March 2023 When? Please tell me when.
When will normalcy return? And, by the way, while you’re at it, please tell me what the new normal will be.
10 March 2020
 That was the day of my last pre-COVID meeting. In fact, to be clear, the COVID pandemic had already started. There I was on the campus of Western New England University. The University had only just made the decision to keep students in residence, since they did not want to send them home to face an uncertain future without access to reliable health care. Obviously, that decision did not stand. After all, Colleges and Universities faced the unavoidable obligation to shut down, and re-strategize.
As we pass the THIRD anniversary of that date, I suspect we all are pondering what our businesses will be like going forward. From my vantage point, there are no absolute truths. Every family and business has had to make decisions that work for their situation. Retail operations, commercial offices, manufacturing, health care, education, your family, and mine – we’re all different.
 What about me? I’m a consultant in the facilities management field. (Yes, I know it says Architect on the letterhead and tax forms. Old habits die hard.) Three years ago, I would have said that Zoom was a tag line in a series of Mazda commercials. Now it’s become a noun. I strongly suspect going forward I’ll do more business virtually than I did pre-COVID. This is not an entirely bad outcome. Unnecessary travel is eliminated, and video calls are much better than voice calls to get a sense of client and coworker demeanor.
While face-to-face interaction has many transactional benefits, doing so is almost certainly going to be less frequent.
Businesses that had adopted WFH (Now there’s an acronym we never exercised before) protocols are rescinding them. But, not without pushback or compromise. I’ll be very surprised if Elon Musk gets his way at Twitter, and Bob Iger at Disney has realized he can’t ask for full 40-hour weeks in the office. The fact is many jobs are easily accomplished outside the office. Case in point: Not long ago, I interacted with a customer service representative who had a chatty child in the background. I was well taken care of, as was the young one. Good for dad. And good for the company that made it happen.
Business conferences and networking events are returning. For me, though, the jury is still out on how wise they are. I have avoided all situations where there are large indoor gatherings of people with no vaccine or masking mandates. The list of avoidances is significant:
- Movie theaters
- Athletic Events
- Indoor restaurants
- Large business functions
- Public transportation
- Air travel
Even routine shopping has diminished.
I suspect, in time, this will resolve at a level similar to before.
Travel?
Two types, of course: Business and pleasure. Either way, I have not been on a plane, train, or bus in over three years. If I couldn’t drive, I didn’t go. That is likely to change in June (if not before), since I have an on-site teaching assignment two days drive from home. Last year, the class was 100% on-line, and the year before it was hybrid. The year before that, it didn’t happen.
 For pleasure, the hesitation was similar. But, wanderlust is major. Last summer, in a desire to cope with the urge, my wife and I did our first-ever cross-country drive – partly to finally do it, and partly to avoid plane travel. We were very circumspect about indoor gatherings (i.e., none). It was, nevertheless, a wonderful experience – so, there was that. This approach unfortunately doesn’t work well for other seasons or other continents.
Moving On?
Right now, things seem oddly contorted. Many people, admittedly myself included, are probably behaving unwisely at times. Shedding masks, attending business conferences, mixing in crowds of strangers - or worse. All this, while people sadly continue to suffer and die.
Every time I let down my guard, I feel it’s with some degree of risk. My hope is that as we pass through the balance of this year, we’ll all see the plausible way forward. I think (maybe wishfully) this will be the year of healing and reestablishment. But, it won’t be just like it was over three years ago. How could it be?
What do you think?
Missed earlier newsletters? Find them here:
September 2022 “
Facilities Management – My Way"
March 2022 “
Facilities Management – My Way"
January 2022 “Report Writing for Dummies"
October 2021 “Writer's Block and Other Musings"
May 2021 “Lower Ed?”
September 2020 “Just Stylin'”
July 2020 “Reflections on Our Covid Times”
February 2020 “Quirky Clients – The Smart Version”
September 2019 “OPM Cheerleader”
June 2019 “Can You Perform?”
February 2019 “Today's Word”
October 2018 “The Case for DIversity-Architect's Version”
June 2018 “A Capital Idea”
March 2018 “Me Too?”
January 2018 “R U Trending?”
October 2017 “Do You Measure Up?”
August 2017 “I'm an Architect and I'm Here to Help”
January 2017 “The Future of Higher Education”
November 2016 “The Owner as CM?”
August 2016 “Don't you just hate...”
June 2016 “Duck Testing”
April 2016 “Once Upon a Time...”
January 2016 “I want to take you higher”
November 2015 “Moderating in all Things?”
July 2015 “Alphabet City”
May 2015 “Acey Trey Trey Trey?”
January 2015 “Nature or Nurture?”
August 2014 “Acey Trey Trey?”
June 2014 “The Seven Deadly Sins”
March 2014 “Thar She Blows!”
November 2013 “Giving Thanks”
September 2013 “Back to School?”
June 2013 “What Time is It?”
March 2013 “Acey Deucey?”
January 2013 “A Swamp Full of Alligators”
October 2012 “Plan to Live Forever, Part Deux”
July 2012 “A Midsummer Dream”
May 2012 “Are you Virtually Working?”
March 2012 “Your Huddled Masses”
January 2012 “Observing Observations”
October 2011 “I Want What I Want”
August 2011 “A Beach Read”
May 2011 “NeoLuddite or Technophile?”
March 2011 “Do Your Silos Leak?”
January 2011 “Plan to Live Forever!”
November 2010 “May I Have A Plan, Master?”
September 2010 “How do we choose?”
July 2010 “Good People Behaving Badly”
May 2010 “LEED: LEADing or Dead Weight?”
March 2010 “Why does it cost so much?”
January 2010 “Design/Builders show us your softer side.”
November 2009 “What the Facilities?”
September 2009 “Why Do Architects Make Good Owner’s Reps?” |
