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From Tracy Westall, President of Curium Solutions

I’m not sure it is possible to dramatize the business impact of the pandemic and leaders will deal with the economic fallout for years.

From the first lockdown, business leaders have figured out how to navigate for customers, people and the company culture. Three important assets for any business.

As the return to the office gets louder and louder and everything changes again, it is still, if not more important, to focus on people and culture. The work environment, however slightly “institutionalized” in which many of us work, is on the move again and many are taking stock of how they should work in the future.

Flexible working is a real mainstream. The approach “we don’t do that here” just doesn’t cut off any longer. 2020 firmly won this debate.

There is ample evidence to support claims that the world of work has changed. For example, the 2021 Modern Families Index Spotlight (Bright Horizons) shows that 57% of respondents want some flexibility between home and office, and two-thirds of working parents said they would consider an employer’s childcare arrangement before starting a new job accept. Basically, any company that ignores these things is taking a real risk with future talent.

These forced changes had real and sometimes surprising benefits. Higher productivity, better work-life balance, the ability to manage caring tasks without leaving your desk. All of these things have led to different types of conversations in many organizations. As the call to come back to the office grows louder – and it will – and the need to bring life back to our city centers becomes a call to action, leaders must continue to address the potential tensions of the people and the inevitable cultural The implications that this deal could have on businesses.

As NED, I know it’s important for the board to see this as a strategic issue. As the chairman of Curium Solutions, we know that talent attraction, retention and culture are fundamental elements of a successful business, and we take this very seriously. Culture is everything to us.

Good culture has real business value. It’s hard to build but easy to lose, so it requires constant work and conscious effort. Does the sweeping change we’ve seen offer a chance to fix bad culture or certain stubborn problems? Could this be a reset moment? For example, companies struggling with diversity could adopt flexible policies to attract new talent. Revising communication strategies, updating the language and making sure everyone has a vision behind every help culture. Testing and refining these things will help avoid pitfalls. For example, make sure that everyone has the same understanding of flexible working. Employees who want to decide when and where to work can be completely different from the employer’s view of flexibility, which may be about not coming to the office on Mondays and Fridays!

Whatever goes on in 2021, executives who learn from the past 12 months, balance what’s right for the company, preserving the best parts of their culture, and improving it when needed are sure to lead the way.

Tracy Westall has been a board member in the digital and technology sector for 30 years.

She served on the board of directors of technology company SCC plc in Midlands, ran a public sector company valued at £ 350 million and was most recently director of business services.

Tracy was also the director of GBSLEP, responsible for stimulating innovation in the West Midlands. He sat on the Smart City Commission of the Birmingham Science City Board, advocated the Digital Leaders West Midlands program and supported the Mayor of West Midlands through the West Midlands Digital Advisory Board.

She chairs Curium Solutions, an award-winning, people-led change consultancy in Birmingham that has just become an employee-owned trust. Tracy sits as the trust’s independent non-executive.

Not only is he non-executive director of the Ministry of Transport, but also a member of the Future of Transport Advisory Board, which supports the BEIS Industrial Grand Challenge. She is also the non-executive director of WM5G, Birmingham Tech Week, a member of the advisory board of Bruntwood Scitech Birmingham, governor of Birmingham City University and founder of her own consultancy helping companies scale.

Tracy served for several years on the Board of Directors of Tech UK, the trade association for the UK technology sector, and is passionate about increasing diversity and inclusion in the sector. She speaks regularly at events. She was recognized as the West Midlands Champion of Digital Leader in 2018 and recently became a non-executive member of the Executive Board of Coventry City of Culture 2021.