COC 1 The New “Better Norm” May 2020
As a coach and chair of CEO Peer Advisory Boards, I have been privileged to witness at first hand the courage, dedication, and determination of leaders during this pandemic. I have been both humbled and inspired.
Leaders of businesses have worked hard to keep their employees safe, making tough decisions to ensure they had a business to return to. Not one of these individuals, trained or signed up for this, and yet they dug in and committed to doing what they knew they must.
In the midst of the pandemic leaders were required to stay current on the latest developments and adapt to whatever changes flooded in from one day to the next. Even now, this remains an evolving and fluid situation with uncertainty as the work from home/office blend is still being established. A leaders resolve and resilience will continue to be tested!
The statement “We are all in the same storm but we are certainly not all in the same boat” certainly rings true.
What I have seen are businesses that fall into three categories,
1. Thriving- their product/service demand has been part of the response to the climate that the pandemic has created and they have seized the opportunity, despite encountering challenges around servicing the demand;
2. Dying – their product/service had its route to sales/market disappear or blocked;
3. Idle, ticking over- they have made the most of this time, trading where possible, improving systems/processes, training and developing staff – focusing on new opportunities and getting ready for new ways of working.
Many are asking “what part of the old norm is worth rushing back to?”
Whichever of the categories your business falls into, here are some of the ways businesses can adapt for the future.
1. Flexible working and use of technology - Any lagging resistance to either working from home, flexible working hours, using technology such as Zoom to communicate with staff and clients virtually has disappeared. Our acceptance and use of technology for digital collaboration, entertainment and e-commerce as a viable sales platform for many services/products (including food) has accelerated as quickly as our individual technology skills have improved. Technology has allowed much of our lives and some businesses to continue in ways that would not have been possible
years ago. I believe that these mediums will not fully replace face-to-face meetings, however the future will need a blend of virtual meetings, working from home or office and people being valued more for outcomes than hours worked. It seems workers not only like working from home, in some cases they are more productive. Businesses have asked; could we thrive as a business with reduced office space and flexibility around how and when we work in offices?
2. Intolerance to poor behaviours/productivity/systems/processes. This enforced time out has enabled owners/leaders to reflect on and review how they do business and use resources. It has exposed strengths and weaknesses. The new norm will require greater clarity around what is and is not working for the business, better focus on measures and accountability with a commitment to only employ the right people. Many leaders are using the term “true colours”. Some employees have surpassed expectations with attitude or ability to deliver outcomes with a “how can I help” mentality. Sadly some have not.
This brings me to the final area I believe businesses will have to adapt and strengthen to thrive.
3. Purpose led, engaged and smart business. There is no doubt in my mind that the businesses that will survive and thrive will be those who have seen this crisis as an opportunity to do better. They will have a short-term focus on the One Thing that will enable their organisation to survive and be here in six months time. Those businesses will ensure they have both the right medium and long-term strategies, systems, processes, measures and people in place and will communicate those strategies through refined processes and systems. Importantly they will reinforce the clarity through how they structure and lead the organisation with staff knowing exactly how they can contribute and how they will be measured, both now and in the future.
Every crisis presents us with unlimited possibilities. As people return to their new way of living and working, my hope is we are going to keep the best of what was, learn from what’s good about now and create a “better new norm” for the future.
Kate Marshall
Speaker, Coach, Facilitator