right sir good afternoon everybody my name is Pham hello I'm the executive director at F comm welcome to you all to this afternoon's F comm session which is looking at leadership today before I hand you over to our facilitators and leaders of the session could I just suggest that you keep your microphones turned off but if you're happy to show your faces that's really helpful to the facilitators and just to repeat as I do every week these sessions are recorded and they will be available on our web site from tomorrow lunchtime alongside which there will be some additional resources and pieces of information that we include in support of the session and also moving forward we're hoping to continue doing sessions once a week for the seeable future so if you have any ideas and any suggestions please do let us know they're all welcome and we reassess them all and we aim to finish at 4 to 5 and we will run over a couple of minutes if if if it's looking that way but we do try very hard to stick to the timetable so without any further ado I can I'd like to just welcome our facilitators so we have Sharon Baker from fly don't walk Sharon worked in TV film and event agencies for over 20 years before becoming a leadership coach and now uses her experience to help agency leaders and leadership teams gain clarity and focus to become even more effective inspiring and innovative she is also a conceptual artist and study psychology that combines a creative and scientific approach which clients say has helped to transform their agencies hello Sharon and then our other facilitator is Lucy Thompson from a quest perspective Lucy brings over 20 years operational and strategic leadership experience as she coaches senior leaders and teams she's about seeing people fulfill their potential and is equipped to coach client development to generate inspiring and practical leadership skills throughout her career lucy has had a reputation for her ability to build connection and Trust through her relationships aiding mobility and growing through for her clients so a lot of experience in the room please welcome Lucy and Sharon thank you Thanks so thank you very much everyone for coming it's lovely to see some faces actually a nice to be back with my this feels like my firm ground so it's really it's really nice to be here though this session is to help fuel advance your thinking really about the reintegration of the team so whenever and whatever that looks like um and we're hoping that we're going to be able to have an interactive session is we really want to hear from you so that we can share with the group we we run this on Friday and it works so well that people have shared their ideas and their thoughts and what they were doing and it really helps to move thinking on so we'll be looking at the challenges at the impact that reintegration is going to have what the opportunities are and and the consequences actually change in a in our business models I think there's a lot going on I want to dress very quickly to have a look at this from a zip from an alien's point of view so this is truly I think so some people when we come back into the office are gonna be have will have been out of the organization for six months and some people have been working really hard all the way through and sadly some people won't be coming back at all so when the team actually gets back together they're going to be in a slightly different landscape that business models may have changed cards no change there's gonna be quite a lot of change and also possibly a phased integration so what we're hoping is that this session is going to give you opportunity to really do some thinking so that you can make sure that your team when they can't come back are stable and motivated and empowered and really ready to take the agency well into the recovery period and I just want you to look at what some of the impacts are of how you make the decisions that are to bring the team together really so Amelia this is a first slide so the ones that I've looked at are global uncertainty so it's it's clear now that this is going to go on some time and and until Willy obviously gets control over the virus the behavior of clients and their consumers is going to be unpredictable which means that we can't forecast and our work is going to be unpredictable so the second one is well-being so obviously this has been paramount so health and safety has been paramount and rightly so and this will continue again for as long as we don't have any control over the virus communication how you've communicated with the teams while they've been furloughed and why they've been working from home will to some extent dictate how they come back into the workplace and and also it seems that communication has been some changing quite a lot there's been a lot of consultation and collaboration with employees and that is really important as well when they come home adaptive patience for employees and what I mean by this is that although we've been on the the collaborative Corona Corona coaster people have different attitudes to to how they want to work and so we have to then take that into account and it's about their domestic situation how they want to travel you know how happy are they working from home their emotions when they come back so there's that there are lots of things that I think we have to take into account when people do come back varying experiences I mean I think for some people this has been an amazing time it's been very creative it's energizing we've changed things in three months that would have taken three years to do probably before and for others it wouldn't have been a very very sort of anxious time a very unstable time so just really acknowledging the people are going have gone through very different experiences experiences in this and how that impacts the team and they come back and psychological impact of the crisis I want to share with you a slide that comes from a Harvard Business Review article which I think puts beautifully the psychological aspect of the crisis so immediately you could sort of do the next slide and and and it looks at three phases to the emergency phase that's everyone getting together and sort of being galvanized regression going into a slump I feel like I've already been through that and