What If This Is the Best Time to Transform?-EN

We cannot hide. The Covid-19 Coronavirus crisis is plaguing the entire world population. It doesn’t matter where you are from, what you have done in your past, your future plans, or the company you belong to – the virus can affect you personally and, therefore, the whole of society.

It’s true that we’ve never experienced a health crisis like this one. However, thanks to history, we do know that from all the questions, anxiety, and uncertainty will also come great achievements, important changes, and historical revolutions within society. So why don’t we use this situation as a lever for change?

We are Immersed in an Exceptional Situation

It is not new to anyone that we are living in period for which we were not prepared, emotionally or professionally. Practically from one day to the next, we have left behind our routines forged after years and years of practice to face a social change of drastically new dimensions.

A few days ago, I was reading a book about how to generate new habits: “Tiny Habits” by BJ Fogg (which I certainly recommend). In the book he explained that are the three main factors for acquiring new routines and internalizing processes:

• Take “baby steps”
• Change your environment
• Have an epiphany

The book ordered them from most to least feasible, with “take small steps” as being the most feasible option for most of us and “have an epiphany” (an event that implies a revelation) as the least likely. Ironically, Fogg suggests that one must have superpowers to achieve such a revelation. However, we are immersed in a very special moment… so, maybe?

A New Opportunity on the Horizon

Consider for a second, while we are in a period that we hope doesn’t last very long, what we’re learning now actually meets the requirements to be considered an epiphany. And not only that, but it is turning out to be a collective epiphany. Unfortunately, the epiphany I speak of isn’t exactly positive. Many of us are simultaneously realizing the fragility of our societies and business models. I’d be willing to bet you can count on one hand the number of situations you’ve experienced that have had equal or greater emotional magnitude.

As if this collective epiphany were not enough, it is compounded by a completely forced radicalization of our environment. Our definitions of how society works and how we treat our own social existence have been completely redefined.

Now, remember the second factor that Fogg presents for adopting new habits: the personal and professional determination to face this transformation.

An Engine for Personal and Organizational Change

For many companies, this time might mean project standstill, organizational chaos, or general uncertainty. However, at Netmind we think that it can be treated as the opposite. We are facing an opportunity to combine Fogg’s three factors and allow us to deal more effectively with a necessary change in the way we organize ourselves.

A more agile, less centralized organization offers real resilience in a changing environment like the one we are currently facing. An organization with more self-managed teams can help mitigate the adverse effects that this may have on an organization. This might actually be the best time to confront a new way of organization and start planning for this change.

Another challenge many of us are facing is the difficulty of adapting our classic way of working to virtual environments. Consider what it will take for your organization to change permanently. For example, as a training company, we are continuously working on the expansion of our OpenClass® training catalog. This remote training solution allows individuals and organizations to structure their educational opportunities more effectively. This will not only have an immediate impact on our ability to provide services to our clients over the next few weeks, but it is also a way to streamline our workflow and become more flexible in how we approach future challenges, and even different ways of working.

The last point worth reflecting on is how we will face this turning point on a personal level. While companies require a change to a more self-organized structure and agile mindset, workers are opening up the need (and opportunity) to develop new technological skills. These new skills range from learning programming languages, learning Big Data, developing web solutions, or re-skilling, to others pertaining to flexibility in the way they work.

In short, nothing about Covid-19 is easy, but it might also be a perfect opportunity to face business transformation and personal development. Consider this union of external factors to be a facilitator of change. Consider the possibility of turning a period of extreme uncertainty into an opportunity to train and innovate, both individually and as an organization.

Thank you,

Joan