Finding hope in crisis: Out of this horror, could Coronavirus show governments and people how to redefine power and shape our future?
The fight against Covid-19 already feels hard and long, yet the first case can be traced back to as recently as November 2019. We are still deeply entrenched in the war against the virus, however, the longer the battle goes on, the more that energy is sapped and inequalities rise to the surface in stark and horrific ways. However, if two long world wars taught us anything, it is that we can also rediscover things in a crisis, learn a great deal about our nations and the importance of hope for renewal. Here I explain how power and relationships can change for the better through the three stages this virus is taking us through: fight, recover and rebuild.
Fight stage — power feels more top-down but can be misplaced
Keeping your troops’ motivation up in a crisis is something battalion leaders relied on in the Great War, especially when there were downtimes in the trenches. While many were in full battle, others waited in anticipation, worried about what might happen to them. During that time, new but sometimes brief friendships were made, people remembered the importance of simple games, laughter, and some of our greatest poetry and letters of love were written. In a fight, human behaviours and love gets us through.
Leadership matters and can help to give a sense of hope and support not by simply controlling people but by encouraging new behaviours, relationships and camaraderie that will be needed in the next battle and for life after battle (a sense of unit cohesion and peer relationships in combat was found to have an impact on PTSD).
Top-down control may feel right for the times; for a short while and for certain things, such as national coordination, aid and national security and safety (see my crisis communications blog) but, it can also be misplaced, misunderstood and even over-used.
How can leaders build morale in a fight neither we nor they control? Just as in war, to get through the Corona crisis’s tough fight stage, people will need to know what light at the end of the tunnel could look and feel like and work together to build hope. People need to know their roles and sacrifices are well understood and will be worth it. That light needs to be shone by leaders carefully, sensitively and at the right time. Those making a difference on the ground need to be recognised quickly for their innovation and courageous decision-making. Rapid learning is key.
Keeping an ear to the ground and learning quickly from networks on the ground is essential for leaders to maintain legitimacy and morale. However networks can reinforce echo chambers so leaders need to look outside the usual circles for intelligence and be careful about who they call heroes when some parts of society feel overlooked, misunderstood and lives are still being lost. Those feeling left out of the response may soon lose patience and the will to keep going. Just staying home, for example, takes heroic efforts, especially by those who are living in really tough circumstances. Help needs to be directed quickly to those unable to manage in this climate, those who need non-Covid healthcare need to be quickly recognised and inequalities in responses flagged and rectified.
In this crisis there is huge debate already about how and when lockdown restrictions should be lifted. Whatever happens, the rationale for all decisions, however unclear the science, must at least be well communicated and based on a learned new reality, such as the knock-on effects of being home, whether people even have a home to be in, the risk of abuse and mental health versus the risk of contracting the virus. This kind of tuning in and learning is an important but often undervalued role of a leader working in a complex system in the midst of a crisis.
The behaviour of leaders matters as much as their actions in the fight stage to keep hope strong and people motivated — they are on show daily. For example, empathy demonstrated by US state leaders and many women leaders worldwide signal that this is a different kind of war, and command need not feel cold or controlling. Let’s not mistake macho leadership for being in control. We like to think of war as a time for strong, loud individuals to shine but leadership at this time must ensure everyone feels connected to a present and future where they can shine too.
Recovery stage — power is shared, government must be open, a time for deeper listening and learning
Recovery is often made to sound like the dream we await but in reality it is as tough as the fight. Heroism soon becomes pessimism, people start to feel raw and tired, and it is exhausting knowing that an unexpected second attack can suddenly throw us back into fight mode.
In this stage, people need to regroup, more deeply listen, learn and understand how we can correct the inequalities in outcomes and build hope for what may come next. That also takes energy but, if done well, can be the motivation needed for this next crucial stage. Crisis engagement is in itself hope.
Listening to feedback will be hard for authorities as it will be against a backdrop of amplified media attention on ‘what went wrong’, perhaps through a public inquiry of sorts. But scrutiny is a good thing if it comes at the right time and is focused on learning and not simply blame and if governments are ready to learn from ‘failures’, embrace questions and fairly listen and engage. Taking feedback and listening to what people want now should neither be rushed nor owned by those seen as too powerful or who have had much airtime so far.
