Organisations in the public, private and third sectors have all had to cope with new working practices driven by the COVID pandemic. Almost overnight, organisations, teams and individuals have had to move to remote virtual working and to remain that way for most of a year. While trying to continue to fulfil their roles – or learning new ones in response to emergency – staff have been expected to deliver for consumers and customers while also coping with the isolation and disorientation of remote home working.
How have staff coped? What have managers and employers learned? Sustaining employee motivation, retaining the sense of common purpose arising from team working and looking after the mental and physical health of employees are all a further challenge above and beyond the core task of maintaining a sense of organisational purpose and culture. So for as long as crisis driven remote working continues – and for new patterns of working which may endure beyond pandemic – what can we learn to adopt as good practice and avoid as bad?
Organisations in the public, private and third sectors have all had to cope with new working practices driven by the COVID pandemic. Almost overnight, organisations, teams and individuals have had to move to remote virtual working and to remain that way for most of a year. While trying to continue to fulfil their roles – or learning new ones in response to emergency – staff have been expected to deliver for consumers and customers while also coping with the isolation and disorientation of remote home working.
How have staff coped? What have managers and employers learned? Sustaining employee motivation, retaining the sense of common purpose arising from team working and looking after the mental and physical health of employees are all a further challenge above and beyond the core task of maintaining a sense of organisational purpose and culture. So for as long as crisis driven remote working continues – and for new patterns of working which may endure beyond pandemic – what can we learn to adopt as good practice and avoid as bad?
Key points
CEO
Re:markable
Managing Partner - Talent and Organisation Health
Hanya Partners
Head of Human Resources
City of Edinburgh Council
Director
Tricordant
Bonnie Clarke
CEO
Re:markable
As Chief Executive at Re:markable, Bonnie has overall responsibility for Re:markable working closely with both the Senior Leadership Team and with the Chair and Board.
Her areas of responsibility include leading the development of Re:markable’s vision to create 1 million leaders by 2023 – both in the long term and on an annual basis alongside building relationships on behalf of Re:markable across our stakeholder landscape, including the Scottish Government and corporate partners such as Investors in People UK and Turn the Ship Around! She also leads the Senior Leadership Team in the areas of work across the organisation: Finance, Client Relationships, People and Marketing.
Her previous experience includes Director for Scotland at Badenoch & Clark and regional Director with Hays. She is curious about people and about business.
Bonnie is a Non-Executive Director with Women’s Enterprise Scotland. She was the Chair of Women onto Work and the Chair of The National Theatre Scotland Advisory Development Board.
In 2014 she was awarded the Institute of Directors (IoD) Female Director of the year and in 2015 the IoD Director of the year for Family Friendly Flexible working.
Outside of work, Bonnie’s interests include her horse and all things equestrian.
Suzanne Lamont
Managing Partner - Talent and Organisation Health
Hanya Partners
Suzanne Lamont leads a Scottish-based consultancy focused on Talent and Organisation Health. She believes we can create positive work cultures that are high-performing and in which people can develop and achieve personal and business ambitions. Suzanne’s career includes 15 years working around the world with a California network computing firm, 5 years with a leading global asset management company and 4 years independent consulting. She is qualified in advanced organisation design and is a professional executive coach and leadership team coach. Suzanne was a founding board member of Organisation Development Network Europe and is serving her second term on the Strategic Advisory Board of The Adam Smith Business School, University of Glasgow.
Katy Miller
Head of Human Resources
City of Edinburgh Council
Katy Miller is a Human Resources professional whose career has predominately been in Private Sector. In 2016 she made the considered decision to move to Public Sector to immerse herself in a sector and organisation with a very different sense of purpose. She currently leads the HR team at the City of Edinburgh Council. The Council has a budget of £1 billion for 2020/21 with 19,000 colleagues delivering over 700 services. She is a Fellow of the CIPD and is a Non-Executive Director on an NHS Board. She is passionate about helping to create a preventative, equitable and inclusive agenda for all in society.
Nick Richmond
Director
Tricordant
Nick has a passion to design thriving, high performing organisations by creating healthy, meaningful work for people. Over the past 10 years he has built upon his facilitation skills, strategic thinking and innovative spirit to specialize in organisation design, organisational development, and bringing the future to life. Nick is a Director and organisation design lead for Tricordant and has led the premier association for Organisation Design in Europe, the EODF, since 2012 including as Chair.