I'm just touching coming into recovery but you know you realize this is the long haul it might get a little bit tired or definitely tired unfocused and then into recovery so okay we now have to really start bringing this together looking long-term revising our goals our expectations and roles going forward so before we get into the interactive part I just wanted to share a couple of slides that we've done by which show you some research that we're done by an agency looking at I think 250 Malkin's agencies so the next slide looks at how people working from home have been impacted so I think 72% is actually quite good in terms of the 28% we're in a really bad mental health place but I think the really important stat here is the one that says 66 percent of those aged 25 and under have been suffering from one or more signs of mental ill health and it's it's quite clear that the younger generation of pin impacted more than the older generation and also the reservations about returning to the office and obviously the sort of disconnection lots of people felt disconnected now that 57% about communication is a little bit misleading because actually 41% said that the communication was good enough so actually I think agencies have been doing quite well so the next slide actually looks at furloughed employees and I just wanted you me I hope hopefully you can read this but there are a few things here just to take note I think in terms of bringing people back and one of those is their mental health has been worse than people working from home there's been more anxiety obviously fear about recession fear about losing their jobs work-life balance has been a bit more difficult and again in well-being one in three have been struggling and found it hard to focus it's that's not surprising you know how the lack of routine and purpose and felt really isolated from the team so I think those two slides just give us a little picture of where our employees have been and how they might be arriving and back in the office whenever that happens so I'm gonna pass Daisy to Lucy now and we're going to just do some polls with you so that you can share with each other where you are at the moment so introducing my lovely colleague Lucy excellent so we're gonna run some polls because get a bit of a sense of what well what you're doing in your organizations and what others are doing as well so Sharon can you bring up the first poll please so the question that we would really like to explore is what percentage of employees have been furloughed as of today so if you can click in to what your experiences in your organization that would be fantastic thank you for your quick responses couple or maybe possibly those that entered a bit later won't be able to okay okay yet so that's the results of that so what percentage of our employees are furloughed so we're seeing that in all organizations in a place where everybody's very loved us yes but to think that a third over a third people have got 60% of their organization out furloughed as of today with a fairly and sharply followed by 20% and then 40% so it's a really significant range of our employees are out of the business in an active capacity as of today okay so let's hold hold that thought and Sharon if you can run the second one that would be great thank you okay here we go can you see that okay so what's the timeline for bringing people back as things stand today what what are your views and thoughts around that accepting them for some people you may not really know but for others you may have a bit of a sense brilliant thank you so let's let's share the results of this one okay so the timeline for bringing people back certainly not this side of the beginning of August is really clear message there with in fairness over a third of you that were filled around 82% of you filled out the questionnaire so over a third of you actually not knowing at this stage and I think I'm going or waiting for the external sense and the government really reinforces the the risk there so it's interesting as we open up a discussion just to explore what some of those things are when you're thinking about it but what's clear there is that there's a real mixture a real mixture let's have a look at the third hole please Sharon this is the last one poll heavy so what are the top three considerations in the decision for how to bring people back so we've given you a multiple choice here and if you scroll down there are quite a number of choices beyond the my screen certainly may be yours so three three choices to pick here as you start to consider how to paint people back go for it thank you okay just a few more seconds brilliant Thank You Sharon let's see the results of that please look so quite a dominant theme there around pipeline forecasts and our current workload with 92 % that up there and then a significant drop off to then think about function and skillset of our team Cup alongside government guidelines so thank you for that some really significant thoughts there Thank You Sharon okay so let's let's stop sharing those so and we're really keen to build to have a bit of conversation now and I'd really welcome this opening up at this point and I've got we've got some questions to explore together so I'd love to see your faces and the opportunity to come off new as you're ready to interact and share your perspectives I think Sharon and I have been talking a lot about the whole area of the reintegration of teams and recognizing that the longer this goes on the more [Music] okay Lucy Lucy we've lost you a bit are other people hearing her is it just me you're not hearing hi there Lucy yes I'm absolutely here brilliant okay would you just mind saying that again we just missed that okay it's it's still not still not back um Lucy I'm shall I just take over this little bit because we're still you turn unless you turn your picture often just try look click and you've got your muted okay okay so we what we thought we'd ask you to do is just to share with us what workplace adjustments you're making on Friday it was clear that some of the workspaces were completely changing working from home obviously was changing what sort of adjustment are you making for when people are going to come back so would anyone like to share what what their what their workplaces