The Golden Opportunity That Coronavirus Has Presented To Us

COVID-19 will change the way we work forever, in a good way.

Here's how.

Current state

My situation is not unique - I work for a big company in a big head office. I am used to working with big teams of people. We all have big plans and we hold big meetings to outwork those plans.

If we are any good at our jobs we produce big results and get rewarded with a big bonus.

We then spend that big bonus on a big oversees holiday with our family. This is where we reconnect with each other and ourselves.

Many of us have a big commute to work. A big part of our day (in fact a massive part of our day) is spent away from home and away from our families.

This is a big deal, but we accept it as normal and we get on with it.

And this is the big treadmill we run on year after year.

Until now.

For those of us fortunate to still have a job, this pandemic is forcing many of us out of our workplace comfort zones.

But I am predicting the way we do work and our working lives will be better off for the experience.

Organisations will be better off too. I'll explain why.

Premature evaluation?

Granted it is still early days, but I am noticing some unexpected upsides as most of my organisation operates from our working-from-home environment;

• I am realizing that team video-conferencing and one-on-one Facetime calls work fine to stay connected with my team and colleagues.
• My proficiency with "virtual" technologies has increased exponentially in a very short time. I am enjoying the challenge of learning.
• I notice that our video meetings finish ahead of time, despite the inevitable 5+ minutes lost at the start as one or two participants "can't get in" for whatever reason.
• Our meetings are short, sharp and effective. It never used to be that way.
• "Traditional" meetings are getting cancelled. And guess what...things are still getting done!!
• There is much more (emphasize much more) focus time. There are no more "drop by" conversations, opportune requests from the boss or colleagues, general distractions or chit chat. There is (mostly) only quality time to focus on what needs to be done.
• The few who do continue to come to the office each day notice the same things; the commute is quicker, the office is quieter, there are fewer meetings and there are less distractions.
• The general consensus from many people I have spoken to is that they feel they are all getting more done in less time.
• The absolute consensus is that everyone is appreciating the additional 1-2 hours per day re-gained by not commuting to work.

I stress that these are early days observations, but my prediction is that as we become more proficient at working remotely, we will become more efficient at working in general.

The new future

With many of us being forced into the corner office (aka our spare room or end of the dining room table), this is leading organisations to think differently about their future workforce.

The organisations that will thrive will be those with the open mindset to double-down on this change rather than to hold or fold.

This can be difficult when your company has been around for umpteen decades, it has always occupied the multi-story office building in a prime central city location, and everyone has their own desk and their routine to get there.

But almost overnight we have strayed into uncharted waters where the desk with a name tag and family photo may not be as necessary as we always thought.

I know this to be the case. There are countless incredibly successful small, medium and large businesses who operate with a virtual workforce model.

Hell, some companies have staff in multiple countries yet they deal with the time zone, language and cultural issues. They just do (if you want some inspiration from businesses that make this work, read this article).

Their secret is that they generally started that way. This way of working is all they know and they have evolved the systems and processes to make it work. It is in their DNA.

But more importantly, they have leaders who embrace this way of working. This is the message for all of us.

"We are designers, engineers, and communicators united by a common goal, not a common location" - Amir Salihefendic, CEO of Doist

To achieve this requires three foundational ingredients; my "three T's":

1. Trust - from management that the work will get done, regardless of how or where.
2. Tools - that people have the right tools and systems to function effectively.
3. Trocesses - I actually mean processes but I so badly wanted a third word that started with T. Processes for remaining connected and engaged and for retaining visibility of progress as the work gets done.

Employer asks "what's in it for me?"

So all of this sounds great. But if I am a traditional bricks and mortar employer...

what's in it for me?

This article from Inc. magazine provides a pretty good summary on the benefits of a remote workforce model, however I will add a few other points for your consideration:

• There will be less non-productive time per employee per day. The lets-have-a-meeting culture will diminish, conversations will be had rather than meetings, conversations will be shorter and sharper, unplanned interruptions and distractions will be less.
• There will be more creative thinking from your staff. A virtual work environment provides greater opportunity for staff to sit and think. Old-skoolers will see thinking time as wasting time, but thinking time is a critical element for creativity, innovation and business improvement to prosper.

"Thinking is the hardest work there is, which is probably the reason so few engage in it" - Henry Ford

• You will be able to attract more quality talent from a wider talent pool. No longer will a prospective candidate need to consider the logistical nightmare of moving or commuting to/from their chosen home town to your chosen office location before applying for that job vacancy.
• You will increase the diversity within your workforce. The single parent candidate constrained by school drop-offs or the impressive data analyst from Nigeria could be your next hire.
• You will need less office space and you will incur less of the associated overheads that come with this. Your organisations environmental footprint will be less.
• Your organisation will more quickly transition to that highly sought after digitally-enabled organisation. A small case-in-point; through necessity my team and I have had to quickly immerse ourselves in becoming (semi-) proficient in using MS Teams. A small win but we are better than we were two weeks ago.
• People will become more efficient and effective in their roles.
• And ultimately, there will be less people required to do the same (or perhaps more) work.

Thus, amidst all of the current darkness there are some rays of light.

The remote working model is challenging many of us used to the traditional office environment.

But I'm a glass half full kinda guy and my prediction is that when we eventually come out the other side of this pandemic cluster...bomb, the way that we work together will indeed be different, but more importantly, it will be better.

Q. Do you agree?