Working practice changed a lot during lockdown. Here, Hormoz considers the need to respond to rapid changes beyond our control.

I have to admit that I don’t have a full structure for this blog! So it may become a stream of consciousness one, but there are some things to talk about which I hope may reinforce the fact that we are not alone in the current uncertainties we find ourselves in.

There seemed to be a collective sigh of relief when lockdown measures were lifted to some extent and then removed all together. Could life really return to (a new) ‘normal’? Could we really dare to think that as double jabbed citizens we could mix and socialise with each other again?

And for a brief time, it almost felt like we could, even though a lot of us were hesitant. Breathe, we thought!

Yet, as we started breathing and doing more, the DELTA variant hit us. We heard of more and more of our colleagues and friends who were hit badly, despite being double vaccinated.

Having arranged one of our quarterly Advisory Panel meetings, one of our advisors and her whole young family were affected by Covid. We were concerned and thankfully they dealt with it as best as they could.

We collectively agreed not to go ahead with the meeting, but Jane and I took the opportunity to have a productive ‘Away Day’ instead. I suppose that this is the main thing I want to write about. The need to respond quickly but as constructively and creatively as possible under these ever-changing circumstances.

We have been lucky enough to have remained generally busy (not as intensely as earlier in the year, which has been a welcome respite). However, what has been noted is how much longer projects are taking to be finalised and come to fruition.

Organisations are hesitant about taking action during uncertain times and whether to stay with previous Business Plans. Staff are quickly going off and this has resulted in more pressure on others or for processes to be affected, due to reduced decision-making capabilities.

This situation has reminded us about our own agile, responsive organisation. Apart from our core work which we have continued with, we have carried on looking at flexibility and creativity in our plans. We are looking at various complementary approaches and projects which build on what we have already created and achieved in the last 9 years.

It's fair to say that we are proud of the several ‘irons in the fire’ which we can hopefully report on soon. And yet there is a very slight unease in ‘counting our chickens’, when we have seen the kind of challenges I talk about above.

And considering precedent, we know that we will get through the topsy-turvy times of change and come through with learning which will feed into the new and wondrous things that we will do next! The message ultimately is to hang on in there, ask for help if needed and remain focused. Resilience is how we can pick ourselves up from these challenges.

It's this resilience and agile approach that we hope to encourage in the people we work with. If you're interested in working with us, get in touch.