The crisis: A test and an opportunity for the organizations
At the beginning of this year, most assuredly, your organization, like most organizations, did not have a mention of Covid-19 in its 2020 plan. Most likely, it was taken by surprise by the pandemic. As we are just beginning to measure the impact of the pandemic wave, it becomes evident that this impact may be further-reaching than expected. The crisis will change and is already changing organizations. Increased telework and rules of social distancing in the workplace are only the tip of the iceberg of looming changes. Many others are coming our way and organizations’ futures will depend on their ability to foresee these changes and act on them.
The crisis is a test:
What can we learn from it?
When a big crisis hits, it shakes everyone and everything. It shakes the entire organization. All of its people: from the CEO to the frontline employees. All of its structures, systems and departments. All of its processes and services. All of its relationships with clients and stakeholders.
A crisis shakes the organizational culture. Some of the myths we were telling ourselves about our organization are exposed as such – as myths, deprived of real foundations. Others are confirmed as representing our profound understanding of our organization’s mission and purpose. New myths will be created, based on our capacity to imagine and to look into the future.
Every crisis represents a series of tests for leaders. The bigger the crisis, the harder the leadership test, and the probability of passing it honourably. A crisis reveals certain leaders as “naked emperors” while it also makes emerge new leaders, whether with formal or informal powers, and hopefully with authentic and ethical leadership to shape a brighter future for organizations.
The crisis test inevitably shows our organization’s vulnerabilities. Identifying them and acting on them is imperative. The crisis also shows our organization’s strengths. Acting on them is also imperative, at least as much if not more important than acting on some of our vulnerabilities.
The crisis makes emerge new needs – in our social and economic environment, markets, people, in our own and other organizations. Some of these needs are crisis-related and temporary. Others have the potential to enrich and reinforce our mission. They also show the road to the future. Our capacity to detect them and to act on them is a test of our readiness for the future.
Ultimately, a crisis is a litmus test for our organization’s resilience and positioning to succeed in the future.
What is the pandemic revealing about your organization?
What lessons are you learning from your organization’s crisis test?
The crisis is an opportunity:
How do we prepare the after-crisis?
A crisis is an opportunity to assess our organizations’:
- context and the impact of the current and anticipated changes;
- vulnerabilities and strengths;
- resilience and readiness for the future.
The crisis is also an opportunity to chart our organizations’ path toward the future:
A crisis is an opportunity to assess our organizations’:
- context and the impact of the current and anticipated changes;
- vulnerabilities and strengths;
- resilience and readiness for the future.
The crisis is also an opportunity to chart our organizations’ path toward the future:
- to envision new possibilities and develop plausible scenarios;
- to build the capacity not only to bounce back but to bounce forward in the after-crisis;
- to transform the vulnerabilities into strengths and the challenges into opportunities;
- to revisit our strategic plan and reform our way of planning;
- to prepare a solid, thoughtful, and actionable blueprint for the after-crisis.
And you, what are you doing to prepare your organization for the after-crisis?
How are you reinventing your organization to position it for success?
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At Knowledge in Power Consulting we are proud to support organizations unlock their uniqueness, knowledge and creativity, navigate increasingly complex and volatile contexts, and discover new opportunities for a better future for themselves and for the communities they serve.
Contact us today to discuss how we can work together and help your organization learn from the crisis and empower its success in the after-crisis.