Intentional leadership for the 'new normal' post-pandemic.

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MAY 2020
Tentpeg Consulting Ltd
Jill Garrett
Shaping a
‘New
Normal’
2018

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It was the writer George Eliot who wrote, “It will never rain roses: when
we want to have more roses, we must plant more roses”. Many are
beginning to plan for life in a post pandemic, “New Normal”. Unless we
are intentional about preserving what we have valued and learn lessons
about wiser stewardship of our lives, of the economy and the planet, we
are in danger of drifting into a future where we lose what we could have
gained and leave a brutal legacy for future generations. It has been said,
“Intentional living is the art of making our own choices before others'
choices make us.” In their spheres of influence, the challenge for leaders
today is to be intentional about the tomorrow they seek to create.
Moving beyond shareholder value in business
Many of the trends we saw before the crisis like the growth of on-line shopping, have
been heightened by the pandemic. For a while now, business leaders have recognised
that “purpose drives performance”.
In August 2019, the US Business Round Table said, “Since 1997 (we’ve) endorsed
shareholder primacy…. the notion that corporations exist primarily to serve their
shareholders. This language on corporate purpose does not accurately describe the
way we create value for ALL our stakeholders whose long-term interests are
inseparable”.
James Dyson, (of vacuum cleaner fame), has earned new regard with his decision to
ask his workers to design and produce ventilators in 10 days so that these could be
used by UK healthcare and to support international relief efforts. Even when the UK
government announced that the ventilators Dyson had produced would not be needed
because (thankfully), less ventilators than estimated have been required, Dyson
graciously celebrated this, undertook to foot the bill himself and to donate what had
been produced to international health efforts. EE Broadband’s decision to provide free
data for NHS and Care Workers, John Lewis retailers and Dettol (the cleaning brand),
have made large free donations to help the COVID-19 effort, these are actions which

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enhance brand reputation and loyalty. They are the, “right thing to do” for business
and for the wider community.
If we learn the lessons of COVID-19, leaders can speed up the trend to focus on the
wider stakeholder population. In a “New Normal” we can contribute to a world where
the community of leaders is dedicated to being customer and community focused,
where leaders look for the greater good and recognise that whilst they have to guard
costs and revenue, every day, the work of each employee can change the lives of
customers who could change communities and the economy. There can be new
recognition of what engagement science taught us two decades ago, that people are
inspired by contribution to the higher purpose of the human family. Growth is an
outcome both of humane and compassionate intent and good investment and
budgeting.
Young Millennials and Gen Z have vocalised their desire to have work that has
meaning: whilst we must not ignore the impact of high rates of unemployment post
pandemic, this is an opportunity to embrace the desires of a generation and to create
global benefit.
Trusting our people and investing in young leaders.
In the early days of lockdown, I was asked, “How can I make sure my people are
working at home?” Interestingly, beyond week two, no one has asked this. Team and
business leaders have recognised that they cannot control how people work; if they
give clear messaging about outputs and outcomes, people must be trusted to deliver.
Team leaders need to monitor results and give good feedback, support, and follow up.
We know from research that trust is a function of relationship, walking the talk, and
credibility. One outcome of COVID-19 may be greater levels of trust, increased
willingness to delegate, and recognition that younger leaders deal well with higher
levels of responsibility than they have been trusted with in the past.
Research teaches us that 80% of management and leadership development is
experiential. For some, COVID-19 and remote working has been a rich source of
learning and development. In one of the clients I work with I have been delighted to
see how young team leaders, given new opportunity have stepped up to lead, in

