Mobilizing and Sustaining a Resilient Organization
Mobilizing and Sustaining a Resilient Organization
During the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, we conducted a 4-part webinar series, Reconstructing Retail. The series was about helping our clients and friends in the industry. We shared our pragmatic and meaningful thoughts and perspectives, recognizing that for most or all of us, the year 2020 began the transformation of a generation or even our lifetime. With so much on hold for many retailers and brands, our webinar series allowed us to look forward. Innovation opportunities were and continue to be abundant.
The Mobilizing and Sustaining a Resilient Organization webinar episode focused on the people part of the equation: the impact COVID-19 had on you and your team. Change leader, Kathi Toll, along with Marty Anderson and Deanna Emsley from Parker Avery, and long-time RIS News editor Joe Skorupa, collaboratively provided concrete actions to not only mobilize your organization coming out of a major disruption—but moreover, make it resilient and sustainable.
Three Steps to Organizational Resiliency:
This post captures the webinar conversation and the organizational elements that should be considered by companies facing disruptive challenges, even beyond a global pandemic.
To ground the conversation, consider what we knew and what we did not know about the days and weeks following the COVID-19 lockdowns. We did not know when ‘Day One’ would be for most of us nor did we not know what ‘Day One’ will look like. Further, we didn’t know how our workplaces would change—whether it was a corporate office, a distribution center, or a store.
But there were certainly some things we did know: we knew we would leave our homes, return to work, and begin to integrate all that happened. We also knew we weathered an epic storm, and our path back forward would not be a straight one. Each one of us had been through a traumatic experience; not a little frustration or inconvenience, but true upheaval.
Our path forward and out of the COVID-19 disruption depicted the change curve in the purest sense of its description—two steps forward and one step back. The complexity of the situation intensifies when we consider how quickly our personal and professional lives collided into one. As we contemplated the webinar and this post, our goal was to provide concrete tools and techniques leaders and team members could use to navigate a major disruption’s aftermath. We introduced three “R’s” for organizational resilience: reflecting, rebuilding, and repurposing.
Reflecting
Trauma lingers for weeks and months after it occurs. Typical change management models view transition through the lens of an organization or a collective. However, these models overlook the individual’s response to the disruption. As people return to the workplace after a major disruption, it is normal and expected to feel:
- Disorientated
- Overloaded by stimuli
- Hypersensitive
- Angry
- Anxious
Although people may witness an extraordinary experience “together,” it is interpreted and digested differently. As a leader, you may be exhausted by the long days and intensity of the decisions you must make. On the flip side, you may be an employee who was furloughed and subsequently asked to return. That’s a veritable emotional landmine waiting to be stepped on.
As a leader, you may be asking yourself, “What can I do during such times?” Here are The Parker Avery Group’s recommendations.
Everyone will rebound at their own pace because everyone’s resilience is different. Not surprisingly, in a survey we conducted during the midpoint of 2020, overwhelmingly the top characteristic called out as being paramount to survival was adaptability. It goes without saying that an organization that wants to adapt quickly needs to be comprised of individuals who are resilient and adaptable. Resilience is not a gift bestowed on a chosen few—it is a skill that can be developed and improved over time. And, adversity is our best teacher.
Rebuilding
As we begin rebuilding our lives, we will need energy—and a lot of it. The good news is we have several types of energy – physical, mental, and emotional. The bad news? Our energy types overlap and ultimately fill (and drain) from the same reservoir. Change can be divided into three components:
Personal
The more personal a change is, the more energy it takes to adapt.
Organizational
This type of change is less disruptive than a personal one unless you are personally being impacted by the changes.
Societal
Societal changes tend to take less energy due to their diffusion over a broader group of people.
However, the real paradox of the COVID-19 pandemic was that the impacts hit on all three types of change at once. Stress was at an all-time high and energies were likely at an all-time low as people struggled with the societal implications of changing their way of life and the organizational changes affecting their employees through pay cuts and furloughs. They also experienced tremendous personal impacts through shelter-at-home orders and isolation or maybe even personal or family illness and/or death. During such trying times, it is important to acknowledge these impacts and how and why they may slow down initial productivity as workers start to go back to work and begin their journey forward.
Resilience Characteristics
- Focused is about establishing the most important tasks/strategies to accomplish first, second, and so on. So many things may have gone untended during the period of disruption that it will be important to establish new short-term and long-term expectations to successfully pick up the reins again and achieve full productivity.
- The flexible characteristic also has two sides. The “flexible self” is about the capacity to generate many different ideas and think out of the box when needed. “Flexible social” is the other type which is about openness to others’ ideas and the ability to create strong collaborative teams that build ideas and solutions together. Leaders need to really utilize this characteristic as they bring back their workforce and decide on the short-term focus. The best leaders are strong listeners.
- Organized is about establishing productive systems and discipline to help reduce stress and improve the consistency of results. One of the main causes of adversity in change is the lack of control or predictability that ensues. Things may feel chaotic at first, but don’t be afraid to try new structures even if they are only temporary. Try daily stand-up meetings to gauge the climate and determine what is working. This gives you the opportunity to recalibrate and communicate quickly until the dust begins to settle and people feel back in control.
- Proactive is all about comfort with experimental actions to discover the best path quickly. While somewhat counter-intuitive to organize, don’t be afraid to utilize your network and team to source ideas, create a quick feedback loop to gain insight, and start trying things. It’s OK if your first idea isn’t perfect. Just revise and keep open communication lines.
