Post pandemic business & people
Arundhati Roy, the noted writer, illustrated a picture of hope and positive changes after the challenging times of this pandemic in her write-up ‘The pandemic is a portal’. In the article, she says, “Historically, pandemics have forced humans to break with the past and imagine their world anew. This one is no different. It is a portal, a gateway between one world and the next.”
This statement inspired me to deeper contemplation during my quarantine period and the ongoing lockdown. Being an ‘Experience Designer’ and a management professional, naturally, my thoughts revolved around People, Processes, and Business — more from an Indian perspective. Besides, I conclude based on experiments, observation, and analysis. A few thoughts that strike me are,
a. Rethinking Business: In India, Work from Home (WFH) was rarely entertained and practiced due to various reasons. Only large technology companies tried it in the past, and they were practicing it. But small and medium firms never imagined they could handle the WFH concept. However, with this forced pandemic quarantine situation, most companies now realize that WFH is indeed applicable and feasible. Discussions with my friends working in Management roles in different organizations have brought to my attention that their Management teams have gained confidence in running the business as usual — even without proper planning and preparation — and that they should consider this model for the future. The toughest part of any ‘Change’ is the first move. Once that is done, the rest will fall into place. Even though the first step had to occur in such an undesirable and horrific manner, none can deny that it happened. Let’s see how the business will respond.
b. Rethinking Work & Life: The uncertainties and a month of lockdown forced people to think about their life, purpose and meaning. It reflects on social media. People realize their talents, venturing into new avenues — farming, gardening, cooking, etc. and calling their old friends and relatives and opening up like never before. Ideas and apprehensions are getting shared. People are learning and, most importantly, started ‘thinking.’ This will change people.
Another major factor is the tendency to work more due to concerns over job security (for average or below performers) or because of the lacking sense of perfection and completion (for excellent performers). This leads to more productivity in contrast to management expectations. Also, the lack of appreciation among the teammates will badly affect the competitive mindset of many outstanding performers (especially the millennials ), and they easily get demotivated. A closer observation reveals a lot of such interesting findings, and these are all going to affect the perceptions of people about their life, profession, and self-worth. Anyway, post-pandemic period the Managers will meet ‘new’ team members.
