Coping in the Crisis - The Coronavirus Isolation Diary

Day 2 of 14John Gourd, Chief Executive Officer at Cambridge Network, reflects on life in the New Reality.

Cambridge scene in spring

The 10am team call has proved to be a critical part of the day – an opportunity for us to check in on each other, discuss what’s going on in the network and see where we can help. There are teething troubles of course, having 12 people on a call, all patiently waiting for one colleague to finish and then all speaking over each other – I guess that’s just a part of teleconferencing etiquette that we all need to learn!

I’ve been pondering what impact this imposed system of working will have on businesses when we come out of the far end of this – will we see more working remotely or, as social animals, will we gladly rush back to our traditional offices/workplaces?

So, some more reflections for today, again in no particular order:

  • We, the Network, will develop more on-line content for the weeks ahead – we’ve filled up the original Crisis Communications seminar for tomorrow and an additional session (200 people are taking part!). It looks like our members and our followers on social media want more company-guidance training and a lot of individuals want to use the time they have to undertake some personal development. We’ll let you know when that’s been arranged, but still welcome your ideas.

  • We’ve seen lots of local companies adapting their business models or reaching out to collaborate to help address short-term issues – two that come to mind are the Cambridge Fruit Company looking to move from their traditional base of office delivery to home delivery and eg technology’s offer to bring its product design expertise to help the ventilator shortage crisis – two diverse, yet fantastic examples of Cambridge companies stepping up to the challenge.

We invite our Members to use your pages on the Cambridge Network site or LinkedIn (using the #cambridgecommunity) to highlight the work you are doing to address some of your current challenges and problems, or to post requests for help – non-Members can work through LinkedIn or email us and we will post it. The more we work together the better.

On a personal note – the annual Lent abstinence from chocolate and crisps has been officially postponed – we all need our comforts at these times!

crisp packet

 

Until tomorrow – stay safe.

John