is doing at the moment she like shall I ask something sorry I don't yeah and can I can I ask you would you mind I mean it's all working from home thing I think would continue for quite a while and I think it's just kind of your return to the office I think is only if there is a real need is I need to prepare for something already to planning for an event and need to be specifically in one space but other than that for now which is kind of recommending to everybody to work from home because it works generally and people are accustomed to that now and I don't think for the next couple of month it's going to change so I think unless every year is a neat it will just continue to go from home but but the office is available if they need it that's how we kind of place it right now and you keep in your office as it is because we've heard people sort of changing their structure completely in st. having a clubhouse people can come in and I mean it sounds great rather than actually keeping the offices it was so that people would almost have to book to come in how are you doing it I think it's probably more like a long-term plan that we haven't looked at it the whole non hot-desking insane world I think just destroy that start for the next couple of months I think and then after that I don't think we looked at that far ahead yet we always have quite a sex move working policy anyway so vary based on where you sit and hot-desking all that but that I didn't only look at once in a safe space again and people can kind of move around as such yeah absolutely would anyone else like to share Dean I know you've got your camera and oh you like all I say is I think I think we're kind of thinking in the same way so at the moment working from home is 100% working obviously suits are sort of starting at the moment so there is a need to go in for those and we're doing that in a safe way as much as we see avoiding public transport as much as possible at the moment and longer-term I think I think we are going to change how our office is that still under discussion at the moment but I can't see us going back to how it was before my point in the near term middle term or even long term actually because it's kind of fundamentally changed in Brees attitudes towards office and office and I think there is discussions at the moment about looking at maybe two days in the office but only really if it's needed and also making sure that we don't have more than a certain amount of people in the space at the time because you know we don't have a massive office so we need to make sure that we're able to if we still need to by that point distance in the office but yes it's we kind of still we're trying to plan ahead but we're still trying to react to you know the next change in the next change it still all feels a bit like the floors moving underneath us off the time would be three months and then we'll be back but Lucy do chicken sweetheart when when you get you back hi would you mind sharing what you're what you're up to at the moment yeah sure and hi everybody hope you will and so I've got kids and cats on the right age here which is what I hope my camera off so they've all gone out for a walk or not cats so and yeah it's kind of the same as what joe saying really and that we're just starting to think at the moment about how we can get back into the office and I think strangely we stood up coming at it from a slightly different angle which is that actually we're a lot of us are quite keen to get back to the office and partly from a logistical point of view we've got a really a mix of Ages and circumstances within the business people with kids like myself but also you know 20-somethings who are living in a house share to work on a shonky you know sort of set up at home you know obviously we've provided the kit that we can would obviously people don't necessarily have the space for us to transport a desk a chair a second monitor and things like that so that to their home but related to that as well I mean I think I've been really interested in the well-being side of this that you mentioned earlier that actually I think there's a huge benefit from the sort of collegiate side of being together basically both from a working process point of view you know we found that the communication side of things has been tricky sometimes when particular member having to work quickly on creative projects or when stuff gets missed because you know a side conversation goes on over here or there's not quite the easy collaboration that we have before in terms of just being able to walk over to somebody and go what do you think of this or whatever so I agree with what you think yeah no you know the the hot desking thing though I think is just really problematic you know from a safety point of view so we're just trying to look at our office space at the moment in terms of how we can potentially make it work for us you know the biggest challenge I think though is I think you mentioned this as well Joe is transport that that seems to be the biggest risk factor that we've come up against and we have people who have no other way of getting into the office other than gay on a very crowded cube line or a train line it's just not feasible for them to walk or cycle or get a bus or drive and thinks I'm out so yeah I think the transport thing seems to be the main barrier that we've identified at the moment but that aside there seems to be a real desire to come back to the office yeah Thank You Dean Lucy if you anything - yeah I think it's really interesting to notice the difference between what drives the physical integration around people's desire to be together versus the safety risks that people are bouncing up plus the very practical stuff around there I haven't got enough space to concentrate on the job at home I've done it because I've had to and I can't wait to get back to the office and start doing so noticing is that you have an awareness of your different employees thoughts and thinking and actually one of the conversations that Sharon I've been having is around the how how are you involving the team in in making decisions and being part of the decisions around what comes next and what are you doing really intentionally to help their onboarding with the how to move forward as an organization