There’s endless opportunity to create and build a stronger tomorrow post-COVID, collectively and individually. On a global scale across the institutions and systems that help govern how we live and support our economic, environmental and social development, our corporate landscape also has room to improve.
The future of work can only be called ‘the future’ for so long before it’s here. We prepare today to be better tomorrow. Doing so begins with the choices and decisions that will support our expansion or keep us in the status quo of doing just enough to say “we changed” yet never really evolved.
So, in a post-COVID era, did you change? There’s a difference.
Some will say the way businesses were being run and how we were living wasn’t ‘normal,’ which then lends itself beautifully to asking, what do we want to see as a new normal? What can we do without, and what new ways of doing business are for the highest good of all in our workplaces?
In a previous post, I covered what your work life could look like post-COVID and what many companies are considering as plans to return to the office have begun. Employees’ emotional and mental well-being takes a front seat next to the logistics and physicality of the office.
This offers a look at what to start, stop and amplify while prompting you to consider what success can look like heading into an uncertain future.
By now, you may have done the due diligence to consider the way you operate and run your organization today. For those who haven’t in a post-COVID time, no task, process or responsibility is too big or small to re-evaluate.
- Top-down decision-making to collaborative & collective decision-making
The ‘top-down’ or ‘bottom-up’ way of decision-making in organizations is well known, yet neither seems fitting for a more cohesive approach to reaching decisions more efficiently. When time is of the essence, embracing the diversity that is your people allows for decisions to happen quicker and empowers others to contribute their ideas and share their voices. A collaborative approach will enable teams and day-day leaders to make daily decisions and therefore encourages input from your employees.
2. Less’ required meetings’ & more ‘necessary meetings.’
We all know those businesses that are heavy on having meetings upon meetings. The ones where everyone from every dept. is ‘required’ to participate only to leave at the end with nothing accomplished or having learned something you didn’t know when you started. What are the necessary meetings and the ones labelled required that aren’t adding value to your people or the business outcome you’re trying to achieve? Stop having ‘required meetings’ and consider meetings that are necessary and are moving your business forward.
3. Conscious partnerships, collaborations and allies
If you thought you were already doing this, have you revisited these relationships and assessed if they align with your values and what you stand for as an organization? If there’s anything that COVID taught us, we’re “better together.” Taking a conscious approach to all your business relationships forces you to consider the value and purpose of each one vs. having ties to those who ‘get the job done’ yet hold no real value at the end of the day.
Every external working relationship should have purpose and intention and, ultimately, be aligned. You know those that aren’t because you’re not working with them anymore! Some by choice and some unexpectedly. This is an excellent opportunity to amplify the relationships that will help you and create strength through the alliance and shared values. Who are those trusted and valued partners and collaborators you want standing with you and by you during uncertain times? Amplify these.
4. Embrace digitalization and automate without taking the ‘human’ out
Digitalization was happening way before COVID, yet more businesses began digitalizing where they could as the pandemic impacted how many organizations were operating. Similarly, while automation can be considered a lazy way to replace human jobs (one perspective), what processes can you afford to automate without sacrificing your people? Consider the impact this could have on cost savings and time. A ‘new normal’ will see more businesses stepping into the digital arena and automating processes that move the business forward.
5. Re-imagine, re-invent, re-assess and re-create
The recommendations above aren’t exhaustive and don’t cover many things we can start, stop and amplify. Both the tangible and the intangible. They are a start. Re-evaluating a new normal at work, the kind that calls for a ‘deep dive’ into the overall way of doing business, asks you to be courageous enough to re-imagine, re-invent, re-assess and re-create.
All hand on deck was a common phrase we often heard in the early months of COVID. We have an opportunity to maintain the collective force and influence the direction of your business.
The most significant opportunity as we look ahead is to look at what is, say farewell to what was and build a more vital world for tomorrow—one individual at a time, one leader at a time, one business at a time.
I’d love to hear from you as you may be looking at ongoing plans to set yourself up for success in an uncertain future.
What aspect of your business you’re re-imagining and hoping to see as part of your new reality? Let me know in the comments below.
To your continued success!
Big love
Lisa ❤
