Louisa

To what extent has the pandemic brought the industry you serve together and fostered joint initiatives and the sharing of best practice?

Debbie Dore, CEO, Association For Project Management

From the beginnings of the pandemic, the project profession has been at the forefront of delivering change for the benefit of businesses and communities, working in unison to meet emerging needs. Notable examples include the Nightingale Hospitals; the many manufacturing companies that pivoted rapidly to start making ventilators, hand sanitizer and PPE; and the supermarkets who quickly stepped up their online offering and increased their delivery capacity to keep the nation fed.

As the workplace has shifted to the online space, the importance of digital skills and data analytics has been emphasised. The Project Data Analytics Research Network, a joint initiative between APM, employers and academics, is an example of how the profession is putting itself at the crest of an emerging wave.

Ken Pullar, CEO, Chartered Institute of Payroll Professionals (CIPP)

The payroll community has always been a close-knit community, but the pandemic has definitely bought us closer together. We found ourselves trying to understand, communicate and implement changes at a speed we’d never encountered before.

We began to see the community sharing ideas, asking questions, supporting each other, and using various digital and social media channels to do this. A great example of this was our annual National Payroll Week. The week is designed to demonstrate the impact the payroll industry has in the UK through the collection of income tax and National Insurance, which is expected to contribute in the region of £325.7bn* to the UK economy in 2020/21. We saw a record number of people downloading our packs, sharing the contents, and celebrating their and their colleagues’ commitment to the profession.

We were thrilled to have once again received the backing from the UK government for our National Payroll Week. Rt Hon Jesse Norman MP penned a letter of endorsement , praising not only the hard work done by the CIPP with regards to National Payroll Week, but to all payroll professionals in the UK for ‘keeping the UK paid’. We also received a letter of endorsement from Solihull’s very own MP Julian Knight who stated: “Payroll professionals are vitally important to our economy, and are a profession often not seen but are vital to keeping the UK paid”. These letters were shared with the payroll community throughout September to encourage feelings of positivity, community and togetherness.

During September, we also saw Portfolio Payroll launch their ‘Payroll Heroes’ campaign, which again celebrated the payroll community and highlighted those in the industry who had gone above and beyond to make sure we all kept the UKPaid.

On the subject of awards, our very own Annual Excellence Awards, held during our annual conference in October, were a great way to promote and celebrate those true payroll and pension professionals who have made an outstanding contribution and demonstrated a commitment to excellence in their profession. With the awards being digital this year, alongside our conference, this meant we could broadcast to a wider audience and could share examples of best practice with the wider community.

Our policy and research technical lead, Samantha Mann MAAT, MCIPPDip along with our wider policy team have taken part in a variety of consultation panels and have fostered excellent relationships with HMRC and the Government, in order to work together, to understand the future of payroll, the legislation updates and to be the first to communicate the changes to the payroll community.

The CIPP is the first place the payroll community come to, whether that be for their training needs, their qualifications or for their membership support. The pandemic has bought us closer together as we chat online, we train online, we support and share online and we meet online, together.

*source: https://obr.uk/efo/economic-and-fiscal-outlook-march-2020/

Chris Skeith, Chief Executive Officer, Association of Event Organisers

We were fortunate to have an already engaged membership across diverse communities and functions, serving a multitude of purposes to serve the breadth of membership.

The working groups went into overdrive, meeting more often, via videoconference, with more people, tackling more projects. A highlight, was the Operations Group developing what is now government approved guidance, ‘All Secure’ standard sitting on the governments website, which was a collaboration between the AEO, AEV and ESSA, our sister associations.

In terms of the response to covid, I have never seen such unity, collaboration, and common purpose; a legacy we look forward to continuing on the other side.

In addition to the Project Confidence campaign, we have also supported other initiatives across the broader events community and promoted to members, such as; Light it Red, Eventwell, and One Industry One Voice.

We asked 6 Association Excellence Awards judges:

How has your association responded to the covid-19 pandemic in terms of how you communicate with members?

