How has COVID-19 impacted the way we deal with work challenges?

Covid19 – a term that all generations, all demographics across geographies have learnt by heart, by now.

It has been more than just a passing event, more than just a virus. It has disrupted the way people function to the core. Between work and farm, I have witnessed so many challenges first hand and through my interactions with several organisations, as a leadership coach.

The pandemic raised a ruckus throughout the world. No one had cognitive readiness to deal with it, because no one expected this situation, that too at this scale.

A lot of organisations failed, a lot many stumbled on the way but rose to feet quickly and many flourished despite (in some cases because of) the outbreak.

Now that we are a substantial number of months down the outbreak of covid19, we have a fair bit of understanding what worked and what didn’t.

Here are some of the most successful learnings, that will help understand how we have come a long way in dealing with challenges at work -  

Focus on building resilience over resources

Time has made leaders realise that freedom has to be shared for sustainability of the organisation. People have become more aware of the fact that change doesn’t happen in silo and that failing is inevitable. So, it’s much more important to empower the current resources than adding numbers to the team.

Forward thinking leaders are making it a practice to share freedom and ownership. They know that failure is unavoidable, but to be able to deal with the unpredictable challenges that are put forth every single day, they need community support.

Define virtual intimacy norms while social distancing

As the outbreak lead to necessary lockdowns, we shifted to the virtual connect culture.

The immense data size has helped us observe and analyse its pros and cons.

“Everytime I am in a meeting; it gets over even before I start making my point.”

This is a genuine issue with most of the introverts, for who virtual connect has set different challenges.

So, brain-writing, is what social scientists have advised – where leaders ask everyone to write their ideas and submitting them before the call starts.

This is amongst the many strategies that leaders have taken along the course to create a healthy virtual work-culture.

Lead with compassion and trust

A friend of mine who co-runs a start-up told me that today every time she is on a call with any of her employees, she is more attentive of their tone and volume.

She knows that Sana has been working late at night because she has recently gone through a breakup.

When Nelson asked for a half day-off every Thursday, for taking care of his parents, her first instinct was to trust him.

When I asked her, what changed her approach from before and now – she said, “…there is no other way than to be involved and to care. If I don’t trust them, they won’t trust me”

This outbreak has put everyone and everything – from ration to relationships, from convictions to commitments – everything under microscope, more specifically cultures.

Every culture has had its own way of reacting and dealing with the pandemic. With every decision that we take towards a novel culture in response to the novel coronavirus, we must focus on resilience, adaptability and ability to innovate.

I am not saying that these attributes are enough to successfully dealing with the ensuing challenges; I am saying they offer better chances of being successful.