An Opportunity to Make Real and Lasting Change…

The spread of COVID-19 has had huge ramifications for organisations, individuals and society on every level, and resulting economic downturn has caused significant human and financial disruption. 

A whole host of opportunities for long-term change have emerged, changing how we live and work, possibly forever. The time to capitalise on these challenges is now.

The crisis has accelerated unprecedented transformation. Bringing innovation, collaboration, and has propelled us to accept vast changes to the way we work. These changes, that would have previously taken years to embed, have been implemented into practice in weeks.

Such moments in history bring to the forefront new concepts and ideas, forcing us to think differently, and outside of our comfort zones. Simply reverting back to old models of work would surely be a huge wasted opportunity.

Business agility

This crisis a human crisis. Business leaders are working hard to balance and support the evolving needs of the organisation and its people. Managing change, flexing, and prioritising business agility has been at the top of the agenda.

In these uncertain times we are judged not only on our actions, but our behaviours. We must ensure that we listen to our people more, show them more empathy, and communicate with honesty, praise and gratitude.

Embracing change

Opening the country back up is going to be a lot more complicated than locking it down. It’s going to be a marathon, not a sprint,

Employee expectations have changed, possibly forever, with very different attitudes towards home and flexible working. Implementing flexible working practices can offer benefits to both employees and organisations, and supports a more diverse and inclusive workforce. 

Business leaders need to reassess approaches to people management and the employee experience. Creating dialogue with employees around flexibility, endorsing flexible practices, and giving employees the benefit of trust and support will result in healthier, happier and more productive employees now and for the future.

Learning and New Skills

We’ve all had to learn new things during this crisis, with businesses and employees learning through necessity, often at pace. Employees have had to learn lots of new skills, including learning how to:

·      implement and use new technology 

·      manage virtual and remote teams

·      create a work-life balance and care responsibilities while homeworking

·      support wellbeing and productivity

·      stay connected and continue to collaborate with colleagues

New skills are needed for new ways of working, but there is some way to go to digitalise our learning and align it with new ways of working. Consumer needs and client expectations are likely to have changed and businesses will need to respond. 

Equip your workforce with the right skills by upskilling and investing in learning now, to support new business challenges and aid recovery.

Never let a good crisis go the waste

The business world has encountered unprecedented change during this pandemic, and along with it comes learning, opportunities, and further challenges. We must learn fast, grab new opportunities and move forward with our newly acquired understanding. 

Fundamentally, we must put people at the heart of everything we do. We must connect with them, engage with them and use fairness, inclusion, trust and well-being as catalysts for real and lasting change.