As many countries move beyond the reactive phase of the COVID-19 crisis, the changes to regular business activity provide organisations with an opportunity to examine how they will operate in the so-called new normal.
Amid every crisis, lies great opportunity.
The impact on human life has been profound, and inevitably it will be some time before we understand the full extent of the pandemic’s social, economic and political effects. As businesses take stock of the crisis, and employees slowly start to regroup in their physical place of work, it is essential to take time to examine your purpose. It means exploring the fundamentals of your business operations, reviewing the sustainability of your investment decisions and ultimately planning for a viable future in the face of challenging economic times. However, this on its own is not enough. It must also look at your company’s values and how your business behaves internally and externally towards a broad spectrum of stakeholders including employees, customers, suppliers, local communities, policymakers, media as well as shareholders.
The definition of purpose has evolved.
The definition of a company’s purpose has evolved since it first served to prioritise shareholder value and a company’s bottom line. Since then, we have become familiar with the concepts of a double bottom line which factors social and environmental in addition to financial returns or the triple bottom line known as “people, planet, profit”.
In the last decade or so, the concept of purpose has arguably begun to evolve in the technology sector. The “Move Fast and Break Things” credo coined by Facebook and used by other technology players has changed to “Move Fast With Stable Infra” aimed at taking more time before the launch of a new product or service to create better experiences for the consumer. More recently, “The Business Roundtable” comprised of 81 CEOs of major companies in the United States committed to reformulate and implement a new definition of why a company exists.
A purpose-driven strategy for today’s world.
Businesses which execute effective purpose-driven strategies don’t just pay lip service to the notion of purpose. They also ensure that it goes beyond all aspects of their operations, including organisational structures, decision-making processes, employee training programs as well as talent acquisition and how diversity and inclusivity are defined and prioritised. They also commit to respecting their social responsibilities, including public health, income equality and climate change.
A purpose-driven strategy for today’s world must also factor how an organisation communicates and engages with the outside world. It must look at how it responds to regulation and accounts for the impact of a product or service on various stakeholders. It must examine how it uses data, algorithms and artificial intelligence responsibly. It must also factor how an organisation communicates and interacts with its network of external stakeholders. Although conducted before the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, the latest European Communications Monitor survey highlights that many of these necessary elements for a meaningful integrated purpose-driven strategy were already deemed a priority for communication management for the coming three years.
Why is this crisis different?
Previous crises have shown that maintaining a purposeful existence may prove too difficult for some companies which are merely struggling to survive. The European Communication Monitor 2020 highlights how dealing with sustainable development and social responsibility declined after the financial crisis in 2008 but grew again as priorities once economic conditions improved.
Even before the COVID-19 crisis, the EU’s policy priorities for the 2019-2024 period set out to tackle defining generational issues. As Ursula von der Leyen embarked on her term at the helm of the European Commission, she outlined six priorities which would respond to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement. These priorities would seek to steer the European Union onto a path that combined economic growth, social justice and the fight against climate change.
Now, the European Commission positions the Green Deal at the forefront of its recovery process to get to grips with the social, economic as well as broader political and constitutional implications of the crisis. The recovery package (which EU leaders hope will be approved by member states at a face-to-face summit by the end of July) goes twice as far as what the European Commission initially proposed. It also maintains the climate commitments to transition to a low-carbon, more resource-efficient and sustainable economy.
Some EU members states such as France and Ireland plan to integrate efforts to meet climate commitments in their respective COVID-19 recovery and bail-out programs. At the same time, the EU hopes that a Brexit deal negotiated with the UK in the coming months upholds a commitment to the Paris Agreement.
In the wake of the COVID-19 crisis, companies now have an opportunity to reflect and consider what part they will play in the recovery process. Beyond the policy landscape, there are also several other factors which underline why executing an integrated purpose-driven recovery strategy will be paramount to sustain long-term viability in the new normal.
- The interconnectedness of businesses, governments and society
The crisis has highlighted the extent to which companies, governments and society are interconnected. Many companies will likely continue to rely on government intervention for some time to remain viable. They will also inevitably face obligations to benefit from government recovery programs. At the same time, the initial and mostly national response to the pandemic highlighted the extent to which the European project remains fragile. Continued management of the coronavirus and the threat of a second wave and other physical risks such as climate change highlight the need for coordinated international action. The current global geopolitical climate does not necessarily suggest this will happen; however, at least in the short-term.
