This article is written by Petrhyce Donovan, Innovation & Smart City Manager at the City of Canterbury Bankstown, Australia. She writes here in a personal capacity.

This article is in no way intended to minimise the seriousness, nor the impact of the novel Coronavirus Covid-19. Rather the aim is to highlight the things we are learning and start a conversation about how we ensure those learnings are captured.

As public servants, we have been working towards 2020 for some time. We’ve developed and published various 2020 visions, strategies and plans and held the year up as a metaphoric checkpoint in time as the goal post for seeing public-sector plans come to life.

It would be fair to say, none of us expected 2020 to turn out like this. This concept should be a pivotal reflection point.

The year has gotten off to a rough start. Someone somewhere has royally upset the natural world order for 2020. It’s only March and we’ve endured enough crises to last a year from devastating natural disasters, environmental destruction and now a global pandemic.

I can’t be the only public servant with an overwhelming sense that the world is hitting the reset button. Shaking things up to remind us that complacency is the enemy, sifting through our carefully curated systems and plans to help us see what’s really important.

2020 has been declared many things:

Whilst I think all these declarations are important to celebrate, I propose that 2020 is declared one more thing: The year of learning.

Rather than blaming a set of collective forces in which we’ve all contributed (such as digital maturity, software capability, health care systems and crisis management plans), I encourage every public servant to ask the following question: What is this teaching me? Then, and perhaps most importantly, ask: As a public servant with a moral obligation to do good for the citizens I serve — what is my plan to ensure this new-found knowledge doesn’t go to waste?

What we’re learning about the future of work

Covid-19 has thrust government into remote working arrangements and as a result, we’re learning to rapidly overcome the barriers which have traditionally stopped government from widespread adoption of more flexible working practices.

While the private sector and the start-up community has embraced remote working, the public sector has remained largely stationary. Most public servants still spend the majority of their time in a physical office space, they have physical workstations and a large part of the job involves being physically present. Hot-desking is about as far as we’ve taken the widespread uptake of flexible working practices. That’s not to say innovative government agencies don’t exist — they absolutely do, but by and large the concept of true remote working remains somewhat taboo.

Fear, cost, policy, readiness and resourcing have been touted as challenges to flexible and remote working practices, but almost overnight we’ve seen several government global offices be forced to jump into the deep end, only to be delighted with the results.

We’re learning that the future of public sector work isn’t constrained by geographic proximity. That there’s nothing stopping us from hiring exceptional talent in another city, state or even country, so long as they can remain connected and engaged with our workforce. This concept could see immense productivity and workplace culture gains, but most importantly remote working is another tool to help us better serve citizens.

As public servants, we are reminded that we hold the levers to the system and if it’s not working, we can build a new one

Covid-19 has taught us that public sector institutions remain slightly behind the readiness curve when it comes to remote working. The good news is this global pandemic is giving us access to a robust implementation plan. These learnings should see us bring standards up to scratch and provide first-hand experience and empathy in our efforts to design solutions for our future workforce.

Some other wonderful things we’re learning about the future of work (albeit through challenging circumstances):

What we’re learning about the future of our economic and environmental strategies

Most of our strategies in 2020 are about infinite growth or efficiency gain in a world with finite natural resources. Irrespective of whether it’s public or private sector contributing to this mindset, government has a critical role in regulating industry and effectively setting the rules.

The Covid-19 pandemic has effectively put the world on pause, allowing us to reflect on these strategies and their effectiveness for society. This pause is teaching us about the true cost of infinite growth strategies and its unintended consequences.

After decades of struggling to reach a unified global consensus on climate change impacts, Covid-19 has provided comprehensive evidence to demonstrate the impacts of behaviour led climate change. Despite the sheer volume of scientific evidence and peer-reviewed publication, the public sector has largely remained steadfast in its approach to climate change.

The Covid-19 global crisis is teaching us that human interaction is still a hugely valuable commodity

Delivering a solution that would benefit everyone whilst keeping the majority happy is, after all, an incomprehensibly complex challenge. As cities go into mandatory lockdown citizens are forced to change their habits, including those that emit tons of CO2 such as flying. In this, there are unintended benefits and we’re immediately reminded that our natural environment is the beneficiary in the Covid-19 outbreak. There’s no argument, these lessons come in a particularly harsh way, but even so, the silver lining is clear to see: the impending environmental doom that we’ve been heading towards is not inevitable.

As public servants, we are reminded that we hold the levers to the system and if it’s not working, we can build a new one. That’s not to say it wouldn’t be exceptionally complex but it does serve as a humbling reminder that it’s possible, and doesn’t deserve to be banished to the “too hard” basket any longer.

Some other potentially transformative lessons we’re learning about the future of our economic and environmental strategies (albeit through challenging circumstances):

What we’re learning about the future of humanity

We human have an extraordinary ability to band together and show unity in times of crisis. Take the recent Australian bushfires and the hundreds of millions of dollars, donations, support and community spirit that was mobilised. The threat at this time was visible and humanity knew where they were pushing too far into the line of danger as opposed to knowing when they were safe.

Fighting an invisible threat is different, and panic is a constant risk. More than anything, the Covid-19 pandemic has demonstrated our thirst for knowledge, but lack of credibility in our increasingly digital and easy-to-access, news-at-your-fingertips world. Despite mass global panic over toilet paper stock, confusion about how to stay safe against an invisible threat and now several cities in isolation and lockdown, we’re seeing hope in the form of humanity.

For thousands of humans who have had to isolate or quarantine themselves, there will likely be a refocusing of what’s important. Fresh air, companionship, fully stocked pantries and a simple handshake with a stranger will become new novelties

The Covid-19 global crisis is teaching us that human interaction is still a hugely valuable commodity. Communities are supporting one another, apartment blocks serenading each other and critical functions like emergency services, healthcare, education and more banding together to support fellow humans.

In a world of rapid growth where people think the robots will inevitably replace them, we’re learning that human interaction is what we seek most. The simple pleasure of a handshake, a hug or even sitting across from someone to share a meal produce irreplaceable chemical benefits. While virtual tools can try, we’ll never get the same oxytocin hit that we do from these authentically human interactions.

The challenge, post Covid-19, will be how the public sector co-designs a world that caters to the future needs and desires of humanity without tipping the scales too far in one direction. Sure, we’re learning about the simple pleasures of human interaction, but we’ve also learned important lessons that it isn’t always required. For government, we now need to look at how we balance the needs for virtual and human interaction, how we compliment virtual workplaces with physical programs.

Notably, for thousands of humans who have had to isolate or quarantine themselves, there will likely be a refocusing of what’s important. Fresh air, companionship, fully stocked pantries and a simple handshake with a stranger will become new novelties after being denied simple things that had always been a given prior.

Some other wonderful things we’re learning about the future of humanity (albeit through challenging circumstances):

So, there you have it.

A reframing of sorts.

Is Covid-19 awful? Yes.

Will it take us years to recover? Yes.

Can we come out stronger if we focus on the learnings? Absolutely. — Petrhyce Donovan

All views and opinions expressed in this article are my own and do not reflect or represent any parties that I am affiliated with or employed by. Comments expressed in this article do not express any political preferences. This article is not designed to present a comprehensive solution, rather to start a conversation about the public sector.

(Picture credit: Unsplash)