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A Post-Pandemic Guide to Business Transformation
COVID-19 has had a seismic impact on the way that we do business both in the UK and globally. Combined with our exit from the European Union, the landscape is now so alien that we must create a new normal. One thing is clear: your future will not be a continuation of your past—things will change.
Pandemic lessons learned will help us shape the future, such as the way that we have already adapted to remote working and engaging with customers online. Your organisation may be questioning whether you need to maintain expensive office space and have staff commute daily. However, you should weigh those costs against the productivity, team creativity, and social benefits of working in the same location.
Consider whether the pandemic uncovered other insights, opportunities, or challenges for you. Perhaps about the green credentials of your organisation or about the value you place on key individuals within your workforce? Make sure you capture those thoughts as part of your pandemic lessons learned.
It’s quite likely that your organisation’s vision of the future will be very different from the past. This shouldn’t surprise you. The sheer number of changes you have already undergone resulted in a massive shift to the business environment. So, if we agree that the new normal requires large-scale changes, are you concerned that your organisation may not be able to cope with this degree of change? Think about why and when people resist or accept changes to the way they do things.
Let’s begin by thinking about when people have resisted change. The UK introduced drink-driving laws in 1966. However, it took years of cultural change before not drinking was the norm for most drivers. Seatbelts have been compulsory since 1983, but billions of pounds had to be spent on public information messages to ensure that people wore them. More recently, face masks have been required in public spaces to provide some protection against Covid-19. Even now, some people won’t wear them in shops or other public sites.
These examples tell us that not everyone accepts the need for change. Many would prefer to persist with their prior behaviour. Even where people see a reason for change, they may lack confidence in their ability to adapt to the new way of doing things or be hesitant to change until they see others changing. These examples underscore that any change programme should define a clear need for change. Adopting change requires consistent, repeated communication about that need for change and gives those asked to change the confidence that the future is better for them.
That all sounds difficult, but we can take some encouragement from how people responded at the pandemic’s start. For instance, when we first began working from home, the change brought significant personal challenges for some. However, the alternative was unpalatable, so we quickly adapted to a new way of working. Many had already been working from home periodically, so we were confident that it could be done. Using those lessons learned, how should you plan your path to the new normal?
Having a clear vision for the path ahead will help. This isn’t just about setting goals or targets. Instead, it’s about understanding the culture you want to have in place for your future organisation and how it will affect your customers and staff. Outline a comprehensive view of what future success will look like and how this will affect your organisation and your stakeholders.
Then, initiate a Business Transformation Programme to reshape your business and make that vision a reality. This effort will involve a huge commitment to business transformation, starting with defining a new Business Change Strategy and continuing through building stakeholder commitment to change.
Your Business Change Strategy should identify the key methods of achieving the desired changes, outlining the steps that make up the approach to change. Defining these steps will help you understand the implications for required people, process, and technology changes.
The Business Transformation Programme provides a comprehensive method to make your vision a reality that you can share with your workforce and customers, showing them how your business will evolve and reset post-pandemic.
AUTHOR
Martyn Smith
Senior Consultant, CTG UK
Martyn Smith is a Principal Consultant with CTG, specialising in Business Change and Complex Project Delivery. He has worked for CTG since 1997 in the Telecomms, Government, and Security sectors.
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