with this next bit I think in thinking about the recovery phrase that psychological Space Center Sharon was referring to I wonder whether we could move from exploring the physical reintegration to thinking about the strategic reintegration and I'm curious to hear what has worked for your teams in the last couple of months that you are really keen to protect as you start to think about reintegration so what has really worked for the team that you would like to protect schedule drinking yeah yeah I mean it's something if daft as it sounds it's something that we were always struggling to do as a team to do nights out and things like that and strangely the thing that we ended up doing more regularly was having lunch together we're lucky that we've got quite a nice big kitchen in the office so we'd fall into this thing of doing like a team lunch thing quite regularly but never managing to do the drinks thing whereas with zoom weave is just this recurring thing in the diary thirsty beers you know and oK we've all got a limited amount of stuff to give at the moment so but it's actually been really really good so and in terms of listening to the team that's the kind of stuff I've been hearing is that actually people like the fact that there's just this recurring thing in the diary show up or don't show up but we don't debate it we don't have a big discussion about whether it happens or not it just either happens or it doesn't basically which is quite interesting and I think one of massive things about working from home because that you know people have felt a little disconnected if you don't get that opportunity to all be together but building in those little informal times you know because you're not walking past people's desk anymore typically how they are so building in those informal cap shops I think is super important in the community and keeping this of the culture going as well yeah it seems a simple thing but we just never thought about structuring it in that way it felt too formal to structure it in that way but I think that is absolutely something we probably carry what I'm interested in as well it's this is because people are talking about there's more trust now people are working working from home and it works and that there is trust built up between employers and employees I mean what do people think about that and does anyone have any I think that's the yeah I think the I might also be the current worry about the work situation everything but I think people just adapted to it and they're becoming more practice and self driven I think that's one thing that we definitely notice that people who haven't been furloughed they're not really driving the role and they're looking for opportunities and they get a lot more yes after an or being able to work independently because they don't have a support structure around them like people they can just quickly check things with but there seem to thrive on that something that definitely benefits it and I think what you said is exactly right I think there's always a who's making how many days a week Amy let people work from home without the whole system collapsing bone collapse it actually works and I think that's quite nice right now to see actually you can continue with that and then see be more flexible as a company in the future definitely something we're looking at as well I was name is that over the over the years I have asked some work from home but never full-time all week but I often work from home to 3 day 3 days a week and I was always fascinated by the fact that people there was that element of trust and I used to think well I'm being paid to do that job I didn't do it I don't get paid and I think this has been a great leveler because it is just proven that if you're hiring the right people and your people are committed to the company they work for they'll work from home you know it's not it's not the problem that I think a lot of companies felt it was so this has been a game-changer and I really think it's gonna have a fundamental effect on the way business is structured yeah going forward and how how people learn to work together you know and then they'll really I think I do think you won't lose that need for people to get to be together but they will value that a lot and and make the most of those opportunities when they're sort of built into the structure of their work but you know I think I think working from home for people who can and want to whereas before it was a struggle to get that approved by someone you know I think it'll be almost a given that you if you prove you can do it you can do it yeah I think that we would measure output rather than ours I think this time has really broken broke in the back of that idea and therefore the the benefits of the Thursday beers we're you know that that informal time for a bit of a cat chop is gonna be in there as well because it gives you a sweet spot is there anything else that people just want to call it and they would like to protect hi all I'd say is that I think although we've always been quite a close company I think we've had more real conversations in the last couple of months actual conversations about honest conversations about how we're feeling what's going on the struggle the kind of balancing act that everybody does no matter what kind of your life is out of work there's always kind of you have to put that aside to do that or that aside to do that and actually being very honest about those conversations I think we should hold on to that definitely well I think as as leaders we continue to be honest about what we're doing which kind of gives everybody else that the Dok to do is that we model encourage those behaviors back from our teams so whether the kids in the actually I just need ten minutes people and this something very human about say being you know obviously I don't know most the people here but you know couple of weeks ago I had a really bad week I was just not happy at all for a whole week crying for no reason and really honest tolds like my two bosses and then told my team and stop working for a bit and then felt much better so to kind of because I would want everybody else to be able to do that as well I wouldn't want someone to have to struggle through it and soldier on you just got a that question is