We’re in uncharted waters. The disruptions caused by Covid-19 are forcing all of us to adjust to different ways of living and working. Shopping frenzies, empty shelves, shuttered restaurants, travel bans, mandatory remote work, whiplashing markets, rising case counts—this is the new reality for the near future. Inside organizations, many employees are worried.
Clearly, employee safety is the first thing organizations must focus on now. But if you’re like most leaders, you probably find yourself grappling with a deeper dilemma, one that extends beyond this immediate priority: what’s the best way to meet the physical and psychological needs of your workforce while ensuring your organization continues to perform?
Based on our research and experience, we’ve found the best way to work through this dilemma is to evaluate how your organization is functioning—right now, real time, amidst the pandemic—from four different perspectives: strategic alignment; organizational effectiveness; employee experience; and organizational agility. If you want to get a read on your organization’s current state, here are four questions to consider.
Meeting the challenges of the day isn’t going to be easy. But now is a defining moment for leaders. The only way to support your employees while ensuring the long-term success of your organization is to balance deep empathy with economic realities. The four questions presented above can help you and your team strike that balance and guide your workforce through one of the most profound global challenges we have faced in decades.