- Positive actually has two implications. There is a “positive worldview” and a “positive self.” Positive worldview is related to the ability to find the silver lining in difficult situations. This will be incredibly important as leaders look to review lessons learned and maybe even adopt some new positive outcomes like remote working and video conferencing. The positive self has to do with your personal self-confidence and trust that you can succeed. While most leaders are probably fairly self-confident, it is important to understand that some of your team members may not be feeling this way right now, especially if they were chosen for furlough. It will be critical to rebuild trust as associates rejoin the company full-time.
Repurposing
While it’s certainly true that most of the COVID-19 situation was stressful and disruptive, it wasn’t all bad. As the saying goes, “necessity is the mother of invention,” and retailers across the globe invented some innovative approaches to serving their customers, teams, and communities throughout the pandemic. On the customer front, just a few examples of ways that retailers adapted how they provide service include:
- Several brands piloted 1:1 digital “stylist” appointments with their best customers to fill the gap in the customer experience that could not be accomplished with a visit to the store.
- Distribution centers that were previously handling shipments to both stores and customers were rapidly re-configured to handle unprecedented direct-to-customer demand.
- Some retailers conducted social media “Live” events, using store staff to showcase items in the stores and offering a variety of purchase and order fulfillment options. This approach also deepened relationships between customers and the in-store teams in an unexpected way because of the highly-personal, engaging nature of these events.
We witnessed uplifting examples of organizations stepping up to help their teams in unexpected ways, such as:
- Rapidly scaling ship-from-store capabilities to unlock the value of the inventory sitting in closed stores and avoid furloughing an entire store team.
- Enabling employees to not only work from home but also encouraging them to leverage tuition reimbursement benefits to pursue continuing education opportunities during their time away from the office.
Perhaps the most incredible examples of innovation have been those retailers who have turned their extensive capabilities toward aiding their communities, such as:
- One retailer’s “returns refurbishment” team developed a way to repurpose their second-quality returns into face masks for healthcare professionals, leveraging the same equipment they already had for repairing returned goods.
- One home improvement retailer made the decision to donate their entire supply of N95 masks to hospitals, healthcare workers, and first responders.
Across all of these examples and for major disruptions, the most valuable lesson being learned is: “What became true now that had not been true before?” For most teams, the answer will be about constraints previously thought to be required for success: under these conditions were only barriers to success. During such times, individuals, teams, and organizations must carefully examine how we made things work in new ways. Those lessons are the silver lining in all of this.
Key Takeaways
We wrapped up our session with some closing thoughts:
- Reflect on how the disruption impacted you as a person and as a leader. Do not forget how destabilizing it was for you, your organization, and your employees to have change thrust upon us. This is often what organizational “transformation” feels like to your teams. It’s uncomfortable and anxiety-provoking.
- Engage your team early and often to establish priorities, source ideas, and create a positive feedback loop. Support your people as they strive to build more resilient characteristics.
- Embrace the new capabilities you uncovered so those lessons learned become embedded going forward. Things will never be what they were and that may be OK.
Q&A from the Webinar
The following is a compilation of questions asked by the webinar participants:
In the realm of change management, what is your advice for planning/managing for the “second wave” we might encounter?
At the risk of being dramatic, assume a second wave of COVID-19 (or something else) will occur. Every single organization needs a crisis communication strategy and plan, so if you have not already done so, get your COVID-19 task force together to document lessons learned—soon, before they are forgotten. Bring in all levels of the organization so you gather a full understanding of what people need during and after a crisis. Use your learnings to develop a playbook for the next community, state, or national emergency. Then, actively communicate it and make sure your teams know there are contingency plans in place to protect them and they know what to do in case the plans are activated. Learn your lessons well.
Do you think working remotely will become more accepted in the future?
Absolutely. We’re delighted to see this particular barrier broken down. Especially for more established teams where there is really no need to sit side-by-side every single day. Sometimes the in-person environment impedes concentration and productivity. We do believe for newer teams the remote or virtual environment may be harder to (in the beginning) build a shared identity and establish goals. But, there is a lot to be said about the magic of a computer camera and a glimpse into people’s “real lives” to break down barriers, establish commonalities, and deepen relationships. Be creative.
Open-concept seating in some offices has become a new way of business, there is no social distancing. How do you express concern to your employer regarding seating and not seem negative?
We believe you may be pleasantly surprised by employers and employees who will require the “six-foot rule” or social distancing practices to be implemented before they return to the workplace. If that’s not the case for you, then book a few minutes with your supervisor to explain your concern and present a few solutions to them. “I would feel more comfortable and be more productive if I could maintain some social distance for the short term. Are you OK with me shifting to the empty desk near the supply closet?” The bottom line, you will not be the only person feeling this way, so take the precautions you need to stay healthy and productive.
On the topic of “safety,” what are your thoughts regarding employers trying to secure virus tests, check people’s temperatures, etc. to ensure they are “OK” to come back to work? Does this help, or just create more psychological stress?
We need to default to the “consultant’s” answer…it depends. Some people may feel deeply reassured by these efforts and appreciative of them, and others may be stressed by the extreme tactics, or feel they are intrusive. During the webinar we equated it to the security line at the airport—it certainly is inconvenient and can be stress-provoking, but it’s for the greater good (so to speak) of all of us, so we learned to adapt to it. A caveat to this—if at any point you feel individuals or groups are being targeted for the more extreme measures or testing, then that is not OK. Again, we all have to go through the airport security checkpoints—it’s not a random selection. Your employer must ensure they are fair and equitable in how they choose to enact any safety measures.
