Roberta Matuson* says there will come a time when the pandemic is a bad memory and the world moves on. The best leaders are preparing for that now.
Things are starting to get back to normal in my organisation. Work is picking up after the pandemic period when I took the opportunity to revamp my offerings, as well as my website.
I’m getting ready for a roaring 2021. How about you?
At some point, we’ll get back to normal. Now is the time to prepare for that moment.
When your organisation is back to being fully operational, you won’t be able to pull your old business plan off the shelf and continue as if nothing has happened.
People in your organisation won’t suddenly be ready to step into leadership roles unless you prepare them for this undertaking now.
You’ll need to create a new talent strategy — one that can be implemented quickly and efficiently.
Otherwise, you’re going to be at risk of disappointing your regular clients who have been relying on you.
You’ll want to have a strong start, the moment the pandemic is behind us.
To do so, you’ll need a plan for a future that in all likelihood, you haven’t anticipated — until now.
Here are a handful of questions to consider at this very moment.
Have you lost any people? Do you need to do to get people on board quickly?
What’s the post-pandemic version of your organisation going to look like?
You need to have a sense of how your organisation will look in the future, so you can work backward and staff accordingly.
You may have to come up with more than one scenario here.
If you’ve got people working from home, which team members will you bring back, and in what order?
Most organisations will not be able to bring everyone together right away, which is why you need to think about the order in which you’ll ask people to return to the office.
What’s your plan in case some people choose not to return?
Do you still think everyone is going to say yes when asked to return to the office?
My guess is some people have used the pandemic to research other opportunities which means everyone isn’t planning on returning.
What if the pandemic has changed your organisation and the way it works to the point when there are people you no longer want or need to employ?
Will you wait until the pandemic has passed to address this or will you do this now?
Taking steps today to prepare for tomorrow will help you get up to speed again quickly.
Begin now and you should be in good shape going forward.
*Roberta Matuson is president of Matuson Consulting. She can be contacted at [email protected].
This article first appeared on Roberta’s blogsite.
