EDITION 819
25 MAY 2020

As another week of working from home slips by, here are 10 things which caught my attention and may have escaped yours. This newsletter is sent to 50,000+ subscribers each Monday at 10am. Please share on social media and forward to your colleagues and friends so they can subscribe, learn and engage. I'd be very grateful if you did.

1. How to work from home with ease. As more of us work from home, hunched over laptops on sofas, the question of pain is becoming more urgent. Bad posture and working habits show up in the body as pain, and you can’t be productive when you’re in pain. Here’s how to get comfortable. READ MORE >>  

2. Boris Johnson’s dithering cost thousands of lives. Thousands of lives were lost by 22 days of dither and delay from Boris Johnson’s government. During the nine days before lockdown was announced, the number of coronavirus infections across Britain rocketed, from 200,000 to 1.5 million, according to a study by modellers from Imperial College London, and Oxford University statisticians. The Sunday Times

3. Bosses warn that two-metre rule will bankrupt firms. Business leaders say that many companies will be bankrupted if staff and customers have to keep two metres apart. The Institute of Directors said that enforcing social distancing will be impossible for some firms. Hospitality bosses are particularly concerned, with eight in ten pub owners saying their premises would have to stay closed under the present advice. The Daily Mail

4. A no-deal Brexit looms. Brexit is a word that has hardly been on any lips recently, but unless a trade deal is negotiated by the end of the year, or an extension to the December deadline is agreed by the end of June, the UK is headed for a no deal exit. With the recent round of talks ended acrimoniously, Number 10 insists that it will not seek an extension, but that does not make no deal a desirable option. It would seem that the coronavirus pandemic is leading our economy towards an unprecedented shock. The Daily Telegraph

5. How the best teams work together. The very best teams, in business and beyond, contain talented, emotionally intelligent individual players. But as a group, they also have a high degree of emotional awareness. When groups take the time to assess and respond to the entire team's emotional state, they can avoid disruptive conflicts before they get out of control. Even better, such emotional awareness paves the way for productive disagreements that can make a team and its work even stronger. For more on emotional awareness, join our next “live and online” lesson in leadership. READ MORE >>

6. What it will take to reopen offices. Safely reopening offices in the wake of the pandemic will likely require significant design changes. But just as important, our behaviours will need to change as well. From mask wearing to hand washing, we will need to hold each other accountable. To keep everyone safe, we'll need to have awkward conversations. One way to ease things? Adopt a "please" and "thank you" rule. When you remind someone about a new norm, insert the word "please." If you are on the receiving end, lead your reply with a "thank you." Editor

7. Respected election model predicts Trump will lose. Donald Trump will suffer a “historic defeat” in November’s presidential election, according to an election model that has predicted the winner of the popular vote in 16 of the past 18 elections. The model by Oxford Economics, which uses unemployment, disposable income and inflation to forecast results, has found that the coronavirus economic recession will see Trump get just 35% of the popular vote. The Independent

8. Are tax rises on the horizon? During the pandemic, the government has spent billions on supporting businesses and workers who have lost their income. The Office for Budget Responsibility suggests the UK could end up with a budget deficit of around £273bn in 2020, almost double that seen after the financial crash 10 years ago. The government could cut spending, borrow more or raise taxes – and experts suggest the latter is likely. Chancellor Rishi Sunak already hinted taxes for the self-employed would rise when he announced grants for those workers. And though the Conservatives promised not to raise income tax, national insurance or VAT in their manifesto, it would seem all bets are off. The Financial Times

9. Making remote meetings worth it. Very few of us are strangers to frustrating meetings. But it doesn't have to be this way, as it’s easy to make meetings worth everyone's time. Success focuses on two key elements: timing and attitude. We respect everyone's time by shortening meeting length as much as possible [our online lessons are 50 minutes and not the more usual hour in duration], and by reducing our invite list to only truly necessary participants. As for attitude, the meeting leader's mood is contagious. So, if you're running the show, get things started with enthusiasm and gratitude for those attending. Editor

10. The bottom line. The government borrowed £62.1bn in April, the highest monthly figure on record, as it sought to soften the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on jobs and businesses. The cost of furlough schemes had the largest impact, hitting £14bn in April, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures. BBC