Whenever I hear someone ask, “When will we get back to normal?” I crack a smile.

It reminds me of the movie “Young Frankenstein’s” (pronounced FrankenSTEEN’s) character who mistakenly chose the brain of “Abby Normal” to insert into the doctor’s new creation.

It begs the question of what exactly is “normal” anymore? Is there really a new normal? Does business ever really want to carry on in a normal fashion anyway?

The answers lie in a big picture vision that goes well beyond masks and other preventative measures. For forward-thinking businesses, normal wasn’t an applicable standard during COVID-free times; let alone during this up and down pandemic. Arguably, the advances that many companies have made during the past two years in the areas of technology, employee work spaces, marketing tools and culture communications have moved them forward 10 years in just two. Conversely, the companies that have waited for things to return to “normal” before making these adjustments have come to realize they are way behind the curve. Like people, companies have a personality; those that see hardship as an opportunity to embrace change and new directions tend to be happier and to prosper.

Here at DDCC, we see a greater opportunity to help companies share culture and best practices as the ‘work at home’ philosophy—at least in part—has become the norm. It used to be that our greatest focus was to bring together employees in a company’s several physical locations, or to tie together franchisees. Since our team of journalists always interviews employees and aligns their company best practices and personal accomplishments with corporate values and missions, we were perfectly positioned to take on this new communications charge. The forward-thinking company executives who began these rich digital employee communications at the advent of COVID—versus just supplying email line items of events or news—have brought their rich cultures along with them as they continue to navigate the evolution of employee logistics. They’ve allowed our team to be innovative in their weekly or monthly employee communications—and they have reaped the rewards. While companies that haven’t created communications to, for example, share employee stories and create new tips about working at home, are seeing employees disengage, companies that executed those initiatives are enjoying employee loyalty and longevity.

As we move forward, our team and our best clients truly realize that just like in life itself, the only thing we can truly count on in business is change. Our team is grateful to those company and non-profit leaders who have allowed us the privilege and creativity to help their employees, members and donors embrace how working apart logistically doesn’t mean they can’t work together emotionally. It’s a communications pivot that has netted formidable results and has certainly made us all proud.