How to Change from Surviving to Thriving

Although our Economy is opening up, many of the choices about how we open up our organizations is still closed. While we may not know exactly when the guidelines to keep us safe will lighten up, as some point they will.

How are you starting to think about what decisions you will make, when your choices start to open up again?

No one can argue the innovation that has occurred during the pandemic has been tremendous, however it has primarily been reactive.  How we approach things, when we do get to choose again, will make the difference between continued survival or creating a solid foundation so individuals and organizations can thrive. 

Here are 3 questions to help you think about your “Next Normal” as Return to Work starts to happen.  

1)  When to turn from being Reactive to Proactive?

This should start sooner rather than later, if not already. When it is safe to make more decisions about how and where we work, starting now can ensure you have the right data and information to create a more seamless and stable approach. There will also be information that comes out of this planning which will help your teams be stronger today, in the “Current Normal”. 

2)  What Stays and What Goes?

There has been a tremendous amount of change due to this pandemic, some good and some opportunities. We should all be thinking about what new habits, processes and systems we take with us, and what we leave behind. What is serving our customers, what is sustainable and what is it impacting organizations’ culture in a positive way, and what is not.

3)  How do we move from the Ability to Survive to the Ability to Thrive? 

Prior to working in Change Management and Leadership Development, I worked in Global Business Continuity Management.  Business Continuity is all about survival. What do we need to do to get through the unexpected and survive? With a little adjustment we can use the same tools to figure out how to make our business thrive when the “expected” comes. Using the right tools can give us data and information to support and help us design the change management we need to have in place for our employees, customers and other stakeholders to be able to enter this next phase as smoothly as possible.

How is your company starting the think about what your “Next Normal” can and should look like?