How Brexit prepared us for COVID-19: From boiling frog to butterfly
When David Cameron resigned on June 24th 2016 after the British Public had decided to turn their back on the EU, we (like him) misjudged the situation, the reality and the context of a changing world under pressure. We were those boiling frogs who don’t quite realise the urgency and potential for danger. It was time to jump out of the pot and try something new and to act quickly. Four years on, we have learned our lesson well, so when Covid-19 came along it was a very different story.
So what happened in 2016? Changes in government and some political chaos were not new to us. Within 6 months things would usually settle and everyone would get back to focusing on delivering the agenda. But that’s not what happened and our beloved public sector clients ground to a halt. The reality of that ‘halt’ wasn’t evident to us for quite some time.
You might not feel the shift at first - the pain can come later
We were far from lazy and we certainly weren’t sitting in bars sipping Martinis, but that didn’t mean that time and potential wasn’t lost. We were seemingly unaware that the context had shifted so significantly and, therefore, so had everyone and everything else. The experience was painful. Loss of momentum and purpose, meant loss of confidence and we didn’t even notice.
Hindsight isn’t a wonderful thing - it’s deeply annoying
Ultimately, we did emerge from the pot with the help of some fantastically loyal supporters, some bold choices about new markets, and working with new people who had the right skills, values and beliefs underpinned by an offer we had always wanted to pursue but never had time for.
We just should have done it sooner and with the bold intent, pace and confidence we would have applied to our clients. Cobbler’s shoes come to mind.
When Covid-19 arrived we didn’t wait. We judged the situation, worked with the facts, did our research, made a plan, failed fast and learned quickly. In the end we had 48 hours to pivot to working remotely and delivering our ambitious client projects online – I had no wish to ‘furlough our ambitions’ or be a frog again.
The magic comes when you wake up with confidence and leap from the pan - so you can fly and smell the roses; remember the frog…
We were in the midst of redesigning a better future for psychology; We already had ambitious plans to bring the profession together for the final leg of designing the future. It might have seemed sensible to pause and wait. Thankfully, we did what we do best and weighed up the options and embraced this new world, which meant flipping our face to face ways of working online. Our wonderful client at the BPS didn’t want to loose a single day - the original deadlines remained. We had to take everyone with us including the BPS team and their psychologist members from around the country and the world. We’ve had to learn incredibly fast.
Getting your wings takes some learning - it’s important to do that fast
Embarrassingly, in week 1 my hairy moment was not knowing how to get back into a break-out room on Zoom and by week three we were doing live analysis with AI. We have achieved much more than we all thought possible and the result is an ambitious vision for the future of psychology and a whole new SK.
We are forever changed in a good way, with new skills, tools and optimism and we are innovating and exploring how we can help this new world survive, thrive and transform.
Maybe now is the time to drink those Martinis - at a distance and when the bars open of course...
Lessons from our CEO, Claire Cater
Change shifts perspectives, priorities and behaviours – don’t assume people will make the same decisions, keep the faith or do the same things in the same way. Engage your stakeholders and stay close to your people. Ask the right questions and listen harder than ever.
You need the right experts, tools and skills – to help you do new things in better ways. You can lose time and potential trying to compromise, so don’t. Follow your instincts when in search of that excellent thing or person you need right now.
Gut and facts are equally important – bring them together and explore both with equal commitment. Hang on tight to your confidence. Think Robert Dyson and lessons from Hoover.
Top tips to remember
Stop, look and listen often – start now before you cross the metaphorical road and make sure you fully appreciate the facts, the needs and potential for change when things shift. There are usually multiple opportunities as well as fires to put out.
Be authentic and willing to learn – tell it as it is, temper that ‘stiff upper lip’, take people with you and be prepared to fail fast and to be ‘imperfect’. People will stay with you and share the journey if they can trust in it - and in you.
Be human centred – in all your planning, decision making and innovating. Data is important but without the systemic and human understanding things won't change. Everything has to be needed, wanted and possible for it to happen.
….Boiling frog to butterfly.