Ways we will respond to how we do business in a pandemic

I am adapting along with you, and want to pass along what Harvard Business School's well-respected professors are predicting:

  • We can help our customers be more helpful. When providing service is a true partnership and customers pitch in, employees are more productive, service outcomes improve, and experiences are enhanced for everyone involved. Ryan Buell says there are 3 barriers that prevent us from productively engaging: 1) not being able to help, 2) not knowing how to help, and 3) not believing our help is important. 

  • Supply chain managers suddenly will have a more difficult job. Given the global nature of many supply chains, these managers who previously focused their attention one or two levels down into their supply chain will have to go back to work and develop the systems and discipline to track even more deeply into the chain. And many supply chain managers will start thinking about how to diversity their risk and trying to develop alternatives in other countries. 

  • We can strengthen our stakeholder and partner orientations. Rosabeth Moss Kanter says that organizations who have strong relationships with stakeholders and partners are best able to survive and transcend crises because they can plan together, gain local knowledge from each other, and draw on good will to get back to business quickly when the crisis abates. 

  • Our employees and buildings will be healthier. John Macomber says that COVID-19 will change the nature of our offices, apartments, hospitals, schools and government buildings and while concern about spreading disease may fade after COVID-19, there will probably be more outbreaks in the decades to come. We will realize that indoor air quality (fresh air and filtration) directly impacts productivity of healthy people and helps mitigate the onset of sick people,. 

  • In-person meetings will be less important. We will realize that we need far fewer face-to-face meetings than we thought and productivity benefits can be substantial. The companies that will lose are in the travel business. 

  • We will be more focused and intentional about how we spend our time. During this crisis, we are aware of which items on our to-do list should take priority and which might be combined and by auditing our work responsibilities and project commitments along with all the tools we use to collaborate, we can design new schedules to accomplish our collective goals. 

This is a creative challenge I think we are up to.