“Those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.”
– George Bernard Shaw
People who are waiting for things to “return to normal’ or “return to the way they were before” are in for a shock. It’s not going to happen.
Remember the strategies and goals that you started the year with back in January? It seems impossible to believe that we have barely three weeks left in 2020. Clearly, many of the hopes, plans, and aspirations with which we began the year were dashed and sucker punched.
But remember, it’s not what happens to you that matters, rather it’s what you do about what happens to you.
Just because many companies are working remotely doesn’t mean that your staff isn’t experiencing strife. “He said” this and “she did” that and “I don’t know anything about this” are expressions that pop up, whether you’re remote or physically in the office.
When you hear these types of phrases occasionally, it’s normal and controllable. But if these expressions occur regularly, you need to investigate what’s going on.
Welcome to the second half of 2020.
Having gone through the wild and unpredictable ride of the past four months, where do you go from here? Do you have a handle on various scenarios that you can plan for the next six months?
Rather than wandering aimlessly through the rest of the year, it’s worth establishing three scenarios that you can adapt to depending on the continuing impact of the pandemic and economic challenges. Here are some broad strokes that can help to inform your specific situation.
What changes would you like to see in your team when you transition from sheltering at home and begin to return to the workplace? This is a great time to rethink higher standards and to articulate those expectations to your staff.
Here are some extremes to observe from the past six weeks or so. When working remotely, have your people:
Change is almost always received with at least a little resistance. When someone says “we’ve always done it this way” it’s a signal that you’ll need to do more work than just the change itself. You’ll need to “sell” your people on why this specific change.
When planning for change, then, you should plan for the change itself in addition to internal persuasion time. Yes, this takes more time, and yes, you need to do this.
Even the most confident leaders can feel a little wobbly during times of significant change. After all, you’re dipping your toes into a great unknown where you may not have trekked before. Although you’ve probably gone through hundreds of changes, why do feelings of unease creep in?
It’s just what happens during change, plain and simple. And given your level of confidence and executive presence, this largely occurs internally and isn’t apparent to others.