Work in the time of Corona

Crises are a source of a lot of stress and overload. But, they are also an opportunity to reinvent oneself. Maintaining a learning mindset and a long-term perspective is essential to get out of this moment stronger.

(this is the English version of the Portuguese post)

First of all, I would like to say that my thoughts are with all those who are victims - or their families - of the pandemic that is affecting our planet, the COVID-19. I would also like to acknowledge and thank all those who have been working tirelessly in their most diverse activities to ensure that essential services continue in their normality (whatever this term means at this time). As we delve deeper into more restrictive actions to contain the contagion of the population and thus save health systems from collapsing, it starts to make sense to analyze the impacts of this crisis at the corporate level.

A very common phrase in economics or diplomatic relations is: "Never waste a crisis". However, studies show that the phrase appeared in 1976 by M.F. Weiner in an article published in the journal Medical Economics with the title: "Don't waste a crisis - of your patient or yours." Weiner meant that a medical crisis can be used to improve aspects of people's personality, mental health or lifestyle.

For much of the past decade, we talked about the need for companies to reinvent themselves. We warned that the disruption caused by technology could be brutal for companies that didn’t adapt themselves. Expressions such as “uberization” of businesses or of industries that would be “Amazoned”, were titles of lectures and business books. All about that a big wave was forming and that companies would need to prepare for it. Well, this wave turned into a tsunami. In his book Antifragile (brilliant and highly recommended for the moment), Nassim Nicholas Taleb says: “Not to notice a tsunami or an economic event approaching is excusable; building something fragile in the face of this reality is not. ” Thus, digital reinvention as a long-term goal, important but not urgent, became a condition for survival. With employees going to work from home, closing non-essential establishments and any other forms of contact, the physical world needs to move to the virtual in a matter of days.

We use the term digital transformation a lot as if the subject were exclusively about technology. Although it is one of the fundamental elements, it does not act alone. I see three essential aspects for a good digital strategy: technology, processes and culture. Below I detail each one.

Technology

Cloud: Whether private or public, the concept of making resources available in a fast, flexible way, with access available from anywhere, is the basis of the agility with which technology has to respond to abrupt changes in demand. Whether to launch a new product or to deal with spikes in consumption, it is the Cloud architecture that will enable this to be done at the necessary speed.

Data: before automating activities or using artificial intelligence, there is data. There is a maxim in computing: garbage in, garbage out. Thus, having the data in order is a basic condition for the application of tools that will allow the automation of activities, support decision making and the construction of predictive scenarios.

Cybersecurity: As companies open their IT infrastructure for better collaboration in the digital ecosystem (for example consumption of APIs that are services ready to be consumable in the development of new applications), a new challenge arises. That is data protection, access control and fraud prevention. Here, a combination of technologies with behavioral changes will be absolutely vital to prevent a security incident from ruining the business.

Processes

Business continuity: Unfortunately, a discipline that people only pay attention to when disaster occurs. For digital-only businesses, it is basic as they were originally designed to work 24x7, without interruption. Investments such as second or third datacenters, data backup in two or even three copies, network connections and power in redundancy and so on. In addition to processes defined as where to send people in case buildings become inoperative. Anyway, a long list that should always be made taking into account cost x impact and scenario analysis.

Training: New technologies, new processes. All this requires training and re-training the workforce. And this is not just an HR task. Creating a continuous learning mindset is the mission of the company's leadership.

Open innovation: innovation that is not exclusive to the company's research and development departments, but that happens by opening to other departments, and even collaborating with other companies, encouraging co-creation. I talked above about being part of an ecosystem. The most competent digital companies are those capable of creating an orchestration of several suppliers to deliver great customer service. Imagine how a Rappi or iFood or Uber Eats will be able to respond to the needs that will come out of this crisis thanks to the connection they promote between supplier and buyer to make their deliveries.

Organizational culture

Continuous Learning: the understanding (or recognition) that not everything is known and that we are eternal learners. Here, humility plays a very important role and drives fundamental behavior in times of uncertainty and rapid change, which is the ability to ask good questions. In his book “A more beautiful question”, Warren Berger gives great tips for asking “questions that are ambitious but at the same time doable to start changing the way we perceive or think about certain issues - and that can serve as catalysts for change.”

Experimentation: fast, agile, with a feedback loop where you learn from mistakes and improve in the next iteration. This will certainly be quite frequent in the coming days as we adapt to a new way of doing things. If it didn't work, don't get frustrated, don't look for the culprits, learn and move on. Fail fast, fail forward. Obviously, this does not apply to processes and activities that could endanger people's lives. Here precision and expertise remain the norm.

Empowerment: organizations based on highly hierarchical models of command and control will find it very difficult to survive in an uncertain and volatile world. Empowering people so that they are prepared and supported to make decisions in real time is the way to go. And what role do bosses play? Facilitate, simplify the organization's architecture, create the psychologically safe environment for people to take risks, clearly communicate objectives and mission.

Another term for Antifragile, perhaps it is simply healthy. In Coronavirus times, this already seems to be an important lesson. From the data collected so far, there is a strong correlation between comorbidity and deaths from Corona Virus - that is, healthy organisms are more likely to beat the disease. In his book The Advantage, Patrick Lencioni argues that organizational health overrides everything. In his view, healthy organizations outperform intelligent organizations - and healthy ones will inevitably become intelligent over time. According to him, the reason is that “people in healthy organizations, starting with their leaders, learn from each other, identify critical problems and recover quickly from their mistakes. Without politics and confusion in the middle, they turn around problems and mobilize around solutions much faster than their dysfunctional competitors. Furthermore, they create environments in which their employees do the same.”

Take care of your health and your family. Take care of your company's health. Keep a long-term perspective as this will pass. And, always remember, leadership is not about heroism but about taking care of people.

Strength and courage!