Darren Caplan, Chief Executive, Railway Industry Association

We at the Railway Industry Association instituted three main initiatives, to respond to the Coronavirus challenge and communicate with our members.
• Firstly, we arranged for a member of staff to clear the desk and become a full-time Coronavirus-response Lead Coordinator; and so all our comms from RIA, policy-makers, rail clients or stakeholders, were centralised to avoid confusion, with messages sent, generally via email, in a consistent and standard way.
• Secondly, we sent regular email ‘Coronavirus Updates’ – sometimes daily – to communicate anything we felt our members wanted to know; and we also asked members to let us know any individual enquiries they had relating to Coronavirus, and then conveyed them to the appropriate parties to seek answers and clarification on their behalf – with answers communicated to the wider membership, when answers were likely to be of use to them.
• Finally, we set up a series of virtual events, meeting and roundtables, so members could discuss with and communicate to politicians and policy influencers, rail clients and stakeholders, direct – which were appreciated on both sides to tease out issues and, where required, enabled us and our members to lobby for our sector’s asks.

A: Richard Lambert, Chief Executive, National Hair & Beauty Federation

For the National Hair & Beauty Federation (NHBF), the key to helping out members through the pandemic, the disjointed return to work after lockdown and the continuing almost daily uncertainty has been clarity of communication.

In the run up to lockdown, we saw huge concerns spreading among hair and beauty business owners as Government guidance became increasingly confusing and salons faced closure. The lack of clarity from Government, combined with media speculation, made life more stressful for our Members.

We quickly implemented a crisis communications approach and a ‘no speculation’ strategy, ensuring that everything we put out was clear, factual and based on solid information. If we didn’t have the answers, we didn’t speculate. This enabled us to build trust within the industry, the media and the government, to the point where Members said they would not make any decisions following any new announcements until they heard from us.

Social media channels proved invaluable, underlining the industry’s desire for concise, easily digestible statements rather than confusing government guidance. The NHBF Instagram following ballooned from an initial 5,000 followers to almost 68,000, while Facebook followers grew by nearly 55,000 compared to the same period in 2019. The NHBF website had over three million-page views, compared to just over 200,000 in 2019. All this led to NHBF membership increasing by almost 20%.

A: Valerie Vaughan-Dick, Chief Operating Officer, Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP)

The RCGP were quick to adopt a digital first approach, which led to the following implementations and achievements:

A digital first approach led to the utilisation and advancement of the College’s digital platforms including website, email communications, and social media;
Dedicated webpages were developed quickly to provide members with the latest COVID-19 guidance in each of the four nations and present key information to in multiple format, including documentation, FAQs, written blogs and video content;

The COVID-19 resource hub, hosted in the College’s eLearning platform, was created to support GPs in understanding and managing the pandemic. The hub is now home to a range of resources to upskill and support GPs and their teams to respond to COVID-19. The hub during the pandemic’s initial peak (March to May) was viewed over 100,000 times and the College’s eLearning platform saw a 170% increase in users.

The membership forum was a new addition and was developed incredibly quickly to ensure members were provided with a platform to share their thoughts, ideas, questions and experiences in relation to the pandemic. Members quickly took to the forum and since its creation over 4,000 have registered.

A: Ken Pullar, CEO, Chartered Institute of Payroll Professionals (CIPP)

Covid- 19 has undoubtedly created numerous challenges for organisations across the globe, including the CIPP. The uncertainty of what was to happen and how this would affect us all was clearly felt by businesses and individuals alike. One of the CIPP’s main priorities was to ensure that our communication channels with our members were wide open.
We focussed our attentions on the services that were, and still are, vital to our members, whilst we made the transition to working from home. Front and centre of these essential communications were our Policy and Advisory teams. As the government created new legislation and guidance, including the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, we produced factsheets, breaking news, and webinars, explaining what this new legislation meant and how our members were to implement it. This information was sent out to our members via our daily and weekly News Online service, via emails and across our social media channels, ensuring as many of our members had immediate access to this information, no matter the circumstances.

Our Advisory service answered a record amount of calls and emails from our members, becoming that much needed extra member of their payroll team. They worked solidly throughout the pandemic, providing support, guidance, and advice, ensuring we all kept the UK paid.

Whilst we may not have been able to provide our members with the physical events they know, love and rely on, we were able to hold a variety of events online, ensuring we were able to continue communicating with them, they could communicate with us, and maybe more importantly, each other. Events such as our National Forums, through to our Annual Conference and Exhibition are a vital part of how our members network, stay in touch with, and share ideas with others in the payroll industry. Instead of postponing these crucial events, we moved them online, streamlining and focussing on the essential elements we know our members appreciate. We were thrilled to see them chatting, sharing ideas, and contributing to each session with enthusiasm and passion, and were delighted to have been able to provide this outlet for them.

