ONLINE : "New way of working" is the "new normal"

Due to ‘social distancing’ we held our first digital event ever. An incredible number of partners and members attended the session between 11.30 and 12.15! Our President, Jan De Schepper, took off with a session on the ‘new normal’.

Yes, the Corona virus makes everybody suffer. It accelerates digitalization, we all need to work differently. Every change is perceived as a threat. How do people react to this threat and which leadership specifications are needed to inspire & motivate the workforce? 

The acronym ‘VUCA’ is used to describe or to reflect on the volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity of general conditions and situations. The particular meaning and relevance of VUCA often relates to how people view the conditions under which they make decisions, plan forward, manage risks, foster change and solve problems.

People naturally keep away from VUCA-situations because of the negative conditions. They want to avoid the challenges and live a life that is easier, predictable, without surprises.They tend to look for 'SCSC'. This stands for Stability, Certainty, Simplicity and Clarity. Needless to say that the challenge in a VUCA situation is much bigger than SCSC. Though creativity, initiative, innovation are primarily present in a VUCA-world…

SURFA

Experienced leaders use a strict methodology called ‘SURFA’  to bring their workforce back to the VUCA-situation:

• Status                          give (enough) attention to their team
• Uncertainty                 keep the uncertainty-period as short as possible & show them perspective
• Relatedness                 make them feel part of the group
• Fairness                       they need to feel they have been treated correctly/honestly
• Autonomy                    give them autonomy                      

 On top of that effective leaders need to connect to their team and their customers.

Connexion

Connexion is the magic word to increase engagement of the team and to keep them motivated. As a result people stay with their employer (= less churn), it boosts engagement and performance improves. 

Cross-strengths 

The Corona-situation implies leaders need Cross-strenghts on top of the ability to

• Inspire and motivate
  • Generate impact with their initiatives
• Be externally oriented
  • Better leaders attract better customers
• Connect with the workforce and the customers
  • This is the most important feature for a leader
• Boost digitalization
  • Increasing efficiency, speed and simplicity

Thank you for this inspiring session Jan!

This on-line event was very successful. So you can expect more digital-events coming!

ADM member and ICT Woman of the Year Dewi Van De Vyver is advocate for the recent initiative by DigitalForYouth to collect 10.000 laptops for underprivileged children. Having a laptop will allow them to study at home during the lock down and to make them more digitally savvy for the future. 

More information on how to donate laptops (or money)in this article on the website of the organisation