In my mind and in my car…We can't rewind, we've gone too far…
In my mind and in my car…We can't rewind, we've gone too far…
25/03/2022 (Staff Post - Alan McNiven )
It’s now more than two years since we went into the first national lockdown – and there’s no doubt that during these two years the way a lot us work day-to-day has changed. The question is whether these changes are forever.
Today at the #DigiRen (@Digi_ren) meeting we had a discussion on what ‘hybrid’ working actually means. The conversation, led by Ross McNicol (@rrmills101), concluded with all of us, I think, agreeing that there are benefits to digital meetings for sure. We’ve all cut our travel down somewhat and the ease to which that we can hop from one meeting to the next benefits our diary management – to a degree. We would all challenge, I assume, the idea that back to back digital meetings all day is a good idea though.
A worry I have with hybrid is that we may end up with two meetings taking place – one in the room and one online – leading to those in the remote location feeling disconnected to what’s happening in the room. We can’t and shouldn’t ignore the learning from the last two years and in conversation today, as I say, there was agreement online can be good but also being ‘in the room’, so to speak, has significant merits. Connections, networking face-to-face, the biscuits...all are better when a meeting is ‘in the room’ rather than online. The struggle I suppose is allowing people to choose what they want and then delivering it for the variety of choices.
At Engage Renfrewshire we’re looking at our approach to networking and retaining the online approach as part of that, but I’m assuming we’ve still got a way to go before we get it right - and who knows we may go back and forward with formats over the next year trying to find the balance…any ideas please feel free to share…
There was also a lot of discussion around cyber resilience training at the #DigiRen meeting. With the National Cyber Security Centre noting the current cyber threat is heightened, OSCR advises all charities should review their cyber security arrangements. If you are concerned see the link below for further information and guidance:
Take care and see you soon – online or perhaps even ‘in the room’.
Alan