• by Vikram Gajjala

Preparedness Never Enough (Covid-19)

The COVID-19 global pandemic changed the way businesses conduct their activities forever. We all watched as the world went under lockdown, one country after another while imposing cessation of moving goods and people in and outside countries.

The pandemic has not been a good time for many businesses and many moved operations back to their homes. Employees were required to work from home for the first time. Meetings were held virtually, and many employees had a challenge trying to balance their job and their duties at home like caring for children.

For businesses, the pandemic has been both good and bad. For many non-essential products companies like events, restaurants and hotels were closed down by governments and unfortunately, some remained permanently closed.
However, some firms impressively weathered the storm by re-structuring and selling different products and services to survive. Others were not badly affected and even thrived during the pandemic. Most of these were tech companies that remained productive because of their ability to quickly adapt.


What Was the Secret to Business Survival and Success?
The secret to business success in times like the pandemic was, “Organizational Resilience.”
Organizational Resilience’s is simply the ability to maintain and bounce back after a catastrophe such as a pandemic. This is the difference between the success and failure of a business in these times. The pandemic has taught business owners that they need to be nimble, quick to adapt and always be prepared. However, is preparedness always enough to survive pandemics and similar catastrophes?
In this blog post, we'll take a closer look at what preparedness means and the lessons that businesses have learnt from this pandemic season about being resilient. Let’s get started.

1. They Discovered the True Meaning of ‘Flexibility’

Before the pandemic, many firms thought that flexible schedules simply meant working from home. However, it is now clear that flexibility is the freedom to fit work into personal life in a more manageable and efficient way. Employers have learnt to embrace this concept that blends well with the remote working from home structure. Consequently, productivity has improved by 47% on average.
 

2. Regular and Clear Communication is essential.

The COVID-19 vividly highlighted the need for regular communication. Clear and consistent communication is important in updating all employees about company events and feeling connected to the business.
For example, before the pandemic, some firms only relied only on executive-level communications with their teams. However, following the regular lockdowns and cessation of movement due to the Coronavirus pandemic, businesses had to change tact. Many put in place biweekly communications that ensured information was always disseminated as and when required. Communication also enables the firms to check in on staff while working at home.

3. Wellness Is an Integral Aspect of Success

Employers have learnt that wellness is a critical aspect of employee and consequently business success. To boost the chances of making the work from home programs a success, many firms have integrated wellness programs into the schedules of their staff. The main objective is to help the staff to achieve a healthy work/life balance. This is because there is a high likelihood of burnout when working from home as people tend to work continuously with fewer breaks.

It is now considered a “core business priority” to have employee engagement and mental fitness programs in the work from home structure. Examples of these activities include non-work-related work events like virtual Bingo, book clubs, and even mental health programs and group therapy sessions over Zoom. WikiLawn is one of the companies that used group therapy sessions to keep the emotional well-being of their staff in check. They conducted these sessions early in the morning before work hours.

4. Empathy Is a Must-Have Quality for Success

The Coronavirus pandemic has taught many businesses to effectively prioritize listening to the needs and concerns of their staff. Factoring in their viewpoints about work-related issues and being more aware of their different backgrounds and cultures are some of the steps to take to show empathy to staff members which build loyalty.

5. Security

The pandemic highlighted the need for better job security, financial security, secure working relationships, and more defined job roles. Following the chaos that the pandemic brought to the world, people desire more defined structures and normality. These are conditions that can be easily actualized through employee onboarding and the smooth integration into the work culture of a firm. One practice of easing the uncertainty of your new staff is to assign them to a veteran co-worker to mentor them in the working culture of the company.
 

6. Training is vital for your staff to develop.

Training is important for businesses to stay up to date with new trends and technologies. In the quest to be resilient, companies should also introduce cross-training whereby staff get to learn and perform the duties of others. This can assist in maintaining the same workflow when fewer staff are present.

7. Integrating Modern Technological Solutions Is Central to A Business’s Success.

The pandemic forced businesses to reconsider how they used available tech solutions. Many companies that had ignored technology and digital tools before the pandemic are now rapidly adopting these tools into their operations. Today, many firms use technology for hosting solutions, payment processes, marketing on social media and more. The less offline their operations, the better their resilience.

Final Take Away

The best lesson that many businesses learned from the Coronavirus pandemic is the need to be resilient. By a business improving aspects of their business such as technology, providing training, digitizing operations and communications, it helps towards building a business’ ability to live through challenges. Furthermore, by adopting the work from home culture and truly caring for employees with wellness programs and technology, it builds resilience through its staff, who are the backbone of the company.  If you need business advice or a strategic plan of how to move forward post-Covid, we’d like to hear from you. Call or contact us in the form below.