This webinar, featuring by our Senior consultants Dana Look-Arimoto and John Sigmon, continues a special series titled “Creating Resiliency During the COVID-19 Crisis.”
This series will feature articles, podcasts and additional resources from our Consultants Collective member consultants, advisors and coaches, whose experience and expertise includes risk and change management, Asia, China, offshoring, leading distributed global teams, managing crises and internal communications, deploying and managing online collaboration tools that enable people to work together virtually, developing new models, as well as expertise in innovation and design-thinking, work-life integration — and more — all of which uniquely positions Consultants Collective to serve its clients during this time. We hope this series is a valuable resource to you and your organization as you tackle the challenges presented by this global public health crisis. If we can provide additional help and support through our executive consulting, advisory and coaching services, please contact us.
The impact of COVID-19 on workforce planning
Value and Joy have never been more critical and simpler to measure…JUST ASK! The masks are coming off. Mix, role, goal, strengths, EQ, resilience, flexibility, true collaboration–these are the key skills of the future. Visit Dana’s website to access her podcast, new quiz and work-life integration @ home program to help you claim work-life integration victory!
Best practices for managing workforce re-entry
It’s NOT business as usual. We must be greener, more flexible, take the best practices from pre and during COVID and create the new norm past uncertainty. Virtual happy hours mean no one is driving drunk. It costs way less and allows us to share our outside of work lives readily. This goes to show that there is no need for elaborate wining and dining and flying all the time. Be strategic with your time, energy and resources. Measure ROT, not just ROI!
Understanding how your organization will have to shift post-COVID-19
Determine what is truly core and what is the flexible workforce. Freelance and consultant platforms, even virtual benches like Consultants Collective take on new meaning both to protect core workers as well as experiment with alternatives that are cost-effective AND add value.
Developing new, long-term strategies, plans and policies for remote work and distributed workforces
Change your handbooks now. Don’t put this category into crisis management, or disaster recovery plans only–bake it into the fabric of people’s practices. Change the ways you hold people accountable as well as motivate them differently. Put more of an emphasis on performance and value. We have the tools and technology.
New leadership competencies/strategies will you need today and in a post-COVID-19 world
People can either hide more when working remotely or they can be truly their authentic selves–either way, they will follow what you do, not what you say, so work reasonable hours and be accessible. Emphasize that work should not be a 24/7 shop. Highlight where you are creating work-life integration at home, and then passing the baton with your family/partner, etc.
Embrace and offer flexible benefits and ways of incentivizing the workforce (regardless of the type of worker) to take advantage of more real perks. Are your employees missing the on-site gym? Now, maybe it’s time to offer coupons for Peleton. Has daycare been an issue? Be creative, perhaps it’s offering people a Music Together class where parents, grandparents or caregivers go-to online class with little ones to immerse in music and dancing and fun with an instructor. Are there issues with getting to the grocery store regularly? There are endless options for home delivery for food. Try Moink! Small sustainable farmers benefit from this too–it was on the Shark Tank and now they are also giving back to those in need of food beyond their members.
Poll Questions
To what degree will your people’s strategy change as a result of COVID-19?
- Extensive 33%
- Moderate 50%
- Minimal 17%
- Not at all 0%
What’s the leading emotion/action that you are seeing with your teams?
- Anxiety 57%
- Confusion 0%
- Hope 0%
- Creativity 0%
- Community/team-work 43%
What are your most critical needs right now?
- Clarity 25%
- Communication 17%
- Caring 0%
- All Of The Above 58%
What’s the first thing you will do strategically when we start returning to work?
- Blend ways to work remotely and from home into the fabric of our culture 80%
- Minimize our carbon footprint (or maintain close to where it is now) 0%
- Change the make-up of our workforce (more or less core employees +/- more or less gig/contractors) 0%
- Have a real happy hour (screw this zoom stuff) 20%
