By Guest Contributor Sid Madge
Given all the turmoil that Covid-19 has created it is easy to look back longingly at what we used to have. However, Nobel Peace Prize winner and social entrepreneur Muhammad Yunus reminds us that pre-Covid wasn’t actually that great!
Although it seems a lifetime ago now, at the beginning of 2020 many of us were protesting for greater climate change reform. Many more were deeply concerned that we were running out of time to reverse the damage we have inflicted on the planet. AI and technological disruption were already causing seismic shifts in employment. Global inequality was already obscene. And mental health issues were on the rise. Is that really the world we want to go back to?
The ‘new normal’ we hear about smacks of compromise, limitation and lack. Yunus suggest we should not be planning for economic recovery post-Covid, we should redesign the economy and, therefore, business from scratch. I couldn’t agree more.
There are encouraging sign of people taking a different approach. For example, the city of Amsterdam has embraced economist Kate Raworth’s Doughnut Economics – a blueprint for redefining priorities as they seek to rebuild after lockdown.
Business needs to adapt. We need to adapt.
And as we adapt, we need to define what we want this ‘new’ to be, and work towards creating a work/life that provides a healthy balance. Our embrace of technology, home working and digital solutions is unlikely to recede completely even once a vaccine is found. While this move was enforced by the virus many, especially Gen X and older, have been surprised to find the technology is more than up to the task and home working gives greater freedom, flexibility and provides a better work/life balance.
But, how do we maintain connection and develop strong, resilient and empathetic cultures when the people in them no longer travel to an office or share the same physical space? This will be a particular challenge as move into a lower-touch reality. This will mean adapting to social distancing regulations, potentially a series of temporary lockdowns, travel restrictions and new hygiene guidelines. Customers will be much more cautious when it comes to physical contact, enclosed spaces and large gatherings. Potentially this could mean that we become less connected, which could pose a further danger to our happiness and mental health. So, maintaining a connection has to be part of our new lives and new business models and ethos.
Human beings are social animals. Forget new normal, we need ‘New Balance’.
And that starts with the human being. Let’s look at how you can achieve in your business:
1 – Start by focusing on the human-beings within the business and help them find a balance that works for them and for you. Happy, healthy employees with a sustainable balance between their work lives and their home lives will always be more productive, more loyal and stay in the business longer (i.e. you’ll reduce expensive staff turnover). The business that will succeed are those that recognise the human element of their teams and their customers.
2 – Develop systems that recognise we need low physical touch, but high human interaction if we are to remain safe and also connected. Human connection is key – we buy from humans, we are inspired, motivated, loyal to, and supportive of humans – not faceless companies. So, make human connection the key focus – within the parameters of safe physical distancing. Perhaps this means more communication, or picking up the phone rather than emailing, arranging group Zoom calls, sharing personal anecdotes, and perhaps most importantly, helping both staff AND customers find a new balance in their lives. Share what you’ve learnt, share the processes that work. Maybe even encourage your customers to join you in them!
Then, personally, take these practical steps:
- Eradicate unnecessary work. Take some time to consider what’s really important in your life. If something doesn’t add value at work or at home, eliminate it from your life. Focus on what matters professionally and personally. Focus on what makes you happy. And make these things the priority.
- Master your mornings: Start your day from a place of positivity. Focus on what you want to achieve that day and take a minute or two to remind yourself what you are already grateful for in your life. Write down six things you are grateful for, and six things you absolutely must achieve today. Then use these as your focus for the day.
- On your commute, or while you eat your breakfast (if you no longer commute) read an inspirational book. For example, ‘Meee in a Work Minute’ has 60 one-minute nuggets of wisdom including life hacks, advice, insights, science, short exercises, and thought experiments to ensure you start the day with positivity and confidence. Another great book is A. C. Grayling’s ‘The Meaning of Things’ which had a profound impact on my life. There are dozens of great books so pick those that resonate with you. Many are also available as audio books.
- Take time out, every day to get outside, ideally in nature or a local park. Walk, pay attention to what’s going on around you. Don’t cut yourself off from what’s around with music, audio books or podcasts. Instead, notice the trees, the bird song, the change of the seasons. Take this time, even if it’s just a few minutes, to learn how to just ‘be’. Listen. Think. Spend time in silence.
