James Conomos participates in the IR Global Guide – Crisis Management: Surviving and thriving in a post-pandemic world
Foreward by Andrew Chilvers
Businesses across the world are undergoing the biggest remote working experiment since Europeans first sailed from their home ports to set up trading posts in Asia 500 years ago.
This time around, however, companies are moving colleagues out of their plush city centre locations to set up offices at home. What was unthinkable only a few months ago is now the new modus operandi for professional services firms and their clients. Crisis management and business continuity have indeed come of age thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic.
All this may be difficult for businesses that prefer traditional ways of operating, but most are changing their habits of a lifetime out of necessity. The old adage of preparing for the worst while expecting the best has never been more apt.
Will the professional service business model change as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic?
The COVID-19 pandemic presents a perfect opportunity for professional service firms to move towards technology to adapt to the remotely working environment.
Professional service firms, particularly law firms, weather these changed conditions (particularly as referenced by downturns in the past 30 years) better than most businesses in the Australian economy. That said, different professional service areas will fare better than others. It might be expected that the demand for restructuring and litigation will not fall and may well grow, whereas other practice areas might struggle.
The pandemic has presented different challenges for professional services unlike in previous downturns. Isolation and remote work have presented a whole new playing field. The changed conditions have exposed the reality that most professionals have access to technology, which is not costly and enables work to be produced as efficiently as previously.
Working remotely has significant benefits as well as many challenges. The instant reaction is to abandon offices in lieu of remote work practice. For senior professionals, and possibly busy administration staff such as practice mangers and those in finance, working remotely has great attraction and efficiency. Often there is no effect on productivity.
The key is how to maintain productivity, quality and mental health, particularly for team members other than managers and senior administration personnel. For a team that works together to achieve outcomes, often the remote environment is not conducive to their collective mental health unless managed carefully. The current experience has shown us that there is a place both for remote working as well as an office environment. Finding the right balance is the key.
In these times, keeping in regular contact with contacts, colleagues and also publishing papers to keep your brand top of mind is critical. There is no substitute for hard work, whether during a crisis or in normal times – what changes is how to perform.
Remote working is being seen as the new normal, how will this affect the culture of professional services firms?
Culture comes from the top. Managing your team during COVID-19 has presented challenges but also opportunities. This has been the time for leaders to shine. Teams expect that their leaders will provide the guidance and support they need through difficult times.
Remote work can lead to less communication and for younger team members working from home can and will present problems, particularly with mental health. These are unavoidable. Leaders, managers and all team members need to regularly communicate to maintain positivity and minimise the effect that isolation can have.
Mental health is the enemy or by-product of remote work for more junior team members. Also, home offices are often not designed for the kind of isolation recently experienced.
Regular communication is key to avoiding mental health issues
If managers show the right kind of leadership, working through times of remote work can build even stronger bonds with team members.
The key is leadership and communication. The challenge is how to achieve this effectively and, to a lesser extent, what technology is best to use.
While working remotely has been a significant change for some professionals, it is critical to recognise that client expectations will not change – clients still want and should be provided with prompt professional service cost effectively. How we deliver that service is the challenge. This pandemic has shown us different ways to deliver our services, particularly using technology.
With so many people now working from home using unsecure internet networks, should there be updated rules for data protection compliance? If so, should they be more relaxed given the crisis wrought by the pandemic?
One of the challenges of remote working is privacy. This is a key issue for all professionals, particularly lawyers. Depending on the technology being used, most firms will be working remotely utilising the same protection utilised at their offices. Many firms are and have been utilising cloud based services that offer effective and efficient privacy.
Professional firms must maintain appropriate levels of data protection – nothing should change. Governments should assist by providing more secure networks.
In this pandemic, there must be a balance between saving lives and saving the economy. Debate rages in modern media about the significant damage done to the economy by lockdowns, isolation, self-distancing etc. The debate is presently at fever pitch.
Everyone has their own personal views on what issue takes priority. For me, life is sacrosanct. Finding balance is never going to be easy. Should we have treated the pandemic as ‘business as usual’ and left people to die? To me, the answer is an unreservedly, no. Then we would have had significantly greater deaths and the pressure on the healthcare system funded by Australians may well have fallen and then damaged the economy irretrievably.
The alternative, which the Government’s adopted, was to flatten the curve, minimise loss of life but at the same time the economy has suffered.
The question is therefore, which comes first – preserve life or preserve the economy. To me, the answer is to act responsibly to preserve life and support the economy to reduce the effects on the economy.