May 12

Is there a silver lining to Covid-19 for your organisation?

The COVID 19 Pandemic has had a tremendous impact across the globe, realigning systems and ways of working within a very short space of time.

It’s given us a sharp insight into how organisations are connected

Countries and companies are coming together – often to save lives.

Our perspective has been informed by a higher purpose – to safeguard our employees and support our communities.

Can this show us the way we need to take collective action against Climate Change, a far greater threat to our world?

Hierarchy and status are ceding to connection and authenticity

Everyone from the CEO to the sales representative has been dealing with uncertainty and this has created an opportunity for more open-ness and authenticity.

There are no big offices or an army of assistants when you are working remotely – “Zoom” is a great leveller – we all get our 3 x 3 box on the screen, regardless of our position within the organisation.

This could lead to a future where risk taking and creativity are enabled through a more connected, engaged and more agile organisation. What can we do to nurture and encourage this connection?

It’s teaching us ways to optimise resource allocation

The concept that there is enough of a resource – it may just not be in the right place.

We have seen collaboration to send PPE and ventilators to countries or cities that need them at a particular moment.

What implications does this have for collaboration and allocation of scarce resources in the future?

We see the power of diverse leadership

Only 10 out of 152 of the world’s leaders are women and there are active barriers to women participating, let alone succeeding in politics.

Some of the most effective leadership in this time of crisis have come from women visibly demonstrating what we already know from research: that they excel in taking initiative, being resilient, driving results, inspiring and motivating (HBR, 2019).

How can we take the lessons of successful leadership in this crisis and apply those learnings to our own leadership behaviour and talent development?

There has been a shift in what we value as important

During the past months, we have started to question whether something is really necessary – be it a process, project or a face to face meeting.

We have found ways to make processes work smarter. We cancelled or postponed that unnecessary projects and made that face to face meeting virtual.

Workers who were previously invisible, such as supermarket workers or carers, have become “essential workers” and their importance to our daily lives, recognised.

How do we embed this value shift to drive future effectiveness and respect?

The COVID 19 pandemic has been called the “great accelerator “and the “great pause”. Whatever we call it, we now have the unique opportunity to take the learnings and use them to sustainably grow our businesses.