Although the COVID-19 is a world-health crisis of great magnitude, it is also an imminent restructuring of the way we work. For some companies it is about short-term survival, for others is walking through the fog of uncertainty, trying to determine how to position once the crisis is over and things return to normal (or to the new normal). The big question is, what will the new normal look like? While no one can say how long we will be facing this situation, what we are all sure about is that the normal as we know it will no longer exist.
We need to be aware there is a need to determine or at least well-estimate the scale, pace, and depth of actions required to overcome this situation. We need to resolve quickly, in an agile and innovative way. To accompany this process, we also need to be resilient, we need to be able to adapt to the new normal while executing the actions required.
The good news is that this is not going to last forever. At a certain point, businesses will return to operational mode, some will need to reactive their entire supply chain, even when global supply chains face disruption worldwide. Leaders must reassess their entire business system and plan for contingent actions in order to return to effective production, which will not be possible without reimagination.
The crisis is revealing not just vulnerabilities but opportunities to have a better business performance. Leaders will need to reconsider which costs are truly fixed versus variable, what is indispensable and worthy, and what is not. Technology adoption will be accelerated by rapid learning about what it takes to drive productivity when people are not available. As a result, companies will have a stronger sense of what makes business more resilient to uncertainty, more productive, and better able to deliver to customers.
Want it or not, we are having the opportunity to learn from all the social innovations and experiments brought because of social distance, quarantine, and lockdown, which range from working from home to large-scale surveillance. Plus, an understanding of which innovations (If adopted permanently), might improve substantial uplift to economic and social welfare; and which in the end could limit the betterment of society.
As we consider the scale of change that coronavirus has engendered and will continue to engender in the weeks and months ahead, we can conclude it will transform our lives, and an imminent restructuring of the way we work and live is a fact. How exactly the crisis will evolve is still to be seen, but the process described in these lines (Resolve – Be resilient – Return – Reimagination – Transform) intends to offer a clear path to begin navigating to the new normal. A normal that we all will be obligated to live in.
We are here to help you in your transformation towards the new normal!
