Lockdown week 3: Another week in ‘lockdown’

Another interesting week of experience under the ‘official’ lockdown in the UK. This last week seemed more normal or at least routine… albeit long. It was a welcome respite from the dramatic changes the week before.

However there were of course still a few ‘observations’ of note this week… 🙂

  1. We are going to need expanded online storage for my phone with all the funny gifs and videos we have been sent… and yes some of them are really funny
  2. I am definitely now drinking much more tea than coffee… tea uses less milk and milk requires a trip to the supermarket… just need more biscuits!
  3. Am I becoming slightly jealous of Joe Wicks?! (like many husbands…lol). Joe is providing some great daily exercise routines for kids and keeping the rest of the family fit every morning… thank you it is really appreciated…. I need to join in!
  4. My LinkedIn connection criteria definitely feels like it is changing… a tricky one, but in a online world is a virtual meeting as good as a personal one…
  5. With everyone at home.. electricity and energy usage at home is going up… I can see it on the smart meter… need to turn that kettle off!
  6. Lastly on video calls, I need to remember you are always on screen… even looking at that spreadsheet or document… think I forgot a few times this week, to much hilarity…

Another week starts…

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Lockdown week 2: End of the first week in lockdown

The UK has been in ‘official’ lock down this week due to Coronavirus. As with all new experiences you learn new things about yourself, the people and processes around you…. especially early on. Here are my observations from the first week.

  1. Something flips in your brain once lockdown is official… nothing, in reality, changed day to day, but I now have this burning need to go out
  2. Video calls are not that bad… they work quite well really…
  3. Beards are quickly returning to fashion as shaving ones face for the office stops!
  4. Working at home is more productive… although harder to give out signals that you are busy
  5. With the whole family at home all day, everyday… wow does the house needs cleaning more
  6. Okay I am saving on coffees, but still amazed at how much we all actually eat across a week
  7. Biscuits, Biscuits (cookies), there is are never enough biscuits, should have bought more..
  8. I actually got nostalgic about doing my expenses…. remembering the old days at the start of the month!
  9. Teachers do an amazing job…
  10. … as do post office staff, delivery workers, supermarkets, refuse collectors and of course all those in the medical profession… thank you
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Coronavirus: Short term thinking still needed

This week I have been listening and discussing some of the longer-term economic impacts of coronavirus. We have already started to see the impact on growth and it will likely decline further. A projection of contraction this year with a slow recovery in early 2021.

We also have seen spikes in the number of already staff absent and all this with increasing customer call volumes and massively changing types of demand. These are challenging times indeed.

And as much as we would like to think that we can now start to plan around this new normal, my fear is the UK is still really on at the start of this pandemic (just run the maths). 

It means it will get worse before it gets better and am afraid we need to think about being even more prepared. We need to plan further for resilience, preparing our processes and teams further.

If this is the case, there will be more challenges ahead. More difficult situations, impacts on employees, customers, further loss of capacity, service levels and supply chains, most likely for the next 2-4-6 weeks, at a minimum, maybe longer depending on how this plays out.

Important questions are:

  • How do you cover difficult news with employees? Reassuring and supporting people, trying to keep them safe?
  • How will you cover roles if there is a reduction of staff and further illness?
  • Do you have adequate hand over procedures for people who are off ill?
  • Are key roles and dependencies identified and covered? – keeping things going without key people (many looking at remote working)
  • Are there scenario plans for different options? Mitigate unacceptable risk
  • Medium-Long term – can you manage or design your process for no staff interaction?

By my calculation we have an ever closing window, now a couple of weeks, maybe less, to cover some of this. 

We may need to share resourcing, ideas and stick together to get through it.

Anyone who wants to contact me, talk about this, share concerns or ideas I am happy to chat with them and support.  Even if you just need a friendly voice or sounding board.

Happy to share information, put people in contact with each other and hear about your experience too.

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