In the past couple of months, organizations saw a drastic change in the way they function. The COVID-19 pandemic forced the workforce to go remote and made organizations resilient, agile, adaptive, and open to changes at the same time. This is what helped most C-Suite employees navigate their businesses successfully amidst a global pandemic.
While now many organizations are opening their doors and resuming their work from physical locations, the post-pandemic world is not the same. According to a KPMG study, globally almost 45% of the CEOs don’t expect things to return to normal until sometime in 2022. For leaders, to sustain the success of their organizations, they need to realign their strategies.
Here are five key areas for the C-Suite and leadership to focus on in the post-pandemic era.
1. Embrace Change and Be Agile
Since the pandemic hit, things have changed around us arbitrarily. Not only it affected the lives of individuals, but it hit the global economy too. Businesses saw new ways of working and also saw many unprecedented changes. While we can say that the way businesses used to function is normalizing a bit; but the only way they can sustain it in the future is by embracing change and being agile. When CXOs (or the CEOs) are agile and ready to accept change easily, it will help organizations to cope with uncertainty better.
Also Read: Tips For Conducting Effective One On Ones
2. Have A Learning Mindset
Whole of 2020 and the year till now have been a continuous learning experience for the CEOs. Learning and unlearning have become common along with the volatile and uncertain nature of businesses. For them to thrive in the post-pandemic era, they need to adopt an open and learning mindset. As there is no specific rulebook to survive, having a learning mindset will help them embrace change easily and make agile decisions whenever needed.
3. Focusing On Reskilling and Upskilling Existing Workforce
Replacing an employee is costly! Gallup estimates the cost to be somewhere around 1.5 to 2 times that of an individual’s salary. Consequently, reskilling and upskilling employees have been the focus of business for a long time now. But as a CEO, if you are not already doing it, then this is the right time to do so. This will not only help businesses to avoid unnecessary costs but also utilize existing resources to fill the ever-increasing skill gap accelerated by the pandemic. Additionally, it will help improve employee retention and engagement.
Understand your employee’s professional and personal goals to help align them with the organization’s goals. Provide them with access to online training academies, such as edX, Coursera, Udemy.
4. More Importance To Employee Wellbeing and Experience
Mental health and consequently physical health have taken an impact since the time employees started working from home. Employees reporting stress and anxiety have increased. Over time, the number of hours spent in front of screens has increased, which has led to many employees complaining of frequent headaches and eye problems too. Moreover, most employees now have become used to erratic routines and non-ergonomic ways of working. So now more than ever, as CEOs and leaders of organizations you need to look after employee wellbeing and experience. But often, with employees working remotely, it becomes difficult. Nevertheless, we have listed how organizations can focus on employee wellbeing and improve the experience:
- Promote two way communication and feedback using employee feedback software such as Engagedly
- Promote the importance of mental health
- Use video platforms such as Zoom or Google Hangouts to conduct virtual yoga or gym sessions
- Don’t forget to reward or recognize your employees.
- Have virtual lunches and dinners
- Celebrate birthdays and work anniversaries virtually
Also Read: How To Support Mental Health Of Your Remote Team
5. People-Centric Leadership
People first culture, a phrase with which we all have been synonymous, it’s time to put it to practice.
Remote working has created a sense of alienation and isolation among employees. They have become disconnected from the organization over time. As a result, disengagement has become common and employees have become counterproductive.
Focus on people-centric leadership approaches to make employees feel more connected and important. Ensure that employee voices are heard, give them a platform to share their opinions freely. Involve them in the decision-making process, and listen and empathize with them. Employees value their organizations and their leaders when they feel valued and important.
Originally published on Engagedly