10/05/2020
Corona-communication: What struck me most about the change in messaging from central Government today wasn’t the wording but the colours on the new logo.
The first alarming warning sign was coloured bright yellow with red stripes denoting: Stop! The new sign alongside new (less clear, from a call to action perspective) words has the red changed to green - suggesting Go!
The communication of this unprecedented situation is fascinating. In my view, people are making up their own minds. Leadership works where there is warmth, then competence. It’s not a given.
So many aspects of the pandemic playbook have been wrongly played; the one thing that’s gone well has been (generally) the public’s response once it became clear that protecting the UK from the virus was going badly wrong. Many went into lockdown days before they were requested to do so because the dangers were becoming clear.
The exit strategy from lockdown is currently somewhere between the devil and the deep. Regardless of political persuasion or which scientific model you’re banking on, currently it’s await vaccination in isolation, or take your chances.
For many, being forced back to working outside the home is the only financial/employment choice. Is that, perhaps, why the signs have changed from red to green, to encourage you to Go?
Let’s see what happens in the next week or so now the lights have changed to green. Hopefully new ways of working will ensure those going go safely.
The experiences of many key workers has so far been worrying. It’s an incredibly high-stakes situation.