The ‘new normal' will have to suit lots of people with a host of agendas, says Donna Ball, and personal resilience to deal with these competing demands will be essential
Many of us in local government have been working remotely, solving some of the most challenging situations of our careers while sat in our front rooms with cockpit pilot-looking headsets on.
The occasional absurd situation arises. Trying to keep the teenage son from walking into shot in his boxer shorts while organising a dignified funeral cortège for a respected person in the community figures quite high in the moments of my anxiety shooting temporally through the roof.
Thankfully the discovery of artificial backdrops has partly resolved this and everyone I now speak with thinks that I live in a minimalist white box overlooking a dramatic city skyline.
It's become clear to me that there is no ‘business as usual' once this is over. How can it be? Our communities and staff have been hugely impacted by illness, bereavement, economic damage and stress as the very real shock sinks in that this has ‘actually happened in our lifetime'. Who would ever imagined this as we rang in the 2020 New Year?
Even the hardiest among us must have thought, how the hell are we going to salvage this? How is this – using the new buzzword – ‘ramping up' post COVID-19 going to be resourced? How, as a leader, can I inspire confidence in my team to pick ourselves up and dust ourselves down, ready to ‘fight back' against this unwanted intruder who has smashed through most of our lives.
As officers at all levels of local government we are going to have to dig deep, use all those years of experience and hard knocks to knit together a response that is both realistic and progressive.
Already we have clashing thoughts on the ‘how'. Some don't want to return to how it was before, we don't want those car levels back thank you! But those who have lost retail income over the months are crying out for the car parks to be full again. The new normal will have to suit lots of people with lots of agendas and this is nothing new for those of us working in local government.
This time though it may different. Will people after the upset and then anger over the response be more reflective and think...actually that calmer pace, that walk instead of the drive, did me a great deal of good. We may yet see progress but with a compulsion to not lose all that we gained with shutdown such as significant reductions in air pollution and actually being able to hear the birds singing as the traffic noise is so greatly reduced.
Personal resilience to deal with these competing demands will be essential, we are used to criticism, frustration and annoyance from aspects of our services and their users who did not get the response they were specifically after. But after months of reduced physical contact and face-to-face meetings will it feel like a tidal wave of ‘contact' once the post COVID-19 gates finally open?
Embedding yourself in your team, finding support, and clarifying direction will never be more important as each of us plan recovery in our areas. I know that picking up the phone to one of my wise Greater Manchester colleagues will form a vital part of the sense checking and support that I shall personally need.
Maybe it's time for all of us to start thinking in advance of the recovery period. What do I need to ensure I give a resilient response and how can I help others do the same?' Having worked in operations for many years and overseeing bridge inspection teams, I would be asking for example if you are checking your foundation? Is the wall cracked? Can you bear the tonnage weight before the traffic starts passing overhead? If upon personal inspection, the bridge has weakened over the last couple of months then now is the time to schedule some repair as there will be little time for it later.
Donna Ball is executive director of operations at Bury MBC