Our members have been at the heart of every decision we have made since the pandemic began. They are why we exist and why we do what we do at the CIPP every day. We have discovered different ways of keeping the channels of communication open, some have been extremely successful, whilst others we have taken lessons from. We will continue to communicate with and listen to our members throughout this challenging period and beyond, ensuring we provide them with knowledge, support and advice for as long as they need us.

A: Chris Skeith, Chief Executive Officer, Association of Event Organisers

As CEO I have responded to every question, every email, and every social post from members (and indeed non-members) seeking information, help or reassurance.

On a more formal basis, we have sent a daily digest to every single member, detailing:

The plan to represent the sector to government

The tactics to dovetail into government strategy & thinking, to obtain a go date/recognition/support

Progress with our public affairs work

Details and information from our meetings with ministers, officials and government departments

Requests for data sets and case studies to complement our activities

Requests and templates for members to send to their local MPs to further enhance our messaging

Included details of the various special interest working groups that are coming up, to enable members to communicate them to their teams – via webinars and zoom (we even managed a Cross Association CEO Summit, and CTO Roundtable face to face)

In addition we created a new cross association campaign, called Project Confidence, which communicated common messages to members to use on their social media channels at the same time each week, to amplify our public affairs work. We also promoted milestones on progress via social to the broader event community, and continued with our scheduled monthly newsletters and specific email shots on noteworthy projects or events to all member contacts.

A: Ben Beadle, Chief Executive Officer, National Residential Landlords Association

Like a lot of organisations, we have communicated much more. In fact, we have never hosted so many people. Members and non-members alike have found great comfort in our informative events, as well as explaining to them how we are campaigning in their interests at what is such a difficult time. We have invested in better platforms to make the experience more interesting and engaging, and it will be a model of engagement that we look to take forward in a post lockdown world.

—–
Darren Caplan, Richard Lambert, Valerie Vaughan-Dick, Ken Pullar, Chris Skeith and Ben Beadle are all judges at the 2021 Association Excellence Awards, the chance to gain recognition for your successes and celebrate with your fellow trade body, professional organisation and association colleagues.

We asked 9 of our Association Excellence Awards Judges to divulge their insights on what irradicable impacts COVID-19 has wrought on their organisations.

What changes have you made as a result of Covid-19 in the managing of your association which you won’t be changing back?

 

Dr Bernadette Adeyileka-Tracz, Founder and Chief Operating Officer (COO), Diabetes Africa
Communication within the team has always been important to me, and prior to the COVID-19 pandemic we would have weekly team meetings to discuss where we are with projects and our way of working. Catch-ups in between would be ad hoc.

However, since the pandemic, we have incorporated check-ins into the daily schedule, and ensure that there is sufficient time to talk about how we are mentally and emotionally and provide support. 2020 has been a tumultuous year, and relating with each other in a different way has helped the team to get to know each other on a deeper level. We plan to continue doing the check-ins, adapted to team preferences, even after the pandemic is over.

 

Frances Baskerville, Secretary-General, CIRM
CIRM has strengthened as a result of the pandemic. Everyone is closely connected and familiar with methods of working under the current regime of homeworking. Without question, all would like to meet face to face and the upshot of that is that when we do get together for a conference at the end of 2021, we will hold a bigger and better event! A couple of our member companies have gone to the wall, but in general absolutely everyone has done their utmost to make things work – and they are.

Ben Beadle, Chief Executive Officer, National Residential Landlords Association

The use of flexible and remote working. Juggling families and work, has meant we’ve been totally flexible in how and when colleagues do their work. Colleagues have, for the most part, enjoyed working from home – although like everyone they would rather have the choice than have it forced upon them.

We’ve all enjoyed a good look into colleagues homes, met their pets, children and family – whether intentional or not!

Covid has meant that there isn’t anything we can’t do remotely – so why come back to 100% of your time to a desk in an office? Why not come back when it suits or you want to?

