Just as lockdown was announced we launched our Planning for COVID-19 series of learning module webinars. Starting back on 24th March the first module covered forecasting, followed by sessions on homeworking, scheduling, real-time, mental health and creating future business continuity. These free webinars were designed to provide supporting knowledge to help Planners during this unprecedented time. The additional Networking session brought together the group to discuss and share their experiences. The last in the series looked at capturing learning and using COVID-19 as a catalyst to shape the strategy and build for the future.

These recordings are still available for you to watch on-demand, with each module guaranteed to give you ideas to at least prove you are doing the right things, or even better, improve.
 
In no particular order, my top takeaways were:

• Review strategic objectives, updating all objectives (including RAG status) and retire/reset any old objectives. Don’t send out reports with irrelevant targets, they will only confuse people or get ignored. 
• Track, tag and observe data, start creating timelines of key internal and external events/activities. Customer and colleague behaviour is not typical therefore our assessment of data cannot be against typical benchmarks/expectations.
• Start a personal learning log (diary) to capture your experiences and feelings. This helps you to set time aside to reflect and review your progress during this time. I’m sure this will make for an interesting read in 12-months, or even 5-years time!

My final takeaway has been how connected The Forum community has been during a time of self-isolation and lockdown. The Planning for COVID-19 series brought together our members and provided an opportunity to learn and share ideas.

Watch the boxset: https://theforum.social/learning-academy/covid-19-webinar-series

Author: Phil Anderson
Date: 15/05/20