When environments change, so must our priorities

When an event suddenly changes the world around us, it alters the conditions in which our lives have been spent until that moment. Human beings and the organizations they build can be divided between those capable of reacting and adapting, and those who, for whatever reason, do not. That was the subject of a piece I wrote last week, which I entitled “What would Charles Darwin have to say about this pandemic?”

The speed we adapt to a new environment largely determines our survival. Why did some countries respond to the pandemic better than others? Simply because they adapted their behavioral patterns earlier, thus preventing the mechanisms that the virus uses for its transmission. The time that elapses between the appearance of the first case and the implementation of containment measures is, for the moment, the variable that best predicts the evolution of the number of cases in a country.

Did Spain do well? Based on the results, it is clear that it did not. On the one hand, it was not easy: a much-visited country, with a culture of physical proximity… that said, it’s clear measures should have been taken earlier, instead of focusing on minimizing the possible impact of the infection, but hindsight is always 20/20. Countries like the United States or the United Kingdom did significantly worse than we did, and sadly, others like Brazil and much of the rest of Latin America are doing even worse, for various reasons: in some countries, containment measures are practically impossible, because simply, if you can’t go out and earn your living, you’re going to die anyway. Pandemics are not great levelers.

What exactly does “adapting” mean? Essentially, altering our priorities. For some countries, adapting to the pandemic meant prioritizing measures to control it over measures to keep the economy going. From there, it meant putting in place mechanisms to allow economic activity to be carried out without compromising public health: being aware that zero risk is impossible, but ensuring that the health system is not overwhelmed. In other words, altering the priorities that existed before the pandemic. It is precisely for this reason that we titled the report developed by the NASA-sponsored research team, the Cross Innovation Strategy Group, entitled “Never Normal”: faced with a new environment, the focus should not be a return to the previous normality, but to adapt, changing our priorities so as to cope with it.

What does adapting mean for businesses, or individuals for that matter? The same. For the university where I work, adapting means ensuring that our students can physically attend classes without compromising their health, physically distanced but still able to participate fully. This implies a much lower density of students, that teaching should be complemented with online activities, and that students should be able to move from the physical to the virtual seamlessly, with no loss of interactivity, any disadvantages or limits. Simple? Not at all. And it implies changing the priorities of the organization.

In parallel, there are implications for people. Continuing with the example, people who aspires to teach at our university will have to prepare themselves for this, and this will imply equipping themselves with a certain level of infrastructure, part of which may be totally or partially paid for by the university: a fiberoptic connection is no longer a luxury, but a necessity, as may be the case with a second monitor, a chroma screen, a reasonable lighting system or a decent microphone. For me, as a teacher, creating a space in my house to teach my classes becomes a priority, which did not exist before the pandemic, but that is automatically imposed on other possible needs or desires.

How should your company, your organization, or you, change your priorities in the face of a new environment? Deciding will not always be simple, and it is up to each individual. But I am sure of one thing; as long as you put it off, as long as your priorities remain unchanged, you will not be ready for the new environment you find yourself in. And by now, we should all know what happens when you fail to adapt to your environment.

(En espa?ol, aquí)