The disruptions caused by COVID-19 are forcing everyone to adjust to new ways of living and working. Shopping frenzies, empty shelves, shuttered restaurants, travel bans, mandatory remote work, whiplashing markets —this is the new reality for the near future. And ultimately, we’re likely going to have to adjust to a “new normal”.
With all of this, employee safety is the first thing organizations should focus on now. But if you’re like most managers and owners, you probably find yourself dealing with a deeper dilemma: what’s the best way to keep my business organized as our priorities change? To better understand, it may help to ask yourself the following questions:
How aligned is my organization—both internally and externally?
When disruptions arise, managers need to ensure people throughout the organization are aware of the here-and-now challenges, as well as new and emergent internal and external priorities. Here are two ways to help with that.
Reach out to your customers
COVID-19 is a disruptive force, across just about every industry. So, now is a critical time to reach out to clients and find out how you can help. Figure out what they’re worried about, what they’re struggling with, and how THEIR priorities have changed. Talking to your clients and constantly touching base will help you determine how THEIR business is changing, which will help you adjust how YOUR business can change to serve them best during challenging times.
Communicate, communicate, communicate
When business priorities change because of remote work or crisis response, communicating with clients and employees can be challenging, to say the least. But during times of change, communication is critical. Gaps in communication can lead to misguided narratives about that state of your company and what your priorities are. Now is the time to communicate clearly and frequently about where your organization is going and how you’re going to get there.
How are changes affecting the way my organization operates?
In many organizations, new ways of working are impacting team dynamics, collaboration, and organizational effectiveness. Now is a good time to monitor performance problems and identify new ways of working. Here are a couple of ways to keep your organization working smoothly.
Ensure your team has the tools and technology they need
In situations like the response to COVID 19, it’s likely that most if not all of your employees are working remotely. As we’ve discussed in this blog post, remote work comes with its share of challenges, and those in the commercial real estate world are no exception. That makes right now (or any time for that matter) a great time to ensure your team has the tools, technology, and skillset (tech training, etc) to work remotely. Having these systems in place before drastic events cause your priorities to change, can dramatically reduce the impact of any transition periods.
Monitor decision-making and cross-functional coordination
During transitions, organizations need to be flexible and decisive. The shift to remote work may slow down decision-making and cross-functional teamwork. It’s important that critical decisions are executed on time and communicated with the team. As collaboration is key when working remotely, you need to understand how changes are disrupting team performance. Identifying collaboration challenges quickly and taking action can help your organization stay on track.
What support can I provide during transition periods?
Times of change can often lead to heightened anxiety, so it’s important to provide empathy and understanding to your employees. Here are a couple of ways to support them during these periods.
Be flexible
As we touched on earlier, the shift to remote work can be challenging in terms of handling work and balancing the reality of new day-to-day challenges. If that’s the case, then it might be a good time to consider more flexibility. A common belief is that flexible, remote work arrangements can lead to performance problems. However, research has found that’s not necessarily the case. Some studies have found that remote workers put in more time than their in-office counterparts, and that flexibility can help increase their productivity.
Increase support for immediate managers
Most immediate managers care deeply about their work, their organizations, and their employees. But stress can derail even the best managers. As most of us can likely attest to, periods of transition can be insanely stressful. Just as we said about talking to customers, reaching out to immediate managers and addressing their concerns, issues, and pain points can give you insight into what’s affecting their teams, and thus the entire company. Taking care of managers and keeping everyone on the same page during transition periods will help limit many burdens.
How does my organization need to evolve?
The current COVID 19 situation has created a lot of uncertainty – about a lot of things. Many people can agree that it’s likely changed the way we work and the way businesses function, possibly forever. That means we all need to learn how to evolve and how to face the challenges. Here are a couple of ways to start.
Identify new and emerging needs
Almost every challenge we face as businesses highlights an opportunity for improvement. So, what improvements is this current challenge calling for in your organization? For some, it might be the need for greater collaboration and efficiency. For others, it may be a complete overhaul to how you’re able to manage remote work. By searching for new approaches, ideas, and adaptive responses during challenging times, your organization may discover innovative solutions for the future.
Implement new processes for the new normal
As we just noted, the current situation has likely changed the way we operate forever. And that means we need to implement new ways to work in what will surely be the new normal. We’ve all likely been exposed to flaws in our existing processes. Now it’s on all of us to pinpoint those breakdowns and rollout plans to keep businesses running as smoothly as we all intended. No matter the circumstances, putting systems in place ahead of time to keep your team communicating, working efficiently, and collaborating is critical to your success.
At the end of the day, asking yourself these questions and addressing these issues will help you stay organized when business conditions and priorities change. Now, more than ever is the time to take a look at your plans, adjust to what may be the “new normal”, while continuing to keep your employees and customers in front of mind. Let’s continue to encourage our workforce to rise to the challenges while finding new and better ways to work.
