by Kate Bullinger, President and Emily Caruso, SVP

“In these unprecedented times.” “Now, more than ever.” “You’re on mute.” Cue the eye roll…

These sentiments and phrases have become cliché precisely because they are true. They represent the experiences that we have both universally shared and the personal impact that we each uniquely feel as a result of the global pandemic.

And now, with 2020 ending in a very different way that we began it, grappling with immediate and far-ranging impacts we’re only beginning to understand, it’s important to reflect on what — to add another cliché to the mix — is shaping up to be the biggest transformation event of our lives.

So just how much has changed since we began 2020? In short, pretty much everything. Just take a look.

Where, when, and how we work. Right now, some of you will be reading this from your home office, seated at a desk behind a closed door that offers you more privacy than in your previously open office space. Some of you will be on the couch; either yours or at your aging parents. At least a few will be hiding in the bathroom, trying to keep out the noise from their children’s remote learning set-ups. Still others in our offices in Asia will be pioneering being back at the office, maintaining six feet of distance, looking through plexiglass dividers at masked co-workers.

Some will be working more than they ever have before, managing a constant flow of crises as clients work to figure out how to best navigate a fraught media, marketing, and employee landscape. Others will feel nervous as things start to slow. Some will clock in at 9 and sign off at 5 in the usual way. Others will work around the schedules that life demands of them, with little ability to plan week to week.

Each of these scenarios will provoke a range of emotions, many in direct conflict. For every person that feels a sense of solidarity as we navigate this together, another will feel truly alone. While some teams who have operated across regions and offices historically and will feel minimal disruption, others are getting used to video conference fatigue and finding ways to recreate the spark of creativity that might come from a chance encounter in the hall. For those who have been in the workforce longer, weathering the burst of the dotcom bubble and the Great Recession, this is yet another period of disruption that can, managed well, lead to more career opportunity. Those that are earlier in their careers might feel more vulnerable; their vision for progression thrown off-course.

Some people want to be back in the office as soon as possible, while others could — or need to — continue remote work for ever. Some of us are energized. Some of us are afraid. Many are both. With limited separation between work and life, we are even more apt to carry these emotions with us into our work and how we connect with others.

Who we work with, and what we work on. In our industry, we are no strangers to watching different elements of our business expand and contract based on economic and social trends. But rarely have we experience a more rapid transitions from in-demand industries, sectors, and areas of expertise to those that have more recently been more specialized. The technology and healthcare industries and associated business have remained strong and in some cases grown, creating new opportunities and new needs. Any business associated with travel and hospitality has been very significantly impacted. And new needs are emerging to support diversity, equity, inclusion, crisis, and employee engagement. This is translating into temporary (or more permanent) pauses on work that might have taken place consistently over the past few years, and client relationships that have taken time and energy to develop. It can also be a time to renew or expand relationships, as we check in on past and potential clients to understand the impacts of the pandemic and racial justice movement on their business, and what they plan to do about it.

It would be naïve not to acknowledge that client services can be particularly vulnerable in times of economic downturn, as companies make tough decisions about discretionary spending. This is particularly true of the current environment, where companies are also struggling to define how to appropriately engage in conversations including but not limited to health, policy, inequality, and justice. Within our own teams and for our clients, we are being asked to persevere through the measures that the business must take to weather the downturn. But the act of doing more with less can be a strong catalyst for creativity, and opportunity for professional growth.

Why we work. Putting necessity aside, finding meaning and purpose in the work that we do has become increasingly important over past decade, bolstered by a strong jobs market and significant demographic shifts. Much has been written about the values that Millennials hold dear and how they differ from previous generations, and with this demographic posed to make up 50% of the workforce in the next two years and 75% by 2025, these values were already on-track to become more predominant.

Despite the compression in the jobs market, the very nature of the circumstances by which we find ourselves here have contributed to many reevaluating their own values and doubling down on purpose. According to recent research that we completed in June in partnership with KRC and Weber Shandwick, 70% of employees in America are ready to take a stand for what is no longer acceptable and make a change for the better. That same research shows that 80% of people will prefer to buy from companies that treated their employees well during the coronavirus pandemic. It’s clear that employees want to work for and consumers want to buy from companies that take a stand.

Choosing a job based on purpose and values is often a privilege and one that not everyone has. But it shouldn’t stop us from seeking purpose in how we engage with one another, in the work that we do, and in the ideas and solutions that we bring to our clients.

So, what can we do about it? Consider the following principles, as well as some key questions that we should all consider, both for ourselves and our teams:

1. Build resilience. We must break out of the historical construct of work/life balance, focusing instead on a more flexible (and ideally, achievable) work/life integration. This will require being more in-tune with ourselves and our teams and intentional about maintaining physical and mental well-being. What it doesn’t require (but it can!) is elaborate planning — many of us don’t have the capacity for that right now. Instead, identify the small acts that will improve balance, from turning off the camera to taking walking meetings around your workspace to scheduling meetings five minutes past the hour to allow for time to do a quick meditation or read an article for fun.

Ask yourself: What are the healthy practices that you want to foster? What norms from the past few months should be challenged or extended?

2. Embrace the now. We also must acknowledge that in our industry — and client services as a whole — it’s becoming very clear that in most places we are looking at many more months of working from home, with only a few offices and special functions the exception. Whereas we might have put off making longer-term accommodations for ourselves and others so far, now is the time to reconsider.

Ask yourself: How can you make your personal spaces more accommodating? What different tools and technologies can be leveraged to better collaborate virtually?

3. Foster connection. Already we are seeing more collaboration across the IPG network, uncovering previously lesser-known pockets of expertise. We have to commit to being more deliberate in and expansive about how we engage, recognizing our biases for returning to the same small cohort of trusted advisors and seeking to expand beyond this group to bring in fresh perspectives and to build more multi-faceted talent and pipelines. In addition to helping to combat our own loneliness, by putting this into practice we will be stronger as a business and offer better solutions for our clients.

Ask yourself: What type of culture do we want to continue to cultivate, and how? How can we lean into our inherent creativity and ingenuity when managing existing relationships and cultivate new ones (both with our peers and with existing and new clients)?

4. Grow in new directions. As some projects are put on hold, many are raising hands to take on work across sectors or outside of previous disciplines. In doing so, they are recognizing that career progression does not just mean promotions and raises; building skills that they will be able to leverage long into the future can be a meaningful investment in the future. Beyond being personally fulfilling, outside perspectives often lead to breakthrough thinking and build equity in our business.

Ask yourself: How can I stretch myself to position for long-term career success? How can I apply my skills towards new and different challenges? What are my learning and development goals?

5. Practice grace. Finally, we must be more thoughtful in how we are interacting with each other, channeling our empathy and compassion, and granting one another flexibility. So too must we adopt these behaviors in how we are treating ourselves, extending that same grace internally as we seek to bestow it on others.

Ask yourself: How am I demonstrating our company values by fostering inclusivity and bringing the best of our business to my peers and to those we serve?

Change is hard. But change, done well, is a catalyst for growth. While the human toll of the pandemic can not be minimized in any way, it has shined a light on the work to be done at every level; personally, collectively, and institutionally. It is up to us to prioritize that work in 2020 and beyond.

United Minds, a Weber Shandwick consultancy dedicated to organizational transformation, harnesses the power of people to solve critical business challenges. Get in touch at: [email protected]