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another, they have taken responsibility for new areas that they have not experienced
before. It would be a tragic waste to neglect or fail to build on this.
The global population aged 80 years or over is projected to triple between 2020 and
2050: in the “New Normal”, younger and developing leaders can be given room to
hone and build on their new learning and “more experienced” leaders can be freed up
to work at a different level. We live on an aging planet where the world is short of
effective leadership and we face difficult times ahead; by intentionally continuing to
distribute leadership responsibility we can grow leadership talent - one of the earth’s
scarcest resources and thus build legacy for future generations.
Embedding healthier work and life patterns
When the UK emerged from the Second World War the population was healthier than
it had been in 1939 because people had been forced to regulate their diet. As we
emerge from COVID-19, reinforcing the healthy, life giving behaviours that many have
come to value, is a positive outcome that leaders can intentionally encourage in their
workplace cultures.
In the UK, we have been grateful that our “lockdown” has enabled us to exercise
outside and on my daily dog walks it has been a joy to see families cycling, walking,
running, and playing together. Many families have not spent time together like this
before. There is likely to be a UK push for more family time – and more remote
working may be one way to enable this.
During the pandemic, remote working has been a necessity: it is short sighted if we fail
to recognise some of the benefits. I have been pleased not to need to travel on the
5.41am train or sit for long periods in traffic jams on the M6 motorway. I am an early
riser who is at my desk by 6am most mornings and I have used the time released by
travel to be more productive. I have spent my time with people I love and doing things
I value, with family, with friends on-line, on client work, reading, writing, thinking and
“remotely” volunteering. I love being with people yet in the future, I will choose not to
travel where a Zoom or Team call is a better choice for me and for the person I am
working with.

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Inevitably, remote working has required agility from organisations and individuals. In
the past six weeks, I have seen people learn how to work differently and have
prioritised what is important in life and in work, in ways they have not done before.
One of my clients has instituted an on-line team fitness session, some have held events
where staff have raised money for a chosen charity by creative sponsorship of their
daily exercise routines, and others actively promote the importance of exercise as a life
and work requirement.
I have spoken with people who have previously struggled to put work/life boundaries
in place: now, out of necessity they have created clear time boundaries or working
space demarcation, they take after work “digital detoxes”, so that they leave “work” at
the end of their working day. They have come to recognise for themselves the
importance of recovery time; they realised early in the pandemic the need to pace
themselves. Some are reflecting again how they measure life success and are
determined to find ways of embedding the “new habits” they have developed.
Research has shown us that healthy lifestyles benefit individuals and raise their
productivity and potential. In the “New Normal”, leaders will do well to embrace
healthy life cultures; individuals, organisations, communities, and the globe stand to
benefit.
Building resilience through creativity, proactivity, agility,
knowledge and learning from data and experience.
We have been forced to change quickly and most of us have had to learn new skills and
the importance of creative responsiveness and fast learning. At work, I have quickly
learned how to facilitate and teach online, and at home, how to make good blueberry
muffins and face masks and how to cut my own hair! Flexibility, proactivity and agility
have literally been life savers as the UK has opened five new hospitals in four weeks:
the 4,000 bed London hospital took just nine days to assemble! It is unlikely that life
will be easy after the pandemic: creativity, proactivity, and the ability to learn and to
reinvent our work and lifestyles will be important as people face redundancy and
changing work patterns.

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The global pandemic has exposed serious flaws in supply chains, including critical ones
for industries such as pharma and medical supplies. Shortages of personal protective
equipment for health workers and ventilators in hospitals are the most prominent
ones. In the US, Ford and General Motors have initiated cooperative ventures with
medical device makers to produce ventilators, respirators, and face shields. Apple has
pulled in designers, engineers, and suppliers to shape, produce, and ship plastic face
shields which can be assembled in less than two minutes. Lives have depended on
quick response and creativity.
As we move forward it is important to reflect, to learn from the past and to be
proactive in creating a new future. In 2008 after the financial crisis, the EU and the US
instituted stress tests for banks. To prevent the shortages we have experienced from
occurring again when the next disaster strikes, governments should consider
establishing a stress test for companies that provide critical goods and services akin to
these, and companies should review their own supply chain stress tests.
I have been impressed by the response of countries in South East Asia who have seen
pandemics before. They have learned from experience and taken actions that have
prevented loss of life. These have listened to experts who know about pandemics and
have acted quickly and decisively. In recent weeks we have seen for ourselves the
impact that reduced travel has had on the environment. The environmental crisis
graph advances more slowly than the COVID-19 graph. However, there is a parallel:
you reach a day when a 50% increase means that the graph moves from controllable to
perpendicular and we lose control. Listening to experts and paying attention to the
data, even when the graphs are slow moving, are critical lessons for us to learn if we
are to sustain the planet.
Schools need to futuristically plan curricula that intentionally grow the capabilities and
attitudes that citizens need to find fulfilment and add most value in today’s and in
tomorrow’s world.
Building community at work and at home
In a world where things move very quickly, it is easy to lose sight of the importance of
the human touch and recognise that we are “human beings” and not “human doings”.