- Connect with people you care about – at work and at home. At work seek to find ways to maintain some of the flexibility that became essential during Covid-19. Honour both the human being and the employee. Find ways (by using the tips above) to maintain a connection and to find a balance that works for both parts of your life; the business/work and the home. At home, talk to each other, eat together as a family and maintain the strengthened bonds facilitated by the pandemic.
Businesses that have adopted kind, empathetic and human-first approaches are the ones that are moving forward in difficult times. The businesses that are going to thrive in the new economy are going to be the ones that are focused on building community and fostering belonging for customers and employee. As Intel’s Andy Gove famously said, “bad companies are destroyed by crisis, good companies survive them, and great companies are improved”.
Those that will improve will do so with human collaboration rather than competition. It will take kindness rather than aggression. I hope you will agree that if living through a pandemic has given us anything it is a renewed appreciation for what is truly important: our humanity.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Sid Madge is founder of Meee (My Education Employment Enterprise) which draws on the best creativity and thinking from the worlds of branding, psychology, neuroscience, education and sociology, to help people achieve extraordinary lives. To date, Meee has transformed the lives of over 20,000 people, from leaders of PLC’s and SME’s to parents, teachers, students, carers, the unemployed and prison inmates. Sid Madge is also author of the ‘Meee in Minute’ series of books which each offer 60 ways to change your life, work-, or family-life in 60 seconds.
Twitter twitter.com/Meee_HQ
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/MeeeHQ/
Instagram www.instagram.com/meeehq
YouTube https://youtu.be/fISupZWZMQc
TEDx https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bR3Cyjs62c8
Learn more about Work Life Balance
Entrepreneurial Happiness by Charlie Reading
Business owners used to strive for money and power, but what use are these if they arrive at a retirement without their health or happiness to enjoy these luxuries? Business owners assume they must put their businesses first and offer the ultimate sacrifice – their free time, leisure and fun.
Charlie Reading has combined his own experience as a business owner with his research from business books, workshops and courses led by other successful entrepreneurs to create the system he calls ‘entrepreneurial happiness’. This book provides a culmination of business ideas for all leading entrepreneurs to make their business more profitable and achieve a healthy work life balance. The system to create entrepreneurial happiness is there in front of you and you cannot afford to wait. The secrets of the 21st century entrepreneur are greater than you can imagine, and just a read away.
Positive Mental Health by Dr Shaun Davis and Andrew Kinder
Whether you work with 10 people, 10,000 people or just yourself, paying attention to mental health in the workplace has never been more important. We all face mental health challenges, regardless of our gender, age or sexual orientation, and too often we can be guilty for taking our mental health for granted.
This book aims to build on the current progressive movement around mental health awareness and is in line with current thinking on mental health in the workplace. In this book, the authors provide employees with a resource to develop greater mental health in the workplace and provide employers with a resource to develop greater wellbeing amongst their employees therefore increasing quality, performance, productivity and overall business effectiveness.
One Life by Morten Albaek
Never before in history have, we been more educated, wealthier, and lived longer with more opportunities in life. Conversely, we have never been more stressed, anxious, depressed or lonely. In One Life, the philosopher and business executive Morten Albæk investigates this paradox and the absurdity that all of the world’s impressive socio-economic advancements have not been translated into more existential wellbeing.
It is critical to understand why those of us, especially in prosperous countries with high living standards, continue to get sick, particularly due to work-related stress and poor leadership. The cure is not more ‘work-life balance’, but that we stop separating our persona into a working human being and private human being, and instead see ourselves as one human being with one life. That one life should be as meaningful as possible; it is meaning – not happiness – that is the most important basic ingredient for the sustainability of our lives, our businesses and our society.
The Energy Book by Richard Maddocks
In business today every professional faces the challenge of an increasing demand for extra energy in order to deliver the high level of performance required to continue to be successful. If energy is not managed and renewed on a day-to-day basis, then personal energy resources are constantly coming under pressure, leading to drainage, depleted performance and, in some instances, to potential burnout situations.
The Energy Book presents 50 simple and pragmatic ways to quickly boost energy in one or more of the ‘4 Energy Dimensions’. When these ‘Boosters’ are put into practice, the resulting extra energy enables you to continue delivering a high level of performance in all areas of life.
Comments are closed