For a few months now, big parts of the world have been ‘locked’ down, with employees working remotely. We are slowly ‘re-opening’ for business, but… what does the new normal look like in the workplace?
The answer is ‘no one knows.’ It is as much an HR issue as it is a health and safety, financial, customer service and even a philosophical issue. This is why you need a strategy for dealing with all of the uncertainties.
The answer is to focus on your culture strategy. Team members are going to come back to the workplace in a state of anxiety and uncertainty. They have just had three months of social and mainstream media bombardment of fear, uncertainty and doubt. In terms of “Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs” theory, your employees will have moved down in the triangle a number of steps – maybe even to the bottom – where safety and physiological needs are their focus.
Keeping this in mind, your strategy needs to be incredibly focused on:
Our world changed on September 11, 2001. Increased security at airports became the ‘new normal.’ Our world changed again after the world financial crisis of 2008 and the changes became another ‘new normal.’ We adapted and accepted.
COVID-19 will create another ‘new normal’ for all of us. We will adapt and carry on.
Robert Murray is a Vancouver, BC based Business Strategy Consultant, #1 Best Selling Author, International Keynote Speaker, and TEC Top Speaker of the Year for 2018. For further advice, insight and inspiration on how to unlock your inner leader, follow Robert on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook.
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Tags: Business, Business Culture, Business Goals, Business Strategy, Communication, Employee Engagement, Focus, Growth, Leader, Leadership, Management, Purpose, Respect, Responsibility, Robert S. Murray, Strategic Planning, Success, Values, Vision