about thinking about as we reintegrate and emerge from this how do we talk properly to each other you don't do that anymore isn't there something but as the reintegration how do we take those things with us into our organization and say that's who we are now Joe I think that's a really important point but you know it's it's been okay to not be okay you know it in the workplace and and we've been able to bring our emotions in which i think is incredible it's just sort of to really take that forward us as being open and honest which of course you know in in the work that I do I see that has a massive impact on how how much people can feed back to each other how honest they are with the communication and the other thing that I've seen as well is that the cut that employees are being consumed so there's more of a two-way communication and then it comes into your well-being points I think Dean as well that you know well-being so important that you have to consult and collaborate more in the communication as well yeah lovely does anyone else have anything they'd like to add there's okay me again sorry I'm so interested I'm joining him in that communication thing I think as well as the leaders have been open about not having the answers and just admitting it and kind of going because we're all being thrown into the same thing that is incredibly unusual so you know to be able to just put your hand up you go nada I I don't know I just don't know what we're gonna do about that so I'm not gonna do anything I'm gonna let it sit for a week and if you have a good idea you let me know but otherwise we'll talk about it next week because you know you sit there anything I know I really don't know how to fix that thing I've never been presented with that problem before but I'll learn whereas you know before we might have skated over it a little bit paddling frantically thinking man they won't notice and I'll come up with a problem and it'll all be alright and whereas now you just there's too many problems I'll just put that one on one side and move over here with the things I care and fix I'm just sharing that makes a big difference because then it empowers somebody to kind of go well why don't we just try this and somebody you know they Pike up with the solution possibly exactly that's what I was going to say it gives people the opportunity to input much more and and and you know they're open to input that because everyone's in the same boat yeah great and can I just ask people what what challenges you think you see in the reintegration just imagining so when we do come back you know what are the main challenges with that whole piece do you think that meant I think I'm outside of the thinking a lot of a beautiful photos are maybe younger members of the team or like new members of the team and to get them back in and training needs and maybe you know might have lost like two three or four months of work experience and developments nothing that steps our that was one of the main focus points and we got so kind of restarting training and onboarding a little bit depending on and the experience so that that would be a key factor it's a long time to be out of the business group of people as well and also I think this disparate to group of people who are in different places so I think the sort of the dynamics there as well I mean what I've been hearing is that people especially the younger ones are really desperate to get back into the office but I do think it's it's a sort of thing that that is really good to address and be very open about those different experiences before you come in so that it can it doesn't lead to any sort of long-term feelings you know going on underneath that aren't address yeah anyone else sort of would like to I think I think a lot of the potential for then we've got very very large team and fifty percent of them over fifty percent has been furloughed and like Dean we've had we have happy hours we've got what's that Greeks we've got everything keeping everybody all connected but I think there's very much this whole fear of missing out those people who are on furlough versus the people who are still in the business and also that fear of jealousy jealousy only from those people who haven't been working but jealousy from the people that have been king and when people come back and it's like oh it's so difficult you know I now have to work an eight-hour day or a 10-hour day and it's like when I want a second what you're doing it for the past goodness knows how long it'll be a big there's gonna be a really big seesaw from from that side so yeah that's kind of what I can kind of potentially see happening absolutely and and I've been hearing that that some employers have been asking people to holiday well you are there on furlough and there's been a bit of a kickback you know to that and of course the the view of the people who have been working full-time it's it's I think potentially unless you address it head-on I think is I think it's potentially a bit of a destabilizer that one yes I think that that's that's a great question and and my answer to that is that you know the the openness and the honesty that leaders have been showing and that sort of people now have a bit more to open up about emotions it's about creating a space where people can do that and have the tools to be able to do that I think being open about it and seeing that it there there is potential there for those emotions to to have an impact on the team it's addressing it head on and I would say in a in an environment that is set up to do that you know creating a space for that yeah I think the other thing is about trying to create a space it doesn't already exist to allow non furloughed and furloughed people to be together because I think initially when it looked like it might feel like it was a short-term thing there was a bit of jealousy for the non for the furloughed people that might have been off being paid and it felt quite comfortable and they were having this paid whole day looking there but actually I don't think there are many people that are really jealous of going on so long and that's generated some real heartache and uncertainty in real challenges I think the truth is now there are there's been plusses and minuses to groups people neither generally chose