primary urge to protect and preserve cash, whilst still KEEPING people in any way possible.
It’s not much good having a decent account and no people to pick things back up come the time to get going again.
C-J also reflected that this pandemic reaction has confirmed her view that most people are inherently good. And this crisis has shown ‘good intentions during some bad shit’ and the NHS volunteers response has been proof of this. Along with things like the NextDoor app. Getting to see people in different lights has come by the bucket load during the early days of this crisis.
Mostly, C-J has relished the chance to take some deep breaths. And learn what is reliable for you, about you and not to disappear from the things that make life what it is. Tempting though it may be to shut down news and connections to hunker down, but to connect more to people. People who inspire you, can share the confusion with you and make sense of all the hard stuff this crisis throws at you.
Creating am HR Tech startup at the time of a lockdown isn’t what you’d call ideal timing, but C-J is using her time to make good on a product that was useful before and should be when we emerge from this.
So what about NEXT then?
C-J is fascinated by the organisational psychology of work before this and it will be fascinating to see this in the post-pandemic world. The people-first approaches of many could become a signature of those who are distinguished in three ways:
- Recoverists
- Replicators
- Renaissanceurs
(Okay I made those words up but they were the essence of C-J’s thinking)
Recoverists will be concerned with getting ‘back to it’.
The Replicators will be looking at what works for others and adopting that.
Renaissanceurs will invent the new world order and lead the way. I described it reminiscent of Adam Grant’s Givers, Takers and Matchers.
We talked about the longer-term effects of social distancing and what that could do to disconnect us from social pleasantries and thereby from each other as a social norm. Would we be reluctant to be close to people in the way we just took for granted in the past? Will social distancing become a learned behaviour is perhaps what I was thinking?
We also ruminated about those people desperate to get going again on the other side, and whether that would lead to more devious ways of being in the spirit of doing whatever it takes to recover. Something to watch out for perhaps?
And with our shared affection for B Corporation organisations, we wondered whether those organised for social good would be the opposite and thrive in the new world order that emerges. Resetting what being a good corporate citizen is like. Although before the crisis this was recognised as a tougher business proposition to be a purposeful business
And how we may banish terms like ‘low-skilled worker’ from our lexicon in favour of the magnificent work done during this crisis. And that people in those roles keep experiencing ‘thank yous’ in ways remembering their duty and commitment whilst we stayed at home, they left theirs every day.
It led C-J to talk about the purpose narrative that has gained so much traction (especially since Dan Pink’s work on Drive) and how hard it seemed to make that stick to those in the frontline roles. Well, that’s not the case any more but lest we forget that when the world stood still, they kept moving.
And we left it there.
Enamoured by our exchange because it felt good to think, talk and get clearer in both our minds of what it meant to be good people, good workers and good businesses.
On reflection, I’m reminded why I admire C-J so much. We swore a lot, we laughed and there were times C-J’s words created that lump in my throat.
Sincerity, thoughtfulness and good deeds might have been in short supply pre-pandemic. Our hope is that they become our signatures of a new world order where we’ve had a stark reminder of how many heroes are in our midst; how much we adore life and the liberties that come with it; and how we need each other to make a life well-lived.
Thank you Claire-Jayne Green. You’re one of my heroes for a lot of reasons and even more so now. Now and next, you’re truly a legend.
