COVID-19 is tragic personally and challenging organizationally. We can’t work in the office. We can’t teach students in the classroom. While the challenge of our sudden shift to remote work and learning are minor within the COVID-19 reality, at least how we shift to remote work is somewhat under our control. We also have a good depth of experience with remote work and learning, though that experience may be in pockets of the organization. 

Organizations vary with the strategy they bring to this situation. Some organizations are successful with their technology strategies through a focus on stability. Others are successful through a focus on agility. (All organizations deal with portions of both - background on exploration and exploitation.) Here, we’ll talk about succeeding in your sudden transition to remote work or learning based on the model that has brought you success so far.

Terri is thrilled to be joined in this post by Anat Itay-Sarig, Ph.D, Ment.io’s Head of Partnerships and User Well Being. Ment.io offers an artificial intelligence (AI) discussion tool used by enterprises and universities for remote inclusive discussions. 

Organizations have decades of experience with increasing amounts of remote work. Teaching, too, has been blending technology and experiential approaches for quite some time. As William Gibson (award-winning science fiction author) says, “the future is already here — it’s just not evenly distributed.” 

So what’s different now? The fact that all of us are involved with remote work and learning as we shelter in place. There can be no more claims of, “I still teach the old way, it’s the best way, or “I have to have regular face-to-face meetings twice a week with all staff to discuss issues.” For most, how we were working last month is not possible now, and for who knows for how long. 

Experts in organizational change know that “small bites” are the best strategy. Taking their advice means that though you may be experiencing an abrupt shift to a Crisis Online Format (COF), you want to focus to the extent you can on the technology approach that has led you to success so far. Whether to stay the course or search for a new best in class approach may be determined by your prior strategy. 

Strategy 1: Success Through Stability

These are the organizations with a stable set of technology platforms. The organization’s success is due to a broad understanding and acceptance of a particular set of tools and techniques. These may not be the perfect platforms for the transition to remote work or learning, but they will get the organization through the crisis. The people in the organization may see that the crisis is throwing too much uncertainty and stress to consider burdening the organization with additional changes. 

Strategy 2: Success By Being “On Your Toes”

These are the organizations where change is the only constant. The organization’s success is due to a broad acceptance of agile approaches to work. As the COVID-19 crisis hit, these organizations began a new (or hyped-up an ongoing) search for the perfect tools. The people in the organization may see that the crisis requires a different approach than what they were planning for last month. Given that they were already in the middle of a change, they might as well shift to whatever will work best in this new reality.

Find Your Approach

Both types of organizations have entered the crisis with access to technologies in support of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Leaders understand that technology is changing the way we live, learn, and work. The difference lies in how we adapt to this particular new and extreme situation.

For example, in the past few weeks, many organizational leaders have reached out to Ment.io with questions on the best way to conduct remote discussions. Individual contributors are also in touch, but remark that their initiative is limited to their personal work environment or classes, as adopting new tools across the organization is now on hold. We take these to be examples of the two different organizational approaches: When members of leadership call, they are from organizations that are always on their toes; the crisis is just triggering the most recent shift. When individual contributors need to connect directly, they seem to be from organizations where stability is their strength. Any change in organizations with a stability strategy will be on the periphery and more subtle.

Stop-Look-Listen

We suggest a Stop-Look-Listen approach regardless of whether your organization’s success has been from stability or agility. Stop and consider your current Target, Talent, Technology, Technique, and Time/context (5Ts). 

Look across these dimensions and think about your past success. If you feel you already have what you need and just need to expand use to a broader portion of the organization - go for it! If you think agility is the way to go, try out different tools until you find the right one for you. 

Listen as you take your first steps. Acknowledge that this is a unique time, and we all need to set appropriate expectations. Get feedback from your first steps and think about how you can tune your approach to best match your needs. All the technologies you are likely working with include some support of remote working / learning. You’ll succeed during these extreme times if you manage the process according to your past success. Don’t go on your toes unless you’ve already trained that way. Terri often says, “You can’t change just one thing. Nor can you change everything all at once.”

Next Up

Our next post (we’ll update with a link here, or subscribe at the top right to receive by email), focuses more on the listening stage. In the meantime, please be well. As always, comments are appreciated.