Covid 19: Who should tell us when it's right to go back to normal?

How long? That’s the question we all seem to be asking at the moment. How long will it be until we can get back to normal? The pragmatists are leaning towards the 4-6 months mark; the optimists, sadly, not much less. 

Fundamentally, we don’t know, but what appears to be consensual is that a vaccine is some way off. So, what are we to do as PRs? We are in the middle of a public information program, which reiterates the need for the right collective and individual behaviours, which usually comes in the shape of stopping us from doing the stuff we used to do.

However, people and markets can only take so much in the way of inertia. We can only ‘not do’ for so long, which brings me back to the role played by public relations as this sobering situation continues. A crisis, as we know, tends to drag out – there isn’t a finishing line. It typically goes from the ‘big bang’, to a prolonged process of introspection, lower productivity and distrust. People and markets won’t wait until we’ve got to a point of zero activity with coronavirus; there will be an overwhelming urge to get back to normal when that curve has started to move in the right direction. Governments and businesses will, undoubtedly, be led by science and economics – the first tends to have far more patience than the second in these situations – but who’s to say when the time is right to do normal again? This is when PR should jump at the opportunity to play ‘corporate conscience’. It’s a thankless role, but one we are as suitably qualified as anyone else within the organisation, if not better, to carry out. To be clear, this is not about showing bravado and yelling it’s ‘business as usual’ before we’re ready; no, this is about recognizing that the actions compelled by having a conscience could also mean that we are confident enough to say, ‘we’re still not ready’.

The time spent in enforced exile away from the office is good for us as PRs; it’s at this time that we’ll get the opportunity to immerse ourselves in the ‘public’ of public relations (albeit at a distance). Former US General and CIA Head, David Petraeus once said that decision making during times of uncertainty, needs to be far less top-down, and “pushed outwards and downwards” towards where new information is originating.  This immersion is critical if we’re to get a sense if this information and how people are feeling. It’s only then can we make those right conscience calls.