In March and April 2020, Icon mobilised its resources to provide members and conservators the support they needed to adapt to the Coronavirus pandemic.
What was the goal we set out to achieve?
Supporting the conservation profession and collaborating with colleagues to mitigate the negative impacts of the pandemic lockdown quickly emerged as a strategic priority for Icon in 2020.
The Coronavirus outbreak and subsequent Government imposed restrictions had a significant impact on the cultural heritage sector as conservators and heritage professionals found their places of work closed and businesses severely impacted. Many found themselves looking for information on how to navigate the ‘new normal,’ while others felt overwhelmed by information overload. We all struggled to interpret the complex financial support schemes being announced by Government.
As the professional body for conservators and the authoritative source of information for the profession, we immediately recognised our duty to provide clear and accessible information, support and guidance tailored to the sector’s needs.
As the professional body for conservators and the authoritative source of information for the profession, we immediately recognised our duty to provide clear and accessible information, support and guidance tailored to the sector’s needs.
What did we do?
The Icon website is our main communications platform through which we reach out to members and external audiences. Therefore it was obvious that we needed to develop a central hub of support information and resources for our members on this platform. We also recognised that this needed to be implemented as quickly as possible to address our members’ urgent concerns.
Using queries and calls for help from our 2,500 members as evidence, we identified key information needs and content gaps. We also met with partners including Collections Trust and AIM to develop our understanding of the types of information that the wider sector was seeking and to co-ordinate responses. This helped us to identify specific information gaps that Icon and its special interest groups and networks could fill with their expertise. It allowed us to set up a plan of action to develop, publish and distribute new content, prioritising the production of the most frequently requested content.
The whole Icon team got involved in the drafting and compilation of material so that information was accurate and reflected the full expertise of our organisation. The Professional Development Team pulled together information on CPD activities in lockdown, while the Communications Team shared policy and advocacy outputs to support members’ individual advocacy efforts.
However, it was evident that we needed to look beyond the Team’s expertise. This is where the experience and knowledge of our Groups and Networks played a vital role. The UK Heads of Conservation Group prepared guidance on collections care during Coronavirus restrictions, while the Icon Care of Collections Group produced comprehensive guidance on ‘waking up’ collections after lockdown. The Icon Scotland Group wrote advice on emergency response procedures in lockdown. We also kept an eye out on content being produced by our allied partners and selected and shared the resources most relevant to conservators on our website hub (fully credited of course!).
What was the outcome?
A dedicated section of the website was created for the extensive new suite of Coronavirus support webpages which, includes:
- Continuing Professional Development
- Advocacy and Policy
- Business Support
- Collections Care
- Historic Buildings and Site Working
- Wellbeing and Remote Working
We were delighted by the positive response we received from Icon members in relation to the new resource. Some of the feedback we received was truly heartwarming:
“The Icon response to the on-line explosion thanks to Covid-19 is brilliant. It’s the best, most comprehensive and most enjoyable site of any organisation. I could spend all day there, listening to lectures, reading responses.”
“The resources on the Icon website are fantastic - a really good set of advice.”
“I don’t know if there will be an award for best pandemic response by a professional organization, but if there is then y’all should win. Thank you.”
“Thank you for making me feel like members are your priority.”
What did we learn?
The development of our new resource hub taught us an important lesson: Don’t let perfect be the enemy of good.
We realised that we needed to publish content and resources as and when information became available and then adapt and restructure this as needs changed. This approach enabled us to quickly fill content gaps and respond to the pressing need for information without getting bogged down in editorial concerns.
While this was difficult for the perfectionists amongst us, who prefer to publish only once everything is visually flawless, it taught us the importance of weighing priorities - in this case the supply of information versus its presentation.
Naturally the inhouse perfectionists have since gone back and tidied up the web pages transferred to the new Icon website (launched in March 2021) because we still care about high standards of presentation and design and want to promote our professionalism.
What next?
The pandemic is far from over. There are still difficult times ahead for our members, conservators and heritage professionals across the UK and beyond. Icon will consequently continue to update its support hub and to develop new resources as required.
We’re always looking for new suggestions, so please share your thoughts on how we can best support you by emailing us.
