Lately, a burning question has been raised in several forums, panels, leading conferences, and books – “What mindsets, skills or changes do leaders, managers, and employees need to keep businesses competitive during in the new normal in the post-pandemic era?”
The COVID-19 pandemic has been eye-opening. Most traditional methods, followed by various businesses, have been turned upside down. What used to work for years did not seem to be enough to sustain at the time of this crisis. As a result, not all organizations and businesses could successfully navigate the waters amidst the sudden impacts of the pandemic. Many of them have lost revenues, customers, market positioning, and even resources. As we approach post-pandemic recoveries, the critical challenge here is how business owners and leaders can quickly recover the losses and re-establish themselves in the market and in their careers.
This is even more challenging, given that expectations have changed throughout recent turbulent times. Business skills and mindsets that worked before the pandemic or during the pandemic might not work anymore. Not only did the pandemic over-accelerate the transformation of businesses, but it has also forced leaders, managers, and employees to master those advanced skills which were earlier forecasted to be required by the workforce in the year 2025.
Therefore, the answer to the question I posed at the beginning of this article is coded in all those efforts that most organizations have implemented during the pandemic to stay afloat.
As a learning leader and performance researcher, I look for factors and drivers that drive the speed of transformation, adoption, and changes. I argue that there are three critical mindsets or thinking processes leaders and employees need to master right away, as this could be the business saver for post-pandemic recoveries. These are
1) Becoming speed-savvy
2) Mastering complex problem-solving skills
3) Learning to be empathetic