the mission that they in and I think there's something about being really real and really open so I I think that the opportunity to bring those groups together and explore some of that challenge and so that painter to put it on the table the village and give it voice and to be able to face into it together as part of believing that you're allowing people to see the other perspective and it hasn't been all rosy for one group versus the other Peter I've noticed your mute has come off on really keen to community I think a number of things really whizzing around in my head off to conversation as yourself I think probably is the thing that people are missing and however much you do on the zoom and have Thursday evening drinks and all that kind of stuff it is not the same as being in the same rhythm and I think that as soon as people can actually get back to actually being immersed a I think a little people want to get back to being in the same space because being work is part of your tribe the people you work with part of your tribe and that's you have that social interaction I think we're talking about things that will work you know working from home can work I'm not 100% convinced that in some some ways working from home doesn't work we sit on calls looking into the air we don't have any body language we can't read what's going on those semiotic so really important especially in a creative industry if you weren't creative people come up with solutions solutions that we move the business forward not necessarily client creative solutions then that's going to demand that we get into a face-to-face situation before that can actually happen I understand there might be weave might be a year down the road I'm not saying it's enforces its work safely but I think we're missing a lot I'm not having that close social interaction and I think in terms of working for our clients working for me working for the clients I think there's a massive problem in terms of everybody's jumping on the web in our own work and I was saying we can do all this remote with all these clever bits of technology that we can scrub it it is not like being in the same room it is not like being actually in a structured facilitated environment where you can read the language and here I think we're along they form their way I think Basel we can focus on I think we have two conclusion but I think there's something about recognizing things that we want to protect the things pizza that you're alluding to that oh my goodness we thought we knew that was important and by golly has this time not really reinforced that so when we start to think about that time that we do have when we're face to face how do how do we shape what that looks like killing little where the reality is we're going to have an element of social distancing for some time so how do we make the time that we can be physically together in the room really really count so I guess what we've been looking to explore is the challenge between some of the positives that we've been through as well as some of the challenges and how the reintegration phase is just that it's just a phase going back to that poll right at the beginning where we're looking for the fact that people are going to be coming back over quite an extended period of time and there are really big questions around pipeline and demand going on around there that will really shape the time shown the way the way that looks do you want to what I think that was a great summing up I think it's a very very complex subject and something that will play out over quite a long time actually and you know I'd love to do this again I mean explore it in a little bit more depth because I think there's I think the important thing is to actually sort of look into the future and look at what the consequences of some of what's going on now might have so that you can prepare the balance yes I think it's very interesting I'd like to say we're at time now but I'd like to say to anyone that if you'd like the we've been doing quite a lot of research and come across a couple of fantastic articles actually that are very useful so if you'd like to receive those just put your email in the chat box and Lucy and I are also offering anyone on this call a free one-hour consultation that you can you can have our expertise we know how to work out exactly sick of how you might prepare for the for the reintegration and what your challenges aren't and watch what you can actually do so if you'd like that put your name in the in the chat box and we'll get in touch with you but this is thank you so much to everyone for contributing it's really lovely I thought it's a fascinating conversation and there's lots more there so yeah happy to do it again Claire well thank you thank you both very much indeed yes and I know Matt I find it's so interesting I couldn't keep myself out of it so there you go from F calm I mean we you know one of the things that we do are these sort of small internet events where we you know we invite our members and their opportunities to learn and get to know their fellow members and we miss all that you know I joined F come in January and I feel like I haven't really got to know I'm in this yet you know trying to do it online is not to say you know I'm missing my vodka martini in a fancy hotel and I'm missing my cider at the pub so you know I just I'm looking forward to the opportunity to do that in the business we're in as Peter sort of rightly pointed out we there is a comradery and everything we do you know the offense sector the film business it's all about people collaborating and working together and I think that's how we've made it work working from home because it's in our nature to make it work but I think we are all very much looking forward to being able to be in the moment and alongside shoulder-to-shoulder with our colleagues so which cross fingers that it won't be too much longer but in the meantime we shall continue to put out webinars at right through June and to the end of July they'll be once a week then reporting for August and then we'll get back to you with a an autumn schedule but thank you all very much once again and the reminder that this will all be available on our website tomorrow and we hope to see you again thank you very much bye thank you very much