Executive Assessment: What will the ‘new normal’ really look like?

EXECUTIVE ASSESSMENT:

WHAT WILL THE ‘NEW NORMAL’ REALLY LOOK LIKE?

Financed by supporters and contributions from the Chamber itself, the fund is set up to award small grants of between €1,000 and €5,000 yearly. With the benefit of hindsight, we can now see that, in relative terms, “lockdown” was the easy part of the pandemic. Against the background of huge fear and uncertainty about the future in March 2020, we had little difficulty embracing the notion that “we’re all in this together”. Indeed, it has been that sense of community and mutual support which has helped us get through this difficult period.

Now, however, we have reached a point of significant change. Trying to return to normality, both in business and in our personal lives, represents both huge challenges and huge opportunities. One of the difficulties for businesses is to identify what the “new normal” will look like and what changes to their strategies and day-to-day operational activities will be required to meet these needs.

As both Grace O’Shaughnessy and Jock Jordan note in this issue, their companies have survived and even managed to thrive during lockdown by focussing on the immediate tasks to ensure continued viability. As Grace puts it: “We called each month as it came, making decisions relative to the business needs at that time based on the data and information to hand. That gave us a sense of small, bite-sized chunks we could deal with.”

But with high levels of vaccination, the end of the pandemic is drawing ever closer and businesses are going to have make medium and longer-term decisions about their operations. It is becoming clearer by the day, for example, that for many people and for all sorts of a reasons, a “normal” five-day week will become a distant memory. Some will face redundancy and that is an unfortunate reality to be faced up to as business and employment supports are withdrawn over time.

Many people will continue to work from home (WFH), as they have done for the past 18 months and, while this will suit some, it may not suit others. The social aspect of the workplace, the sense of collegiality and purpose it generates and the creativity that is so often sparked through being beside people in the same space are all aspects that are impossible to replace. That said, having fewer colleagues to work with is likely to result in more work being thrust on the shoulders of those who are there. It will also be interesting to see how extensively a “hybrid” approach is adopted by those businesses for which it can work and what that does in terms of cost structures. And for those business with employees WFH overseas – which somewhat paradoxically includes Northern Ireland post-Brexit – there are still complex income tax and social welfare issues that need to be sorted out.

So coming out of COVID-19 businesses will have to adapt and change the way they do things or they will find it difficult to survive. Furthermore, they will have to adapt to the new world very quickly. They can expect customers to be at least as demanding as they were before, if not actually more so.

In this new environment networking “person-toperson” is going to be more important than ever. Following the long period of enforced separation and having spent so much time using technology as a means of communicating, I know that business people will want to engage more than ever “personto-person” with existing /prospective clients and business partners. That is one thing that has not changed in all this: People want to do business with people they know, they like and they trust. Systems do “transactional business’ but it is people who make business really happen.

So for anyone engaged in B2B activity, the old-reliable of meeting face-to-face will be the “new approach” to doing business! Here at Fingal Chamber we have a comprehensive series of “In Person” events planned for Q4 and beyond (subject, of course, to Government restrictions allowing, which I am optimistic they will) to help pave the way.

I’m delighted to say that at Fingal Chamber we are here, ready to help our members thrive and prosper in this brave new world. Our resumed “live” networking events will be important in this. We know, too, that many staff will have to be retrained, re-skilled and upskilled and we are ready and willing to play an active part in this through our Fingal Chamber Skillnet. We will also provide support through our continued advocacy with local and national government around issues that are important to the continued well-being of our members.

In relation to local government, I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Fingal County Council on what they have achieved over the past 18 months. They have played what might be termed the “proverbial blinder” in the way they have managed to continue to provide their current suite of services. They have also played a highly pro-active role in ensuring, to the best of their ability, that our region’s tourism & hospitality businesses have been able to trade throughout this time. And last, but not least, I congratulate them on the level of supports they have provided and the speed at which they applied them on behalf of central government.

In conclusion I would simply point out that as we come out of lockdown and prepare for what comes next, the potential value of membership of Fingal Chamber to our members is arguably greater than it has ever been in our history. Sticking together, supporting each other, makes us 100 times stronger.

Anthony Cooney

Chief Executive