Organisational Culture
4 actions that organizations need to take amid COVID-19 crisis
Here are the top four actions that organizations need to address now and prepare for what is next.
The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way the world lives and works. What started out as a global health crisis has rapidly snowballed into an economic crisis. As the pandemic continues to rage across the world with no real insight into when things would completely settle down, organizations must focus on practical actions to keep people safe, healthy, connected, and foster resilience among their employees.
As per the latest research, ‘Human Resilience: What your people need now’ shows that employees look to their organizations for empathy, flexibility, and confidence while navigating difficult times. Here are the top four actions that organizations need to take to address them now and prepare for what is next:
As people settle into the new ways of working, leading with compassion should be the biggest organizational priority. It is important that leaders be coached on stakeholder inclusion, emotion and intuition, mission and purpose and technology and innovation.
People need flexibility to work differently in these extraordinary times. For instance, as a number of people work from home and manage family responsibilities, they may not be able to put in uninterrupted consecutive hours of work. Managers must adapt work rules for more flexibility, based on emotional intelligence and employees’ individual needs. They need to help people focus on crucial work and eliminate unnecessary tasks.
Listening to people is the first step towards developing an action plan – collect feedback from across all echelons and units of the organization.
Agility is key as is the ability to quickly respond to unanticipated and difficult scenarios. A leadership team that looks ahead proactively and responds rather than reacts goes a long way in helping people during volatile times.
Remember that like all adversities, this too shall pass! Hence, leaders need to go beyond the present and think of future goals and requirements. Reserve some time every day to do the groundwork needed to get the organization and workforce future-ready for the post-COVID world.
Collapse hierarchy, wherever possible, and work in a cross-functional and agile team environment with a focus on problem-solving– this can yield surprisingly good results. Teams must focus on what will best help the company and its clients navigate the current situation and prepare for the future.
Companies must put together effective communication governance and a set of guiding principles if they don’t already have this in place. Robust communication governance is critical not just for the current state of affairs catalyzed by the global pandemic, but for any situation – even if it is business as usual scenario.
Leaders must also leverage every communication channel to reinforce the organization’s larger mission and values as a shared purpose is essential to give people a sense of belonging. As a remote working and social distancing continue to be the norm, people need a sense of connection to keep doing meaningful work.
Every organization’s workforce, culture, and resources are different, and one approach does not always fit all. However, a guiding set of tested principles and recommendations helps each organization tailor its unique response. Leadership in our current reality calls for shared principles and actions: ones that prioritize people and recognize their needs.
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