Debbie Dore, CEO, Association For Project Management
APM has implemented a ‘digital first’ approach to its membership proposition that promotes flexibility and safety. This has not only enabled our teams to remain safely connected during the pandemic; it has also reduced travel requirements and carbon emissions.

We’ve switched our events programme to a virtual events model with a focus on best-practice and knowledge sharing. This enable project professionals all over the world to connect, network and share without the risks associated with face-to-face events.

We’ve also Introduced online exams – an initiative that was delivered in a condensed timeframe at the start of lockdown measures in the UK – to ensure project professionals could continue their professional development with minimum disruption.

Remote working tools like MS Teams and Slido – although available pre-pandemic – have become invaluable by allowing continued collaboration among internal and external stakeholders.

While we do anticipate some aspects of traditional face-to-face working methods will return post-Covid, this digital first approach has yielded multiple benefits for our employees, members and partners.

Julian Mund, Chief Executive, Pensions & Lifetime Savings Association
We used to deliver a whole range of face to face events, training and networking – these have all gone digital and even when, I hope, we can meet up the digital channels are very much here to stay. And of course the way we all work has fundamentally changed – we don’t have a single employee, myself included, who want anything other than a mixed and flexible working pattern across home and office whenever we start returning to our offices.

 

Richard Lambert, Chief Executive, National Hair And Beauty Federation
As the UK’s largest trade association for hairdressing, barbering and beauty salons, the National Hair and Beauty Federation (NHBF) has always been a trusted voice within the industry, but since March 2020 we have built new relationships with Government and the media.

We worked closely with the Cabinet Office and the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy, as well as the governments of each of the devolved nations, to establish the guidelines that would allow hair and beauty businesses to return to work safely. Crucially, this created a direct channel to lobby government on all matters affecting the industry.

Alongside that, we were inundated with media enquiries from the national press. In the four months between entering lockdown and the reopening of hair salons, we secured nearly 2,000 pieces of online and print coverage, including The Telegraph, MailOnline and the Mirror Online, as well as numerous television and radio news appearances across the BBC, ITN, Sky and regional broadcasters.

These relationships will be vital in the coming months as the NHBF continues its support for the industry and lobbies government for financial support and a recovery plan for the sector.

Catherine Logan, GBTA
Pre-Covid the majority of our activity was live events related for those in the business travel industry. Our sector has been hugely impacted by the pandemic with business travel levels truly decimated – we have responded by advocating strongly on behalf of the industry for a safe return to travel; provided members with extensive online education to guide them through a time when the rule book has been torn up and personal development support and financial breaks to help those impacted professionally. There is no more important time for an association to step up, guide and support its member that a crisis like this.

Nick Pahl, CEO, Society of Occupational Medicine (SOM)
As the pandemic hit, time seemed to alter, and intensity increased. The pace of “leadership responsiveness” required multiplied. Suddenly, we needed to be “just in time” rather than the days or weeks that medical societies usually take.

The office team “disappeared” in March to work (very effectively) at home. A new, wider, team emerged beyond the Society of Occupational Medicine, of professionals from different disciplines and organisations.  Subgroups focused on PPE and mental health at work were formed. New communication channels opened with daily briefs, weekly webinars, and front-line networks.

Expert leadership was important. Occupational Medicine experts quickly called out the Government’s position on PPE standards and supply. But we knew little about Covid, for example in terms of transmission mechanisms. We quickly hosted a webinar with an Italian occupational medicine expert, ahead of the UK in terms of Covid impact, as to what they were experiencing in hospitals.

It was inspiring to see leadership elsewhere. As Covid-19 deaths tragically increased, a former Windsor Leadership Trust Alumni, and a former President of the SOM, David McLoughlin kept me in touch as to the military’s amazing work setting up the Nightingale Hospitals. Many occupational health professionals working in the private sector volunteered to work in the NHS. NHS England put in place procurement to support NHS occupational health teams.

In April, we decided to move to proactive challenge and focus on the occupational health risk of health care professionals. Dr Will Ponsonby, the SOM President, publicly rejected the Government’s rhetoric of professionals on a front line “war”. Instead we campaigned with the BMA and others “that no health care worker should die of Covid transmission” if proper controls are in place. Amnesty International subsequently produced a report highlighting this issue[i].

