The pandemic has hurt, interrupted, and challenged us in ways we could have never predicted. Not only personally, but in the way we do business as well. It has forced us to learn and adapt, and contend with the fact that the “time and place” before the pandemic began are gone. Alter Agents CEO Rebecca Brooks discusses all of this in her latest column for Forbes, titled “Why A Renewal — Not A Recovery — Will Be Critical For Post-Pandemic Business Success.” 

Choosing Renewal

There is undoubtedly a lot to learn from the challenges of the past year and a half. Rebecca writes that “all of the pain and frustration and heartache we’ve felt at the shortcomings of our traditional systems and ways of working” provide an imperative, and an opportunity, to do things differently. From the way we work on a daily basis all the way to how we approach our client relationships, we can choose to look for renewal. 

At Alter Agents, we have had a unique working style in place for several years which prioritizes employee autonomy. The model, which we call “ultimate agency”, allows each of us to set our own schedules and take unlimited time off – as long as we are fulfilling our responsibilities to each other and to our clients. With this structure already in place, we were well positioned to adapt to the changing work environment forced on many by the pandemic. However, it didn’t come without its challenges, especially in the face of adding several new team members over the last year. Most of all, these challenges highlighted the increased need for trust between colleagues. 

Happy colleagues, happy clients

Rebecca writes that focusing on trust internally also helps with client work and relationships. Increased engagement, spurred by the working model, “enables researchers to take ownership over data and insights, and clients benefit in the process because the outputs are stronger.” We are pleased to report that our approach is working. Our clients consistently provide feedback that our team is “exceeding expectations”, proving the point that happy employees make for happy clients. 

She concludes with: “I’m not interested in trying to revert back to a traditional office-based working paradigm… pretending like no good lessons came out of all the struggles we faced as a company and as individuals. As a small business, we’re going to continue to learn from the times and adapt to future-looking methods because that’s always been a key part of success. Renewal, to me, means reinvention — learning from our history, adapting for the future, and being not only open to change, but eager to do so.”

We’re committed to being a good place to work, and like working with people who feel the same. If you’re interested in partnering with us for your research and insights, we’d be happy to talk.

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