New voices matter now and governments and public services can make the best use of new methods to listen better proactively, encouraging a new dialogue of participation to imagine a new shared vision to emerge from a drastically changed state and a possibly more unequal society.
Governments often make the error of pushing for recovery with their own ideas when truth feels barely out the door. I visited indigenous communities in Canada with my colleagues at the Public Policy Forum as part of CPI’s search for what legitimacy means today. Young indigenous students said that the Canadian government’s Truth and Reconciliation programme was welcome but felt rushed, and on government terms. Recovery takes time if it is to genuinely listen to those who are often silent.
Communities that have remained quiet will not be so anymore. The number of deaths from BAME communities, for example, cannot be left unscrutinised and needs a full airing. Technology offers us ways to talk, listen and deliberate over what has happened and to debate potential new approaches — as shown by CPI and Engage Britain’s paper Tackling Challenges Together (and demonstrated in, for example, Estonia). But this crisis has highlighted that many lack access to laptops and IT for homeschooling, let alone for public engagement. This will need addressing for truly inclusive and ongoing feedback and ideas, especially if lockdown continues.
Governments and public services at central and local level will need to be comfortable being on the receiving end of a new set of demands and be comfortable showing their learning and mistakes in public. They must consider bottom-up approaches, sharing power through virtual people panels for feedback and nationwide deliberation over not just what we should do next but the kind of nation we want to be longer term. Governments will need to return the trust that people placed in governments and allow them to speak and shape what comes next.
Rebuild stage — power can be given away but must be done fairly
In times of hardship many great things can be invented (necessity is the mother of invention is the phrase that springs to mind) but let’s not forget the potential of what is here already and grow it. In the Great Depression of the 1930s, it was, for example, recognised that mail order was more convenient and a way to keep businesses growing so was accelerated.
Before Covid-19 invaded us, CPI was already building momentum for a new reimagined government that worked more closely with citizens, showcasing places that were trying new ways of building ideas from the grassroots up, illustrated in our Shared Power Principle paper. Now is the chance to accelerate them.
Governments will want to make things happen and be seen to be doing so but can instead help people’s ideas become a reality, as opposed to imposing new, but unwanted, ideas. They can give power away by putting people in control of what happens next through accountable listening processes at both national and local level. Place-based approaches can become part of the new normal, not just a one-off, to keep communities engaged and solutions targeted. All such approaches have been budding for a while, they can now be helped to flower. Simply put, people won’t want to go back and among the disasters and personal traumas, people are already making big leaps forward.
Listening, learning and adapting all the time
Unlike in the wars and the Great Depression, today scientists, communities, local governments and families can connect at speed and are already reimagining the future, with or without central government. Power has switched hands — we now build apps at home, know our communities and the value of them, and even understand what our children are being taught at school and how to change and influence that.
In every stage however, pre and post crisis, the same people still lack power, voice and opportunity so we must also correct for the wrongs the crisis has laid bare, and ensure opportunity for those whose voices were unheard. What is rebuilt must last and be successful (too many post war quick settlements didn’t) so we want to develop those ideas and enable them to happen together.
I hate to be too optimistic at this horrific time but dare I hope that this is a perhaps a once in a generation chance to re-balance the relationship between the State and people — the beginnings of a new kind of social contract with shared values? Citizen assemblies, empowered regions and stronger local governments are some of the structures that have for too long been just a nice discussion for some parts of the world. CPI found relationships, subsidiarity, continuous learning and redefined governance were already happening but were often held back by outdated systems, processes, laws and mindsets throughout the world.
This crisis is more than a time to keep the troops going; every stage offers a way to truly build a new and better reality for all, starting with those we heard the least and who gained the least.
My colleague Elena Bagnera and I will be discussing what sharing power could mean throughout the different stages of the crisis in this webinar organised by Northumbria University on the 23rd of April at 9:30 AM. Join us if you are interested to hear more.
CPI is collating content and insights to steer us through all three phases of this crisis — let us know what you are doing and how you are preparing for a brighter and more hopeful future.