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With remote working, leaders have recognised the power of creating a greater sense
of community and connectedness within their teams. Many of those I coach have
talked about how much they have learned about long time members of their team as
they have seen their children, partners, and pets, in on-line video calls.
There has been greater understanding of colleagues, trying to juggle the needs of
young families and busy work schedules, increased awareness of those who are
suffering from personal anxiety and loss, and a recognition that this is a tough time for
everyone, it may well get tougher and we can connect in our common humanity.
Those who have led well in this crisis will emerge with greater respect from for their
openness, care, humanity, appreciation of and connection with their people.
I have lived in a village in middle England for 30 years. We know our neighbours and I
am an active member of the village church. However, my work takes me away from
early morning and in the winter months I rarely see neighbours during the week. Since
lockdown I have been part of on-line socials and quizzes, each Thursday evening I have
cheered and banged pots on the doorstep and waved furiously at others on their
doorsteps. I have got to know more about the community I live in during six weeks of
lockdown than I have done in the previous decade. There is a “shop for the
vulnerable” initiative, people are putting surplus plants outside for others to take or
donate to raise money for charity, and today after church we were discussing the
possibility of building resources for parents having to contain bored children at home.
We are merging from lockdown with a renewed sense of belonging, of
interdependence and the joy that comes from being part of community, from giving
and receiving and building relationship.
At work and at home there is increased awareness, that social fabric is not something
created (only) by leaders but is dependent on people fulfilling their role as colleagues,
friends, neighbours, and citizens. In the workplace and in the neighbourhood, we are
discovering anew that personal and cultural transformation are simultaneous: when
you reach out and build the community, you nourish yourself. Leaders are mindfully
recognising that offering reassurance in the midst of brutal reality, orienting people,
and helping them stick together, is as important as inspiring them, indeed, it is a
precondition for doing so.

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Building resilience, learning and identifying value to face the
future
The past few weeks have been too transformative to forget, and there are rich pickings
to be had if we look for them. In this article I have touched on the importance of:
➢ Creating meaning by greater customer and community focus.
➢ Trusting teams, monitoring outputs and outcomes, and freeing them to use their
strengths to achieve these.
➢ Intentionally growing and investing in young talent to close the leadership
resource gap and grow tomorrow’s leaders today.
➢ The promotion of healthy life and work patterns.
➢ Valuing and encouraging creativity, proactivity, and agility and embedding this
learning into educational curricula.
➢ The importance of knowledge and learning from experts, of data and
experience.
➢ Building and deepening relationship, community and connectedness inside and
outside work
There is much we cannot control and much we do not know about the future, and we
can be sure that recovery will come at a cost. The better prepared and more resilient
we can be, the better we will be able to proactively reap the benefits of a “New
Normal” and minimise the costs and difficulties ahead.
There is much I have not mentioned that we can glean from the pandemic about the
problems of overcrowding, urbanism, centralisation, and the destruction of natural
habitats: and, we can choose to celebrate and learn from this tragedy about global
interdependence, collaboration, willingness to learn, and the richness and joy of our
humanity in family, in community, and in relationship.
In the UK in March 2020 UK public sector net debt was 79.1% of GDP. The impact of
Coronavirus and emergency policy measures are likely to see an unprecedented rise in
UK debt over 2020 and 2021. In the United States, the effects of the crisis have led to
projections that the debt held by the public will exceed the size of the economy by the
end of Fiscal Year 2020 and eclipse the prior record set after World War II by 2023.

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The economic costs of fighting a pandemic from an “Old Normal” will not be easy and
we need to be individually, corporately, nationally, and internationally determined and
agile to build a sustainable “New Normal”.
Gandhi said, “The future depends on what you do today,” and Obama told
us, “Don’t wait for good things to happen to you. If you go out and make
some good things happen, you will fill the world with hope, you will fill
yourself with hope”.
As we contemplate the “New Normal” let us be intentional about building
resilience and making the most of those situations, experiences, and
people we have learned to value most.