Ground-hog day is over
Lockdown has been very tough for all of us, but in different ways. Whether it’s the increased childcare for working parents, burn-out through overwork, lack of bonding caused by remote teamwork or, as I suspect for most of us, that sense of interminable “Ground-hog day feeling” as days become weeks and weeks become months, with little sign of change. But things are changing. Here in the UK with the onset of a new academic year our children have all returned to school and at the same time Boris Johnson is encouraging us to follow their lead and “go back to work”. Easier said than done. The big question is what does “going back to work” mean? One thing is certain it’s not a return to pre-Covid 19 routines just yet, and my hunch is, if ever! Back in 2017, in response to a growing trend, Stanford economist, Nicholas Bloom gave a TED talk entitled: Go Ahead, Tell Your Boss You Are Working From Home (WFH). I believe we can all agree 2020 is the year that WFH truly matured into an “art form” as businesses woke up to increased productivity and massive savings that can be achieved. In his talk he mentions a study, ironically done in China, where they looked at the productivity differences between home based workers vs office-based workers. Not surprisingly one of the key findings was that the optimum, for both employees and employers, is a 50:50 split. So I predict this, is what the “new normal” will mean for the vast majority of us. Last week, something dramatic happened. We ran our first face-to-face coaching with a group from BBC Monitoring- a 2 day workshop in advanced presentation skills run in a socially distanced fashion. And….it worked remarkably well. Since lockdown and being faced with the CoVid challenge, we’ve expanded our team and developed new offerings that can be delivered via online platforms- Negotiation skills, Writing skills and Any time, any place teaming and leading. But it was only by going back to face to face real-time coaching that I was reminded of what a vastly richer experience it is for all concerned. “Groundhog day syndrome” has been conquered and for the team involved it felt like a significant milestone. BBC Monitoring we salute and thank you for taking the initiative and risk and whatsmore, succeeding. Needless to say BBC Monitoring are so delighted with the results that they are already scheduling more workshops and making the most of largely empty premises. I suspect that word will spread to others within BBC. So, isn’t it time to follow the BBC’s example? Don’t your team deserve a much-needed dose of actual bonding whilst learning valuable skills to raise morale and reinvigorate them? Why not drop us a mail or give us a call to discuss how we could help.
