Here we are in October 2020 and still all of us are unsure of what our future work will look like. Will we be working in the city full time, 4 days, 3 days a week. Will Zoom/MS Team just be the usual way we communicate? Will we ever have watercooler conversations without masks? Will I have to take off my ugg boots if I go into the city?
So many questions and we still have no answers – 8 months into this pandemic.
From a Change Management perspective, now is the time for our skill to shine. While Change was one of the many project resources to be told “sorry we are stopping inflight projects – off you go”, realistically it should not have been the case. We are much more than a project resource to help embed change. We can coach and guide leaders through uncertain times and jump into being that soundboard for Executives.
While the earlier part of 2020 was looking grim for a lot of roles – including Change – there is a bit of light starting to filter in at the end of the tunnel. The good news is the market has become use to this remote way of working, and therefore we are seeing clients gaining confidence that people are still producing the outcomes even if they are not “onsite”.
If I did have a crystal ball in terms of the types of change work – I would be advising people who have experience in enterprise operating model change experience to start polishing off their CV. Companies have reached that point where they know that how they have worked in the past – is not going to be the same. They will need to look top down at how they operate and have set up their business the future. Executives will need to have external help and hopefully they won’t automatically think “We need a Big 4 Consultancy”! There are a large number of extremely qualified and successful Transformation Consultants that Executives could source and they won’t be sold “add on services” either. This is where White Cloud Recruitment can help them source these people!
Although AI has always been part of the future plan for a lot of Executives, this pandemic has brought all their plans forward. We will see an increase in Digital Workers within organisations where AI can take over humans roles. This will be another case of requiring Change Consultants to help with their process re-engineering and their operating model change to their company. We will see an increase in Virus Friendly Bots in all our customer service interactions. If clients are retaining a physical presence in a building they will need to ensure they invest in new technologies such as thermal imaging sensors and contactless interaction for their staff (think turning on lights, room temperature, booking rooms, summoning elevator) all from your mobile phone. There is technology for business owners around cleaning of the building – all of these new AI technologies will need to be adopted and peoples behaviors and work on the culture of a company will need to be adopted.
So after that crystal ball gazing I am very confident that Change Managers will be seeing an increase in their skills! The market will just get busier and your experience across all facets of change (process/people/technology) will be in high demand. Bring on #Covidnormal!