Now, some weeks into the COVID-19 crisis, I've read my fill of LinkedIn blogs advising on how to work effectively from home.

I've had a few disparate thoughts about policymaking: how those of us involved in developing and shaping public policy can be more useful.

A thread.

I'm uneasy about heavily deploying phrases like “the new normal” / “the post-COVID world”.

It would be myopic not to consider and plan for future scenarios, but it also feels like we are too quick to close off the crisis phase, in hope of psychological safety & predictability

SAMSHA's Phases of Disaster model is useful self-awareness for decision-making. It’s not a neat or uniform path to travel but just as “you are not stuck in traffic, you are the traffic”, we can lean into the idea of *policy is a part of an extended crisis* https://www.samhsa.gov/dtac/recovering-disasters/phases-disaster

The SAMSHA phases are useful in breaking up safe and easy generalisations about a quick shift from disaster response to rebuilding.

Let's watch out for the "high activity /low productivity" of the heroic phase and the dip of disillusionment after a collaborative honeymoon.

Embracing our situation as unique and unprecedented doesn’t mean we all of a sudden no nothing what enables and maximises good decision-making in complex, unpredictable environments where capability is distributed across massive networks.

During rapid change, bandwidth for decision-making in any organisation narrows.

Feels like time to experiment w/ @ODIdev's work on adaptive capacity to manage complexity through networked governance, feed-back loops, peer learning & realistic foresight https://www.odi.org/publications/5490-taking-responsibility-complexity

Looking ahead to different versions of the near future, we should factor-in short memories and operationalise humility about institutional learning from previous crises.

See @arjenboin’s 2009 paper on crisis management & policymaking https://www.researchgate.net/publication/46540603_The_New_World_of_Crises_and_Crisis_Management_Implications_for_Policymaking_and_Research

Leaning into this extended crisis, I'm revisiting Weisbord & Janoff's principles in "Don't Just Do Something, Stand There" for meetings:

- take responsibility for our own reactions
- focus on conditions of interaction
- get the whole system in the room
- make use of dissension

At the moment this all feels piecemeal, inconclusive and emergent.

I’d massively welcome ideas and approaches from anyone who this resonates with as we go about navigating what is happening now and what’s next. inc @rich_w @RichardHebditch @rachelcoldicutt @SianWilliams41