One of TLOMA’s values is to Promote Diversity and Inclusion.  We’ve been advised that LSO is offering complimentary to all (non-LSO members as well) a 3 Hour eCourse, pre-accredited for EDI Professionalism hours, and a toolkit which consists of a Facilitator’s Guide, Participant’s Guide and Bibliography to allow workplaces to present their own program on advancing Equality, Diversity and Inclusion.  It is available to everyone.

TLOMA welcomes you to forward any other relevant materials to TLOMA that we have permission to share with our members and submit any other ideas for further promoting this important value.

TLOMA

Do it. Iterate it. Hone it. Then do it better.

The speed at which everything has been changing over the past several weeks has seen new themes dropping into my life on a very regular basis; messages sent by whatever force it is that sends us these things, that have been helping me address myself to the current reality, while also keeping an eye on the future. 

We have gone from being conscious of giving ourselves grace as the early days of the pandemic unfolded, to finding ways to manage our time, our attention and, most importantly, our energy as the days have stretched into weeks. Recently the themes have shifted from sheltering and maintaining emotional and physical well-being,  to recovery, and even into how we can cultivate and embrace a mindset of abundance.  Yes, abundance, even in all of this uncertainty.

All of this change, of course, has been happening  at a speed that is blinding.  In other words, we are experiencing a disruption - a massive, global, all-sectors, all-hands-on-deck disruption. While disruption itself isn’t a new phenomenon, what is new is that where there are usually boundaries that contain a disruption - whether geography, industry sector, just something, anything to make it fit into a box that we can see and feel is holding it - this one is mind-blowing without boundaries. It has hit literally everyone, in every sector, in every place in the world, in some way.

And while the cause and breadth of this particular event is something the planet has not seen on this scale in our lifetimes, the result - the disruption - is something that lots of us have experienced before, even on a fairly massive scale. And you can bet that this won’t be the last time a disruption  happens, either.

So I have been reflecting this week about how we address ourselves to massive, widespread disruption. The kind of disruption that shakes the foundations of what we do and requires much more of us - at least in the short term - because it forces us to:

• burn our complacency and the habits built over the span of our careers to date - which were often based on “the way it has always been done” - all the way to the ground; and
  
  
• rethink, from the ground up, the true nature of the service that we provide and, without reference to what has been done before, figure out by what means we can best provide that service at this point in time.
  
  

Evidence of people addressing themselves and their businesses to the disruption in this way is all around us.  Think about ‘curbside pick-up’.  Why wasn’t that a thing before?  Neighbours checking in regularly on the elderly and vulnerable around them - shopping for them and helping them in whatever ways they need - and tech springing up that helps match the helpers to those that need help. Being of service in our communities was always possible, but now it is being done with intention and zest.

The courts are finally figuring out how to provide their service using tools that have been available for years, if not decades.  The first time I was on a committee driving at building a modern, electronic filing system for the courts in Ontario was in 1997 - over 20 years ago.  And what happened?  Well, not much, actually.  But in the last eight weeks? Hearings by phone and video.  Mediations and arbitrations by Zoom. Video discoveries. It is like a wrinkle in time opened up and the courts fell in, and now we have the kinds of services developing that it would have taken decades - literally decades - to achieve were it not for this disruption.

And what is common about all of these responses?  They have been quickly conceived, imperfectly executed, iterated in response to feedback, and improved. 

In other words, all around us people and enterprises are responding to the disruption caused by COVID-19 by taking imperfect action - our theme of the week.

So, what does it mean to take imperfect action? And what does it take to do it?

Nike cottoned on to it in 1987 with their “Just do it!” brand slogan. Business books and research around how to improve performance on all dimensions embrace it. It has been researched to death - waiting for perfection kills productivity, progress, innovation etc.  There is no longer any question at all, and thought leaders across sectors, geography and time agree: taking imperfect action is fundamentally important to our ability to achieve meaningful improvement. In anything.

So why is it so hard to embrace?  Why do so many of us prefer to hold tight to the way things have always been done and resist tearing it all down and starting again - with today as the starting point for figuring out what the needs are that our service has to address - whatever our service is (I’m looking at you Blockbuster)?

Well, the answer is obvious to all of us.  It is fear.  Fear of being wrong, of being criticized, of launching something before it’s perfect, fear of failing.  We feel more secure holding to the tried and true, or staying in development until we’re ‘ready’.  Unfortunately, as Blockbuster found out the hard way, and as all the rest of us will also find out if we don’t learn how to take imperfect action in our own enterprises, holding on to the past doesn’t work. And the perfect time doesn’t exist.

The pace of change today is increasing exponentially.  I’m not just talking about exponential growth in the incidents of change, I’m talking about the pace of change itself.  I don’t know enough math to know the word for exponential upon exponential - factorial maybe?  Regardless, the pace at which things are changing is really, really fast. 

What does it take to face the fear associated with change?  Courage.  And a growth mindset. And the realization that failure isn’t an endpoint.

