How Will We Move Forward?
Alison Cooke Mintzer (photo by Chris Ramirez)
A couple of nights ago I watched a webcast with a time management expert who purported to help parents find balance as, in this unprecedented time of social distancing and stay-at-home orders, we work and parent at home. For most of the webcast, I found myself thinking that the expert was just too optimistic.
In theory, her principles were wonderful—keep work and home life in separate spaces at home; clearly delineate hours between activities; and make time for the right kind of priorities. She suggested this was time for us to reset our lives, spend less time on screens, get more sleep and take better care of us. Practically speaking, I thought she needed a reality check—I’ve gotten less time for sleep and spent more time on screens since social-distancing began. It’s clear that we are woefully unprepared for anything like this. I’ve worked from home off and on throughout my career, and this is not working from home.
Things are changing rapidly. This afternoon as we prepare to go to print, the news is that more than 5,000 people have died in the U.S. from the disease, and today’s unemployment figures showed a record 6.6 million initial jobless claims. By the time you read this, who knows what those numbers will be? They’ll grow, but by how much?
The country will get through this, but things will not be the same on the other side. It’s difficult to comprehend and, frankly, hard to conceptualize what the “after” of this will be, because there will be an after, and the before and after will exist likely in everyone’s personal and professional lives.
Realize that just a few weeks ago there were so many things we took for granted, enjoyable or not: the daily commute, a trip to see clients, in-person reviews, collaboration in the office, going to the playground with our kids, meeting friends for happy hour or dinner. How quickly things change. And how thankful I am for those who support my ability to socially distance by continuing their work as farmers, warehouse workers, grocery store clerks, delivery people and, of course, the medical and health care providers who put their lives on the line every day in continuing their essential duties.
As many of us are lucky enough to continue our jobs remotely, we still have to focus on keeping our businesses strong and helping those businesses we support. There’s a bit of a grieving process for the before, as months of lockdown will oblige us to say goodbye to those things we took for granted, and to appreciate what we can do now to continue our connections with colleagues, clients and the outside world.
A recent McKinsey & Co. paper that was forwarded to me says, “In this unprecedented new reality, we will witness a dramatic restructuring of the economic and social order in which business and society have traditionally operated. And in the near future, we will see the beginning of discussion and debate about what the next normal could entail and how sharply its contours will diverge from those that previously shaped our lives.”
The writers identified five “R”s that will be the path to the next normal: resolve, resilience, return, reimagination and reform. “The duration of each stage will vary based on geographic and industry context, and institutions may find themselves operating in more than one stage simultaneously,” the article said. “Collectively, these five stages represent the imperative of our time: The battle against COVID-19 is one that leaders today must win if we are to find an economically and socially viable path to the next normal.”
As we all work to do our jobs to the best of our abilities in this difficult environment, we must examine how we live and work, and determine what our “after” will look like. Is how you use technology now going to change your business and client or colleague relationships? Will you rethink the level of communication with your clients and participants? This unforeseen circumstance may provide you with the opportunity to examine your businesses and forge a meaningful path forward. As the McKinsey piece says, “Institutions that reinvent themselves to make the most of better insight and foresight, as preferences evolve, will disproportionally succeed.” Let your business be one of those.