In the middle of this, a refreshing culture emerged of leadership that was still about rationality, objective truth and weighing up the evidence but also about warmth, collaboration and energy (although energy was hard to maintain when it was all online).

With the end of the initial lock down in sight, we focused on the risk of return to work. A collaborative, leadership style continued with new partnerships emerging. We achieved in weeks what would previously have taken months with organizations such as Mind, CIPD, BITC and Acas to offer advice and toolkits. And, even with the frenetic pace of activity, we found out a bit more about each other and our solaces (in my case re watching a lengthy BBC Programme about a shepherd taking Herdwick sheep off a hill).

Despite our new confidence of working with trusted partners, with the launch of effective new advice and “toolkits”, we struggled to influence.  Government was in an emergency “command / control mode”. Responses from the “Centre” on key issues were delayed or not forthcoming. It felt a bit Vicky Pollard … “yeah but no but yeah”.

Some things we did not get right. I regret not reacting to data that emerged showing that some occupational health groups such as minicab drivers and security guards were more at risk of dying from Covid. We must highlight the inequality that Covid is creating and avoid a “white collar” prejudice at the expense of those working in low income public facing roles or factories such as in meat packing who have a higher Covid risk.

In July we launched a new report on the mental health of nurse and midwives, but like many by the end of July, I needed a break. Zoom calls blurred into one and it was hard differentiating online with real life. I needed to practice what I preach in our “mental health in the workplace toolkit” and take a break.

In September, we started again with the confidence that we have a social purpose to make a difference to workplaces.  We were profiled in New Scientist magazine. However, pressures quickly started again though in terms of questions on testing and how any vaccine would be delivered.

It is important to celebrate success (with an awards process for innovators who have come up with tools such as the “Covid Age” next month). We need to support current and future leaders through mentoring and peer support. We should be offering leadership training to those occupational health individuals who have the potential to become our leaders of the future. We are actively looking for funding for this.

[i] https://www.amnesty.org.uk/press-releases/uk-among-highest-covid-19-health-worker-deaths-world

 

Valerie Vaughan-Dick, Chief Operating Officer, Royal College Of General Practitioners (RCGP)
Our ability to work remotely, and at pace to support members’ needs, has been brought about having adopted improved governance structures which aimed to consider and take action in more effective and time sensitive ways, whilst also adopting a digital first approach to way we interact and communicate with our members. We moved away from face-to-face activity in order to focus on digital communication channels and have seen engagement increase significantly as a result.

Going forward we intend to capitalise upon the development of our members forum to develop inclusive and interactive online communities. We will have enhanced reporting mechanisms and streamlined governance structures to ensure quicker and more transparent outcomes during the pandemic and hope for this to continue long-term.

 

Dr Bernadette Adeyileka-Tracz, Frances Baskerville, Ben Beadle, Debbie Dore, Julian Mund, Richard Lambert, Catherine Logan, Nick Pahl and Valerie Vaughan-Dick, are all judges at the 2021 Association Excellence Awards, your opportunity to spotlight you and your teams’ successes and celebrate with your fellow trade body, professional organisation and association colleagues.

1/ To what extent has the pandemic brought the industry you serve together and fostered joint initiatives and the sharing of best practice?

From the beginnings of the pandemic, the project profession has been at the forefront of delivering change for the benefit of businesses and communities, working in unison to meet emerging needs. Notable examples include the Nightingale Hospitals; the many manufacturing companies that pivoted rapidly to start making ventilators, hand sanitizer and PPE; and the supermarkets who quickly stepped up their online offering and increased their delivery capacity to keep the nation fed.

As the workplace has shifted to the online space, the importance of digital skills and data analytics has been emphasised. The Project Data Analytics Research Network, a joint initiative between APM, employers and academics, is an example of how the profession is putting itself at the crest of an emerging wave.

 

2/ What changes have you made as a result of Covid-19 in the managing of your association which you won’t be changing back when things are back to normality?

APM has implemented a ‘digital first’ approach to its membership proposition that promotes flexibility and safety. This has not only enabled our teams to remain safely connected during the pandemic; it has also reduced travel requirements and carbon emissions.

We’ve switched our events programme to a virtual events model with a focus on best-practice and knowledge sharing. This enable project professionals all over the world to connect, network and share without the risks associated with face-to-face events.

