Ctrl+Alt+Delete: Life after the reboot

Any crisis management expert will tell you that it’s good to have plans, and you’ll be happy you had them once crisis hits. There is a 5% chance of something happening, and that 5% can be the difference between your organization making it through, or perishing in a matter of seconds. Our reality in the 21st century is that we are all interconnected, drawing from trade economic theory, as it benefits us all. Businesses have plugged into global networks, are more efficient and effective as a cloth carefully weaved to deliver higher levels of welfare. In this aspiration, many solutions have come about as an alternative to classical approaches to business. Telecommunication and Information Systems today enable “objects in mirror” to seem “closer than they appear”, and now these technologies are front and center in the solutions of this crisis. What will become of us after learning that life is possible in a new paradigm? How will we cope after the reboot has taken place? How do you come back from a “Ctrl+Alt+Del”?

Our reality right now is beyond all of our controls and I have mad respect for how everyone is dealing with the Corona Virus crisis. Nobody is really prepared for a Black Swan, absolutely nobody, whoever tells you this is not telling the complete truth. The objective of this piece is not to add insult to injury, but to highlight the importance of harmonizing inputs so businesses, and by extension their communities can build on resilience. Since all of us can contribute with something I would like to put in my two cents as to planning our way in the post pandemic future. First, we must be very aware that the nature of the measures to suppress the development of this crisis is going to hit many businesses in unprecedented ways. The discussion below is not relevant to all, take airlines for example, or the hospitality industry as a whole: you can’t experience anything on distance. This isn’t for you guys.

That being said: We have to admit that we’ve been pushing for technology to be integrated in government, business, education, health (you name it) for quite some years, and we could have been “ready” for this reality all along. Now we are just forced to accept that things have changed, because they have. How did we miss the boat? The answer is simple, we did not realize that our minds were focused on the future, but were physically in the present. We’ve been thinking about how it would look like instead of trying things out and building our own resilience as a business. We’ve been programming ourselves that technology is a thing of the distant future and kicking it further along, simply because we didn’t want to deal with the growing pains of digital transformation. Yes, it’s difficult to get people to change, nudges, incentives and all the works: “Can’t we just continue the way we are, I mean, we’re still in business. Aren’t we?”. This is one of the biggest gambles we have lost and it’s a pity we are here, but this isn’t a blaming game, let’s talk about solutions.

In the new era we will realize how much is possible without having to commute or travel the distance. Let us not judge these first few weeks since it’s a collective loss for all of us, people are still in panic mode. But really, we will notice that offices have been overrated for a long time, which has its impact for business real estate. Organizations will now have lower expenses with regards to utilities, having to use less power; but also due to less waste. It also means that organizations now benefit from home office investments in different ways and need to think how they remunerate employees for these. Physically everything is going to be different, and some organizations may already have a clue of that. 

People are going to approach work in a different way. Not only will they be structuring their work differently, they will be looking at life differently as well. Harmonizing work and life will become a top priority after this pandemic, so choosing and maintaining the right people will be key in surviving as a business. Our look at the 40-hour work week will drastically change. Not as much as in the number of hours, but specifically in how we structure these hours, are 8-5 office hours really necessary? And should everyone be there at the same time? What can we solve with technology? Microsoft did a trial in Japan not so long ago, and it turned out that people working 4-day work weeks were more productive by 40%. That is a huge number if you consider both the income of the productivity and the savings with regards to the waste created by the 5th work day. With the ever-increasing retirement ceiling people will also be inclined to work less hours since they will spend more years at work. Even if these remain the same, you can expect people to make personal choices and ask to work less hours either way. Start preparing to have these discussions: Look at the data, and try out what works for you.

Work relationships will look different as people will choose to bond differently, as a result of their experience from applying technology, and managers need to be at the center of this development to make it work for the organization.  A good command of technology is needed but not as much as a great command of the needs of your people. It might sound utopic, but the relationship with employees will fundamentally change. The personal touch needed to manage people will become a new skill that managers need to master in order to maintain an organization that is on a healthy path to achieve its goals. 

These aspects highlight that the digital transformation was really not about technology, it was about people. The role of the human in its relationship with technology on the workplace may be the single best place where impact can be created. Often times we believe that peoples roles can be suppressed, but ultimately, they make the call, push the buttons, and introduce the assumptions so that technology can add to efficiency and effectiveness in this quest for above average returns.

A way forward for our economy on these fragile tourist-based islands in the Caribbean is simply to offer solution in industries where human capital is at the core. Services are our bread and butter, and this situation presents a unique opportunity to bounce back. Let us look at all the flexible, and independent businesses we can offer from a distance. Let us explore new opportunities in this recovery time and take our time to reskill ourselves with the abundance of free online trainings. Managers please facilitate these to those employees or partners that have difficulty seeing the light in this unprecedented darkness caused by this crisis.

 Coming out of this pandemic crisis will most definitely leave its scar, but that might not be completely a negative in the long run. It may have been a wakeup call that things can be different. Start from now in designing a future preparing for the next crisis, it may be the one that cripples your investment, and influences the community. With respect to all of those that lost their lives and permanent damage businesses should assume a responsibility to help cope with these people. Ultimately, we see in these many lock downs, that their spending dollars, did make a difference.