Tomorrow (06/05/2023) King Charles III will officially be crowned King. Whether you will be watching and engaging in festivities or simply enjoying an extra day off, there are some lessons we can all take from the coronation.

There’s nothing wrong with a little tradition

Currently, change is fast moving and plentiful both in our work and our personal lives. Perhaps this is why sometimes we enjoy a bit of tradition.

The pageantry and regal traditions will not be for everyone, but it is hard to avoid turning an eye to the spectacle.

Traditions will need to adapt over time – 100 years ago they would not have had to consider television angles when planning a coronation parade! However, as long as they manage this, traditions can offer a certain level of reassurance and security to individuals. 

You need to keep with the times

While a little tradition is no bad thing, it is important to move forward and know when things need changing.

There have been many reports that this will be a “modern” coronation. Certain aspects of the exuberant pageantry will be scaled back, for example.

Firms must also acknowledge when practices might need to be modernised or adapted to better suit the current environment. 

Within the wealth management sector, technology is a prime example of this. Firms that are not embracing this are starting to be left behind.

Communications matter

The concept of pledging allegiance to the King has been met with some backlash.

At its simplest, this appears to be a communications issue. It was originally reported that the public where being “asked” to pledge their allegiance to the King.

For many, it is not a big jump from “ask” to being “told” to do something. As a result, many felt they were being pressured to do something they did not necessarily want to.

In fact, the public is only being “invited” to do this, there is no obligation.

If the communications had led with “invited” as was actually intended, it is likely there would have been less of a reaction and people would not be as worried.

This is clearly a large scale example, but wording issues like this happen on a very regular basis. Seemingly small wording issues can cause big misunderstandings and provoke unwanted reactions.

An extra day off never goes amiss

Whatever your views on the monarchy, few are going to turn down the opportunity of an extra day off.

Sometimes employee wellbeing and morale boosting is as simple as this. While we cannot expect a bank holiday every week, an extra day every so often – particularly when employees have been working overtime to finish a piece of work – can keep employees motivated and happy.