The ongoing business challenges of COVID-19 demand that leaders demonstrate organizational agility. What worked in the past may no longer be effective. Can you adapt, overcome, or just get to tomorrow in slightly better shape?
During a crisis situation, you may be focused on triaging problems and not considering the big picture. Your employees will be watching and waiting for your response. And yes, they are expecting one.
While there is no one-size-fits-all solution, you should consider these tips as a way to improve your organizational agility:
Understand Your Situation
Think about how you see the challenges you’re facing. Do you think of them as a stop sign or a highway on-ramp? Both may feature uncertainty but how you approach them is different.
In the stop sign scenario, you’ve had to stop some or all of your business and now must start it up again. To get things going, you may have to re-hire employees, use marketing to remind customers that you exist, and adjust offerings.
The on-ramp sees you building speed but with that speed comes adjustments, as you have to merge with traffic. You may need to hire more staff, retrain people to new goals, and purchase software or equipment.
Understanding your situation will allow you to effectively move forward.
Defined Goals
It’s understandable if you’ve had to abandon your business goals but have your replaced them with new targets?
Sometimes you may have an idea of where you want to go but it’s hazy in your mind. A goal isn’t really a goal until you can clearly write it down or describe it to someone.
If you’re struggling with the process, recruit some of your top performers to help define next steps. Even in chaotic times, defined goals provide a focused vision for the future.
Communication
Besides goals, you want to make sure you’re communicating information to your employees at a higher level than usual. Uncertainty creates a void that often becomes full of unnecessary distractions and rumors.
Even if you’re sharing bad news, it’s likely better than silence. People will be wondering about things like job security, annual raises, and holiday bonuses.
You will have to decide on the level of transparency, usually somewhere between the sky is falling and lying about things being fine. Perhaps take some inspiration from Winston Churchill’s Blood, Toil, Tears and Sweat speech from 1940.
You should also keep in mind that in today’s world any internal communication may end up being shared with the outside world.
Redefine Culture
Organizational agility may require you to revisit the culture of your business. In times of challenges or even chaos, culture is often forgotten. And yet, it was likely an ingredient in past success.
A lot of elements make up business culture and some of them may have been disrupted by remote work. Did you have a culture where employees could easily meet, share ideas, or ask questions? Think about how you can recreate this kind of teamwork through the online world.
Sometimes culture is about following rules, like dress codes. You need to decide whether your dress code matters in a working from home world. Or is it something that helps set the mood for work, no matter the location?
Perhaps it’s a requirement that applies only to those who interact with the outside world. Or is a relaxed dress code a reward for people working hard challenging times.
Think about the elements that make your business great and how you can maintain those qualities. If you don’t consider them, they may change on their own and you may not be happy with the transformation.
Ken Okel Performs Virtual Keynotes Too