- Technology
The increased reliance on technology allowed many employees to work from home throughout the crisis and maintain contact with stakeholders through online events and video conferencing platforms. This reliance on technology has also served to underline the level of appreciation for social interactions, not just for personal and professional communication, but also stakeholder engagement. Technology cannot fully replace human interaction, eye contact and other behaviours which help us build trust and empathy. Meaningful connectivity feeds into the importance of delivering a purposeful strategy. The pace of digital change can also make it easy to disengage and disconnect from attributes such as authenticity, trust and transparency, which are essential for impactful public affairs and communication programs.
Technology not only impacts how organisations conduct purposeful public affairs and communications programs. It also affects the very way in which organisations use technology to do business. As the European Commission moves forward with plans to launch its Digital Services Act by the end of 2020, the way companies respond to the proposals will also face scrutiny, given the social and economic impact of the digital sector.
- Climate Change
A global lockdown has shown that halting air, rail and automotive transport, as well as significant amounts of industrial activity, will not go far enough to meet the Paris Agreement’s most ambitious target. The COVID-19 crisis presents an opportunity for companies to contribute to a fundamental rethink of efforts to combat climate change. These include exploring sustainable supply chains as well as climate-friendly manufacturing and processing methods and digitised customer transactions. It also gives companies a license to transform other crisis-related contingency plans into long-term policies including enabling employees to have the continued flexibility to work from home and to choose video conferencing instead of lengthy commutes and business travel.
- Diversity and Inclusivity
The extent to which businesses would preserve or prioritise inclusivity and diversity policies in the post-crisis recovery efforts and challenging economic conditions were raised at the outset of the coronavirus pandemic. However, in a matter of days, events and actions undertaken by BlackLivesMatter have served to underline the need for governments, businesses and civil society to work together to ensure diversity and inclusivity become implicitly part of the new normal.
- Cultural and Social
The decade that followed the last global downturn witnessed an accelerating pace of technological disruption and the emergence of a new information ecosystem. Now, as we enter the new normal many of these challenges which came to define and dominate how companies operate look set to remain, if not intensify.
- Changing behaviours around engagement, expectations of trust, transparency and authenticity: As the crisis required significant government intervention and responsibility for public health and safety, support and trust for some governments and related medical and scientific experts increased during the crisis, particularly those countries which experienced low infection rates. Time will tell how long governments will enjoy increased levels of trust amid ongoing uncertainty by people about the future and their role in it.
- Activism and scrutiny: As life slowly begins to return to normal, we can expect to witness continued scrutiny and activism driven by people’s fears about the future and their role in it. With greater responsibility for the health and safety of their workforces, how companies behave towards employees, customers, and their broader network of stakeholders is likely to be heavily scrutinised.
- Evolving media ecosystem: The global pandemic has for many reawakened the critical role of media. Still, this latest crisis has rocked an already troubled industry, and many media organisations struggle to survive. The crisis prompted the European Commission to increase pressure on social media platforms to counter the raft of disinformation linked to the coronavirus. This move forms part of broader measures to tackle online hate speech and disinformation anticipated later this year through the Digital Services Act.
- Evolving consumer purchasing habits: Even before the COVID-19 crisis, consumer purchasing decisions were becoming influenced by the reputations of brands and the values they adhere to, including their approach to sustainability and diversity. Now, as shops reopen, consumer purchasing habits are likely to be driven by decisions to shop local or online with considered attention paid towards the cost and origin of a product.
So where do you go from here?
The extent of the social, economic and political impact of the COVID-19 crisis underlines the need for a collective response and to sustain long-term viability in the new normal. The risk of a new wave of the virus remains current, and the process to find and distribute an effective treatment and vaccine will take some time. The global economy will evolve, and supply chains will likely shorten at least for some strategic products. These factors mean that organisations must contribute to finding long-term solutions.
As work from home policies and a greater reliance on digital channels are likely to endure after restrictions have ended, the challenge for purposeful integrated public affairs and communications will be to seek to elevate the human experience using technology. It will require ongoing creativity to evolve to audience information consumption habits and to deliver messages and execute actions which demonstrate purposeful attributes to your internal and external network of stakeholders.
Contact me
Combining extensive experience in leading global consultancies and the European Institutions with my passion for strategic communications and public affairs, as an independent consultant I will work directly with you to build an integrated public affairs and communications program which responds to the challenges of the new normal.
For more about me and the services I can offer you; please contact me at info@lorrainebaldwin.com.