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Wundamail Voices: The Future of Work With Nicolas Babin

June 1, 2020

Remote Working, Team Management, Workplace Culture, Wundamail Voices

In today's edition of Wundamail Voices, we catch up with speaker and influencer, Nicolas Babin to get his take on what the future holds for businesses of all sizes.


Covid 19 has changed and will continue to change a lot in terms of work. What we will see first and foremost is a change in behavior. People have now experienced social distancing across the globe; they have been made aware of the issues of a pandemic and the risks to them and their loved ones. People have been faced with hard decisions about sending their children back to school, meeting friends and family, living their faith, watching sports in a stadium, shopping and obviously working.

Professional relationships will be sustainably different. Senior executives and company owners will not hesitate to promote remote working. Long and inefficient meetings will be less likely to happen. New tools will be implemented to allow this change in management.

The most interesting element of it all, is the fact that people are going to be at the center of everything since everyone has realized that sick members of a team are a big problem for the company’s performance. Most of all, companies owe a safe work environment to their employees.

A lot of people believe this crisis will see a rise in digital tools. I agree but this is not the main point. Tools need to remain at the service of humans and not the other way around. The crisis is impacting people, tools will help to better manage this.

When your back is against the wall, preparation is always easier. Transformation will happen and leaders will need to think about managing and optimizing work within teams that are physically distanced. Team building and team spirit is still essential.

Leaders will need to become disruptive and very innovative to make the change happen and to make it work. Will leaders be using video tools for social events and interactions - you bet! Besides this, they will need to ensure people still talk like colleagues and still perform their tasks for the best of the company.

The end goal is still the same and will never change, the company needs to perform, however the rules to make this happen have changed and now it is time to implement new ways. Values will be broadly and regularly promoted; company leaders will need to be in front of their teams in a different way (video or ensuring social distancing is enforced) more regularly. Leaders will realize that their employees will think more outside of the box, more independently and will interrupt less for trivial questions. All in all, leaders will still be at the service of their teams but in a more efficient and digital way.

This is a step in the right direction because companies need to realize more and more that human resources are the center of their success. Tools are just a way to ensure relevant and efficient communication happen. Tools will ensure that even “stay at home” colleagues will share and perform their tasks efficiently and professionally.

Our world today is very connected (thankfully, can you imagine being confined 30 years ago without the internet? It would have been a vastly different story), but because of the pandemic, connections need to happen digitally. Commercial airlines need to transform, and humans need to change business. This pandemic is making professional relationships hard to accomplish. This transformation is happening because we do not have a choice. This is the best-case scenario for a digital transformation to happen.

People do not like change and when they are forced to do it, change happens more naturally. Companies have been reluctant to impose changes and rightfully so, but now they have a particularly good reason to make it happen for the best of the business. We are about to see changes that we had anticipated but not at the current rapid pace. Therefore, I am very optimistic about the direction, Covid 19 is obligating us take.

 



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