We’ve also Introduced online exams – an initiative that was delivered in a condensed timeframe at the start of lockdown measures in the UK – to ensure project professionals could continue their professional development with minimum disruption.

Remote working tools like MS Teams and Slido – although available pre-pandemic – have become invaluable by allowing continued collaboration among internal and external stakeholders.

While we do anticipate some aspects of traditional face-to-face working methods will return post-Covid, this digital first approach has yielded multiple benefits for our employees, members and partners.

 

 

 

 

Debbie Dore is a judge at the 2021 Association Excellence Awards.

1/ How has your association responded to the covid-19 pandemic in terms of how you communicate with members?

For the National Hair & Beauty Federation (NHBF), the key to helping out members through the pandemic, the disjointed return to work after lockdown and the continuing almost daily uncertainty has been clarity of communication.

In the run up to lockdown, we saw huge concerns spreading among hair and beauty business owners as Government guidance became increasingly confusing and salons faced closure.  The lack of clarity from Government, combined with media speculation, made life more stressful for our Members.

We quickly implemented a crisis communications approach and a ‘no speculation’ strategy, ensuring that everything we put out was clear, factual and based on solid information.  If we didn’t have the answers, we didn’t speculate. This enabled us to build trust within the industry, the media and the government, to the point where Members said they would not make any decisions following any new announcements until they heard from us.

Social media channels proved invaluable, underlining the industry’s desire for concise, easily digestible statements rather than confusing government guidance. The NHBF Instagram following ballooned from an initial 5,000 followers to almost 68,000, while Facebook followers grew by nearly 55,000 compared to the same period in 2019. The NHBF website had over three million-page views, compared to just over 200,000 in 2019. All this led to NHBF membership increasing by almost 20%.

 

2/ In what ways has your role as an association changed since March 2020?

As the UK’s largest trade association for hairdressing, barbering and beauty salons, the National Hair and Beauty Federation (NHBF) has always been a trusted voice within the industry, but since March 2020 we have built new relationships with Government and the media.

We worked closely with the Cabinet Office and the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy, as well as the governments of each of the devolved nations, to establish the guidelines that would allow hair and beauty businesses to return to work safely. Crucially, this created a direct channel to lobby government on all matters affecting the industry.

Alongside that, we were inundated with media enquiries from the national press. In the four months between entering lockdown and the reopening of hair salons, we secured nearly 2,000 pieces of online and print coverage, including The Telegraph, MailOnline and the Mirror Online, as well as numerous television and radio news appearances across the BBC, ITN, Sky and regional broadcasters.

 These relationships will be vital in the coming months as the NHBF continues its support for the industry and lobbies government for financial support and a recovery plan for the sector.

 

Richard Lambert is a judge at the 2021 Association Excellence Awards.

As the pandemic hit, time seemed to alter, and intensity increased. The pace of “leadership responsiveness” required multiplied. Suddenly, we needed to be “just in time” rather than the days or weeks that medical societies usually take.

The office team “disappeared” in March to work (very effectively) at home. A new, wider, team emerged beyond the Society of Occupational Medicine, of professionals from different disciplines and organisations.  Subgroups focused on PPE and mental health at work were formed. New communication channels opened with daily briefs, weekly webinars, and front-line networks.

Expert leadership was important. Occupational Medicine experts quickly called out the Government’s position on PPE standards and supply. But we knew little about Covid, for example in terms of transmission mechanisms. We quickly hosted a webinar with an Italian occupational medicine expert, ahead of the UK in terms of Covid impact, as to what they were experiencing in hospitals.

It was inspiring to see leadership elsewhere. As Covid-19 deaths tragically increased, a former Windsor Leadership Trust Alumni, and a former President of the SOM, David McLoughlin kept me in touch as to the military’s amazing work setting up the Nightingale Hospitals. Many occupational health professionals working in the private sector volunteered to work in the NHS. NHS England put in place procurement to support NHS occupational health teams.

In April, we decided to move to proactive challenge and focus on the occupational health risk of health care professionals. Dr Will Ponsonby, the SOM President, publicly rejected the Government’s rhetoric of professionals on a front line “war”. Instead we campaigned with the BMA and others “that no health care worker should die of Covid transmission” if proper controls are in place. Amnesty International subsequently produced a report highlighting this issue[i].

