Pivoting During the Pandemic and the Journey to a New Normal

By Anthony Griffin

This article was originally published in August 2021 on the Global Bridge blog.

The COVID-19 pandemic was an existential threat to businesses around the world, and Global Bridge was no exception. At the onset of the pandemic, Global Bridge provided the majority of its training courses in person. When this was no longer an option, Founder and President Garry Pearson and his team quickly pivoted and made dramatic changes to the company’s business model. In this article, Garry explains how the company evolved during the COVID-19 pandemic and how these changes can actually offer more value and new opportunities for clients in a post-pandemic world.

How has Global Bridge changed in the wake of the pandemic?

Prior to the pandemic, we conducted 80 to 85 percent of our training onsite at our clients’ headquarters. Additionally, we conducted 10 to 15 percent of our training at our learning center in Otemachi, Tokyo. Only two to three percent of our training was online. This was mostly done to support clients that had been transferred overseas.

The pandemic really disrupted our business. First, we had to manage internal changes regarding our staff. We wanted to put safety first, so as soon as the initial state of emergency in Tokyo was announced, we told all of our staff to work from home. Then, we spoke with our clients. Some of them didn’t want to convert to online training. They wanted to wait for the pandemic to pass and then resume in-person training. Back then, the expectation was that the pandemic would pass in a matter of weeks or months. Very few people expected it to escalate as it did. Other clients didn’t have the luxury of putting off their training and were ready to go online. So, in March of 2020, we started converting a lot of our training to an online format. Now, more than one year later, we have had a few “false starts” in terms of resuming in-person classes. After the first state of emergency ended, some companies quickly started in-person classes again. Then, the second state of emergency was announced, and the lessons stopped as abruptly as they had started. Recently, companies have been slower to resume in-person classes. I think they are waiting to see if we can get some kind of stability.

Looking back, the pandemic shocked us into adapting our programs, and we had to make sure that our instructors were tech savvy. They also had to adjust their training style to fit an online model. We didn’t have a lot of time to do all of this. Our first big online experience was with one of our largest clients. We were scheduled to do a training workshop for 150 of their new recruits. Typically, we do this in one big room with 14 or 15 trainers. When we got the request to do this online, it was basically a baptism by fire. So, with very little experience, we managed to train all 150 people using Zoom. In the end, it worked quite well. But honestly speaking, the initial transition was tough.

Fortunately, client satisfaction for our online training is almost as high as the satisfaction with our in-person training. So, I’m very grateful that our development team could change our training materials and that our trainers could also adapt their teaching styles. Everyone has done a great job, and now most of what we do is online.?

What do you predict for the post-pandemic training environment? Do you expect a return to how things were, or do you see a significant amount of training remaining online?

I believe the future is going to depend on each company’s training objectives. The huge advantage of online training is that clients can reduce costs associated with transportation and accommodation. Another advantage has to do with equality – this is a big one. A lot of the companies that we work with have offices all over Japan and the world. When we did in person training, only people based in Tokyo or Osaka could participate. This excluded a lot of people in rural areas of Japan or people in other countries. It just wasn’t practical or cost effective to bring them to the training venue. However, when we go online, we can offer training to everybody. This equality is not only geographic, but it could also include a person’s family situation or lifestyle – parents with young children, for example. Maybe they cannot leave their home for a two-day training program, but they could participate in a virtual equivalent.

However, there is one thing that has been lost in the transition to online training. When you train in person, there’s an element of relationship building that happens. During breaks, unscripted conversations and interactions happen. That kind of social interaction is missing online. So, in the end, if training objectives focus on networking or relationship building, in-person training will be superior. However, if that’s not the case, the majority of the training can be done online. Ultimately, I believe both will exist.

That being said, I don’t believe we will ever go back to how it was before the pandemic. I think that’s a good thing, especially when we consider equality. For many years, in-person training was what we did and a lot of our trainers, myself included, still enjoy that. So we will continue to offer in-person training. However, we also want to support our clients as much as possible in any way that we can.

I’ve always said that Global Bridge is all about customization—offering the right programs, materials, and trainers for our clients. Perhaps the future will bring a fourth element of customization: the delivery platform. As a provider of training solutions, it’s our responsibility to design a program that fits each company or individual that we serve.

To learn more about Global Bridge, read the previous parts of this interview series:

• How Global Bridge Helps Clients Think, Act, and Succeed Globally
• On a Mission to Develop Global Leaders

If you would like to get in touch with Garry Pearson or learn more about?Global Bridge, please contact?[email protected]?or call 03-3518-2620.?