I don’t think any of us could have confidently predicted back in February that we would be working from home for several months. But here we are, continuously trying to find our footing and hoping we will get things under control soon. More than that, growing impatient to get back to our normal lives.
However, I have caught myself thinking about whether we will ever go back to the way things were before. By now, I am reasonably certain that we won’t, and we will face a “new normal”. At least as far as our work is concerned. Because this pandemic will affect the way businesses work.
For many companies it’s already been an eye-opening experience, with all of their employees having to work from home. And regardless of the initial chaos, people have learned to cope with this new situation – having meetings and team events over video communication tools, such as Zoom and Skype, finding structure in the makeshift home offices and taking advantage of the newfound time otherwise spent on commuting.
More than that, teams are figuring out how to collaborate at a distance, and leaders are improving their ability to manage based on outcomes and objectives rather than presence. Therefore, regardless of whether businesses have given any serious thought about shifting to a more remote-ready environment up until now, this world crisis will have put it higher up in their agenda at least.
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Because one of the biggest reasons why companies have been reluctant, and shareholders have questioned whether this is the best option, has been the fear of the unknown. With COVID-19 pushing companies to temporarily convert into remote-first companies, and managers seeing that the work continues, it might be easier for everyone to see the benefits it could have in the long run.
Read on: Remote Work – How Can You Benefit From It?
Thus, instead of solely focusing on the near-term survival plan (which undoubtedly is the number one priority), it’s time to turn our heads towards the future. We should start thinking about how this costly trial run could be turned into a positive push towards a more efficient way of working.
Ultimately, there are several possible future scenarios, and it all depends on how we, as businesses, respond to COVID-19 and its aftermath. So it’s the right time to ask the difficult questions and put together a plan for the months and years to come. And while it might be challenging at first, I have a feeling that a lot of businesses use this situation to change things up and produce something even better.
Read on: What It Takes to Become Remote-Ready
A year from now, we might actually find out that while COVID-19 did put us all through a test that had a significant impact on our economy, it might have accelerated the changes we once thought would unfold over the years. We couldn’t agree more with what Heather E. McGowan said in her future of work article:
“Coronavirus, it turns out, might be the great catalyst for business transformation.”
Navigating Your Company’s New Remote-Working Reality
In case this topic has sparked interest, and you would like to know more, join us on May 6th, 2.00 PM (BST) for an online session on navigating a company’s new remote-working reality. Grab your seat today and register for the webinar.
Matthew Peng, Product Evangelist at Scoro and Rachel Aldridge, Chief Operating Officer at Bovill, will share their insight on:
- how to successfully manage digital transformation;
- key tips on maintaining efficiency & productivity while working remotely;
- assuming the role of leadership to support your clients;
- Bovill & Scoro’s response to support their remote workforces.