{"id":50283,"date":"2020-05-28T18:13:00","date_gmt":"2022-10-18T18:13:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.salesforce.com\/?p=50283"},"modified":"2022-10-31T01:38:30","modified_gmt":"2022-10-31T08:38:30","slug":"how-to-map-your-businesss-path-to-the-next-normal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.salesforce.com\/au\/blog\/how-to-map-your-businesss-path-to-the-next-normal\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Map Your Business\u2019s Path to the Next Normal"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

There is so much changing right now, constantly. What I talked about last week, we\u2019ve moved on from this week \u2013 we’re learning more as we go. We’re adding to and deepening our thinking, and that’s going to keep happening. There’s so much uncertainty and, two weeks from now, it’ll be new again. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The leaders I have been speaking with in Australia and New Zealand are having to constantly adapt. But one constant I saw was that they knew they needed to have their businesses\u2019 journeys through this crisis and to the next normal mapped out. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is the same with leaders I\u2019m speaking with the world over. The current reality they are experiencing likely depends on where they, their workforces, their suppliers and their customers are based \u2013 but their current concern is consistently the path through and out of this. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The fact there\u2019s such a variation in scenarios and approaches based on location creates problems, particularly for those global businesses who have to manage workers in multiple countries. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Back in April \u2013 which seems a lifetime ago now \u2013 I worked with Deloitte to develop a guide to help leaders assess the relative likelihood of four post-pandemic scenarios and their preparedness for each<\/a>. None are optimistic, but some are less devastating than others. But we\u2019re still at a point of uncertainty \u2013 which scenario we will find ourselves in is dictated by five forces: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. The pattern of disease infection <\/li>
  2. The ability of the healthcare system to respond <\/li>
  3. The public policy responses to the crisis <\/li>
  4. The economic consequences of the crisis <\/li>
  5. The social cohesion of societies responding to the crisis <\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    The challenges facing businesses <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    When we look at how businesses can navigate crises, it\u2019s helpful to plan for three phases: stabilise, normalise and accelerate. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Across the world, businesses are navigating at different speeds, depending on the localised issues they\u2019re facing \u2013 regardless of where they are, however, the majority have developed their immediate responses to the pandemic. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    They\u2019ve entered and are coming through the stabilise phase, during which they\u2019ve mitigated short-term risks and stabilised operations, and have executed robust, immediate responses to the crisis.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Taking care of people is at the heart of the stabilise phase. Quite simply, those businesses that take risks with employees are not going to have them around much longer. Given a choice (and we need to recognise here that many are making decisions to continue working out of desperation \u2013 they don\u2019t have that choice), who\u2019s going to work for a company that puts their health and their life in danger? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    After ensuring the safety and wellbeing of employees, there is a focus on the broader community \u2013 all of the people you come into contact with during your operations. Infecting a customer is a risk you cannot take. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Looking beyond this, using your business\u2019s resources and platform to protect and care for the broader community is just as important. In Singapore<\/a>, we\u2019ve seen infection rates flatten and then rise again, which could have been avoided if the community \u2013 including businesses \u2013 was concerned with the wellbeing of its most vulnerable members.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Many businesses have stabilised very well, particularly those in essential industries \u2013 aside from health this includes communications, food suppliers, food distributors and energy providers. They\u2019ve all had to adapt to a whole new world very fast. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Preparing for the temporary normal<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    Once stabilised, businesses must quickly turn their attention to our new \u2018COVID-19 normal\u2019. Within the normalise phase, businesses optimise the operating model for the in-crisis normal they are facing, and focus on programs to engage customers and serve their needs while ensuring business continuity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    New ways of working are being identified, implemented and refined, to survive and, for the lucky, to thrive. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    One thing we can be sure of is that this is a time for innovation. Ideas will be tested at a pace we haven\u2019t seen for a long time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The benefit of hindsight allows us to speak of wars as a time of terrific innovation \u2013 in this sense we\u2019re now in a war of sorts. Bombers overhead every day certainly got the British focused on how to identify them earlier, moving quickly to develop radar. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Today, we\u2019re already seeing new ways of operating, and product innovation and new ways to use those products. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Take video conferencing, for example. All of these platforms were around before COVID-19, but they were peripheral to the lives of many. If they weren\u2019t there, even regular users would have found an alternative. Now, we depend upon them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    From a business perspective, we\u2019ll see an explosion of innovation in everything to do with work and remote collaboration. Of course, there are some things we like about the office \u2013 that social and informal communication, sometimes even the ferry, tram or train. But who wants to do that five days a week now that we know it\u2019s not really necessary? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    We\u2019re not going back to the office full-time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    And it\u2019s not just commuting. We\u2019ll see a lot less business travel. At this stage domestic travel and relocation is looking like it will be a greater issue in the US than in Australia, but international travel will likely be difficult for some time yet. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    There are people and places I do want to see, and sometimes being face-to-face actually matters \u2013 now I\u2019m learning when it does matter and, more pertinently, when it doesn\u2019t. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    As more industries enter the stabilise phase we\u2019ll see innovation in education, healthcare, government, entertainment and our social lives. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    For example, we have virtual cocktail hours with friends each week now. Some are distant and we wouldn\u2019t have socialised with them regularly before, but we mean to keep doing it \u2013 we\u2019re all learning new patterns of behaviour and new ways of doing things. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Product strategies and operating models will evolve based on the learnings during the normalise phase \u2013 many of the changes that emerge from this will carry over to the accelerate phase and enable businesses to emerge stronger from the crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Looking ahead<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    For the near future, however, we\u2019re in survival mode. Economic recovery may take longer than recovery from the global financial crisis. While those five uncertainties I mentioned earlier \u2013 disease severity, healthcare response, government collaboration, economic consequences and social cohesion \u2013 mean it is still impossible to pin down exactly which scenario, or combination of scenarios, we will see in Australia and New Zealand, it\u2019s useful to know:<\/p>\n\n\n\n