In the middle of this, a refreshing culture emerged of leadership that was still about rationality, objective truth and weighing up the evidence but also about warmth, collaboration and energy (although energy was hard to maintain when it was all online).

With the end of the initial lock down in sight, we focused on the risk of return to work. A collaborative, leadership style continued with new partnerships emerging. We achieved in weeks what would previously have taken months with organizations such as Mind, CIPD, BITC and Acas to offer advice and toolkits. And, even with the frenetic pace of activity, we found out a bit more about each other and our solaces (in my case re watching a lengthy BBC Programme about a shepherd taking Herdwick sheep off a hill).

Despite our new confidence of working with trusted partners, with the launch of effective new advice and “toolkits”, we struggled to influence.  Government was in an emergency “command / control mode”. Responses from the “Centre” on key issues were delayed or not forthcoming. It felt a bit Vicky Pollard … “yeah but no but yeah”.

Some things we did not get right. I regret not reacting to data that emerged showing that some occupational health groups such as minicab drivers and security guards were more at risk of dying from Covid. We must highlight the inequality that Covid is creating and avoid a “white collar” prejudice at the expense of those working in low income public facing roles or factories such as in meat packing who have a higher Covid risk.

In July we launched a new report on the mental health of nurse and midwives, but like many by the end of July, I needed a break. Zoom calls blurred into one and it was hard differentiating online with real life. I needed to practice what I preach in our “mental health in the workplace toolkit” and take a break.

In September, we started again with the confidence that we have a social purpose to make a difference to workplaces.  We were profiled in New Scientist magazine. However, pressures quickly started again though in terms of questions on testing and how any vaccine would be delivered.

Questions remain. In terms of risk, one risk of Covid transmission can be reduced in place of another in terms of the health risks of unemployment. We are hosting, with partners, a summit on this on 10^th November (at https://www.som.org.uk/civicrm/event/info%3Fid%3D313%26reset%3D1)

It is important to celebrate success (with an awards process for innovators who have come up with tools such as the “Covid Age” next month). We need to support current and future leaders through mentoring and peer support. We should be offering leadership training to those occupational health individuals who have the potential to become our leaders of the future. We are actively looking for funding for this.

We now need to pace ourselves for the winter…

[i] https://www.amnesty.org.uk/press-releases/uk-among-highest-covid-19-health-worker-deaths-world

 

Nick Pahl is a judge at the 2021 Association Excellence Awards.

In what ways has your role as an association changed since March 2020?

Pre-Covid the majority of our activity was live events related for those in the business travel industry. Our sector has been hugely impacted by the pandemic with business travel levels truly decimated – we have responded by advocating strongly on behalf of the industry for a safe return to travel; provided members with extensive online education to guide them through a time when the rule book has been torn up and personal development support and financial breaks to help those impacted professionally. There is no more important time for an association to step up, guide and support its member that a crisis like this.

 

What will you be looking for in a winning entry? What will make it stand out for you and differentiate it from the rest?

In a world of free content associations need to differentiate themselves by being laser focused on delivering member value in innovative ways with a not for profit budget – that’s what I am looking for.

 

Catherine Logan is a judge at the 2021 Association Excellence Awards.

In what ways has your role as an association changed since March 2020?

CIRM has strengthened as a result of the pandemic.  Everyone is closely connected and familiar with methods of working under the current regime of homeworking.  Without question, all would like to meet face to face and the upshot of that is that when we do get together for a conference at the end of 2021, we will hold a bigger and better event!  A couple of our member companies have gone to the wall, but in general absolutely everyone has done their utmost to make things work – and they are.

 

What will you be looking for in a winning entry? What will make it stand out for you and differentiate it from the rest?

I will want to see adaptability and innovation in work practices.  I will look for flexibility from the top (towards individuals and their circumstances) and in particular adjustments to working hours with regard to childcare etc.  I’ll also look for confirmation that there was / is Investment in hardware support and genuine investment in  the mental health of the workforce.  It would be nice to read about trust, and how much this is a part of delivering the service and also whether there are plans to recover and revert to work methods as before, or whether changes made will remain.  (ie whether COVID was an opportunity for change and actually a positive event or the opposite.)

 

 

Frances Baskerville is a judge at the 2021 Association Excellence Awards