What Happens After the Great Reset?

The pandemic changed expectations of how we do our work. As we look ahead, dealing with ambiguity will be a critical skill for leaders.

Nearly three years since companies shuttered their offices at the start of the pandemic, the ‘return to business as usual’ is slowly taking shape. Organizations are at various stages of return-to-office plans. Some are opting for a work environment more typical of a pre-pandemic, in-person workplace, while others are going hybrid.

Regardless of what the new ‘office’ will look like, the paradigm of how we work together has fundamentally shifted. The pandemic challenged assumptions around how we should interact at work, be it in-person and virtually. It tested the hardiness of contingency plans and the technological enablement for flexible work. It also brought to the forefront the need to recognize, celebrate, and accommodate peoples’ differences to ensure all voices are heard.

I would argue that the only way leaders can adequately prepare for the next cataclysmic event is to embrace ambiguity and ensure this mindset trickles down throughout their organizations.

Embracing uncertainty as a norm

In business, we seldom have all of the information when making decisions. We have to take the information we do have and use it as best we can. The pandemic taught us that no matter how robust our plans are, unforeseen events can always upend a situation. Take, for example, a component of my organization’s business continuity plan in which key people would be given priority seats at a disaster recovery site. That works well, of course,?when it is safe for people to enter a disaster recovery site.?Fortunately, we were already in the process of equipping employees with laptops and mobile devices, which ensured we could perform business-critical functions.

The takeaway from here is that we need to think beyond the paradigm and plan for eventualities that aren’t necessarily aligned with how things are currently working. In the words of Euvin Naidoo, distinguished professor of practice in global accounting, risk, and agility at the Thunderbird School of Global Management, confronting?“unknown unknowns” ?requires an approach that’s based on accepting uncertainty and making quicker decisions in an iterative manner.

A new way of working

A key advantage of the remote and hybrid work format is the ability to cobble together teams more quickly and flexibly, regardless of where team members are physically situated. It’s an approach that’s moved the dial on agile product development, an approach where teams work together and release products iteratively in line with client needs. For us, this means smaller teams working cross-functionally that aim to release products and services more quickly than ever before.

From a work culture point of view, a key lesson from the pandemic is the need to provide employees with the flexibility to balance work and life commitments. Remote work brings great opportunities, but I believe there is also value in bringing together people in person, even if the objective is simply to get to know one another. Virtual meetings are on a path to more closely resemble the reality we experience in person, but the technology still has room to evolve, and it’s just about impossible to beat the real thing. I would be remiss to say we’ve figured all of this out, but I’m giving leaders and managers the flexibility to determine work arrangements that best suit their teams’ needs. And we’ll look at our plans regularly and reevaluate.

Leading with empathy

Managers are recognizing that employees perform their best when they have a voice. The video meetings over the past two and a half years have given employees new courage to raise their points of view in a context where the loudest voices no longer hold the most weight. And I think that’s a good thing. As we meet more often in person, leaders will need to be cognizant of the need to ensure everyone’s voices are heard. We need to ensure a diversity of personalities with varying learning, communication, and decision making styles are welcomed with open arms.

As we press ahead, ensuring we are prepared (as best we can be) for the “unknown unknowns” will be of critical importance. The ability to remain agile and handle significant ambiguities as they arise will be defining traits of successful leaders. Certain elements of the working world are returning to their pre-pandemic states, but many other elements will never be the same again. All of this change presents challenges, but in those challenges are opportunities for us all.