Are we all still speaking “pandemic”?

PSFI partner Mike Mister looks at some of the phrases that have sprung up during the pandemic and considers whether some of them are now past their sell-by date as we move to a new way of working.

Now that we are all familiar with the word pandemic – and how it differs from epidemic (* for those seeking clarification see below). It is interesting to observe how circumstances change our use of language and the words that we use. We resurrect, repurpose or even create words to express ourselves or make the words applicable to the zeitgeist of the times. Over the past year we have all seen a proliferation of data hitting our television screens and pontificated over them in a way that, in the absence of the appropriate comparators, has been, frankly, nonsensical. Additionally we have all become amateur virologists, vaccine experts and reminded of how crises are not to be wasted!

As would be expected our language – and by that I am referring to the language we use in the business world – which is so often reduced to acronyms of 3 letters or more – has spawned a host of new additions. As could be expected the desire for brevity has become a necessity and the mother of invention for the language of the pandemic. Below is a small selection of phrases and acronyms I have come across from the “blogosphere” over the last 12 months and also in working and meeting with people desperately trying to make work happen during the last year.

And finally, a piece of advice that does not make for easy tabulation, is the inspired wisdom from a friend (who punctures the very human propensity to discuss ailments and vaccinations) by insisting everyone on his calls obey the “organ recital” rule. Which is that when asked “How are you?” you may speak about any health issue for no more than five minutes, and then not again on that particular call.

So, as our use of collaborative technologies has become part of our new normal, and we grapple with what “hybrid” means and how to make “hybrid” work… it may be useful to remember the four questions posed as a recent event by Matthew Taylor of the Royal Society for Arts and Manufactures in London:
• What have we started doing during these times that we should continue?
• What have we started doing during these times that we should stop doing?
• What did we stop doing during these times that we should restart?
• What did we stop doing during these times that we really have no need to start doing again?

As we navigate a new hybrid way of working, these four questions would seem to be a useful way for leaders to cut through the acronyms and new terminology and to engage in some serious reflection and conversation – without using the language of the pandemic – to help our people navigate their way to creating a new normal for what our working lives may be in the future.
*Epidemic – a widespread occurrence of an infectious disease in a community at a particular time.
*Pandemic – (of a disease) prevalent over a whole country or the world.

Mike Mister is a partner at PSFI and specialises in the areas of development of leadership and change management. With over 30 years’ experience working internationally with senior leaders and their teams, his key interest is the intersection of strategy, commercial success and the organisation’s people agenda. Mike is also a Senior Fellow in the Human Capital Practice of The Conference Board and is the co-author of “How to Lead Smart People” with Arun Singh, a Senior Fellow with The Conference Board. Most of Mike’s articles are also published by The Conference Board.

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Mike Mister