Shawnee Love   •   April 23, 2020

This pandemic has created an environment where organizations have to innovate to survive. Companies are moving at light speed to offer new services or deliver services in creative ways, make new products (including personal protective gear), and implement new safety measures to protect workers and customers.

Employees who are generally resistant to change may still not be happy about your new initiatives but seem to be grateful to have a job and are willing to adapt for the good of the organization, their livelihood, and the good of their friends and coworkers. Survival is a compelling reason to innovate and the fear (and not unlikely reality for small and medium sized organizations) is that failure to adapt or even adapting too slowly will lead to decline or death for employers.

Thus, everywhere you look today there are innovations happening. Curbside food or product delivery, pick up car or bike servicing, stay at home fundraisers, virtual tours of museums, heritage sites, and aquariums, online fitness training, and virtual doctor’s appointments proving you can do some of those things which were previously deemed impossible.

It always seems impossible until it’s done ~ Nelson Mandela

If you are wondering how your organization can take advantage of these challenging times, consider what you can be doing new, differently (i.e., better, cheaper, and/or faster). Engage your team as well, because I have never experienced lower resistance to change in the workplace than now.

And if you have time to comment, I’d love to hear and share what your organization is doing to re-invent yourselves during these times.