There is no way that any of us can even hope to process the magnitude of the change that is afoot in the world right now unless we muster up our courage, develop our ability to think with agility and embrace a growth mindset that will allow us to look at every single thing we do through the lens of “how can I make that better?”.  And then take the action that comes in answer to that question. Imperfectly try it, iterate it, hone it, try the 2.0 version of it, and do it all over again.

But as human beings with egos and flaws we won’t embrace the concept, or the process,  naturally.  We have to put in the effort it takes to cultivate these skills until they become part of our operating system.

Thankfully, this concept, as others, and the skills needed to integrate it exist in a virtuous cycle. Here’s how the cycle works: mustering up courage leads to taking imperfect action, which feeds a growth mindset. And as you cultivate a growth mindset, you build your resilience which increases your courage, and the resilience and courage make it easier to take more of that delicious, imperfect action.  And so on, and so on. It feels good just writing about it, reading it. Imagine how empowering it feels to just do it.

And here’s the very best part. Remember, it all starts with mustering just a short burst of courage, and directing that courage at doing something you have been nervous about or resistant to doing.  It’s just. So. Simple.

In the interests of walking the talk, I can tell you that I do something deeply imperfect every week. Whatever it is that I do, it is always something that I find deeply uncomfortable - even terrifying - thus explaining why I will have avoided it up to the week in which I target it.  But with intention, each week I follow my own advice, muster up my (tiny, short bursts of) courage, take imperfect action, see where I can improve in future, and then iterate it and repeat.  Invariably I end up feeling just slightly less reluctant, and each week it is slightly easier to do it again.

So this is what I challenge  all of you to do. Take imperfect action to learn something new or test out a new idea or way of doing something that you think might improve the service your stakeholders receive from you.

Watching all of you being courageous and taking imperfect action will help me keep doing it too, and both of our services will continue to improve!

The Law Firm 2.0

On June 10, 2020, I had the pleasure of presenting at TLOMA’s Technology SIG, providing insight on trends within the legal industry, and what it means to become a data driven law firm. Succeeding in an experience driven world, now more than ever, is how law firms will begin to re-ignite their businesses, and ‘thrive’ in the new normal, the normal that we coin the Law Firm 2.0. Based on industry leading research presented by Clio, I shared what lawyers have been facing throughout COVID-19 specifically with client expectations and law firm perceptions (see the full data in Clio’s COVID-19 Legal Research Briefing and 2019 Legal Trends Report).

Step 1: Establish a Baseline

I was asked, “Why are law firms one of the last industries to adapt to change.” The answer? There was never an immediate impact that changed the way the legal industry operated until now. Law firms had to shift focus and priorities overnight, like many other businesses. 

Over the past decade, cloud software has been readily available to law firms, and innovation triggered some firms to explore and adopt this technology. Now that the status quo has been challenged, many have had to operate in this “new normal”. When zeroing in on what it means to get started, I shared that it’s important to begin with a baseline. Understand your customers. Unfortunately, the reality is that law firms’ perceptions are growing further from consumer expectations, and it’s important to adapt. When establishing a baseline, it’s important to ask yourselves, 1. What do our customers want? This can easily be achieved through customer interviews, to understand consumer expectations within your market. The experience that differentiates you and your firm, is the experience you provide your customers. Determine potential gaps in the client lifecycle, confirm those gaps with data, and execute change to drive results.

Step 2: Becoming Client-Centered

In January 2020, Jack Newton, CEO and Co-Founder of Clio, released his first book The Client-Centered Law Firm. Newton focuses on the gap that exists between the client’s experience and the client's expectations. Lawyers need to zero in on the danger of current perceptions, or they risk being left behind while others propel. The benefit to being client-centered is differentiation. With the massive opportunity to open up the latent legal market, lawyers need to refocus on delivering what clients want. Experience is part of what clients pay for when they hire a lawyer and is the number one reason why a client would recommend or refer you and your firm. When thinking about how you can become client-centered, make sure you are putting your clients at the center of the conversation.

Step 3: Act & Implement Change

In my role managing Partnerships at Clio, I’ve had the opportunity to interact with hundreds of consultants and app partners who are working with thousands of law firms every day. Leveraging industry experts that understand innovation and how to build a thriving law firm is an important next step. After analyzing your current practice, and understanding the client expectations, it’s important to act. Do not rely on yourself, or members at your firm, to determine best practices based on your learnings. Share those learnings with an industry expert who can provide guidance on implementation for immediate impact. Although technology may not be the immediate solution for your firm, there are three core areas that are important to focus on when thinking about a client-centered approach for your firm. Understand the full journey of your law firm, starting with client intake and ending in advocacy and reputation management.

1.  It starts with discovery. Build a foundation, an easy way for your customers to find and interact with you online. Google My Business is a great example of how you can engage with your clients where they are. Optimize it!

2.  Consistent interaction. Find the right tool(s) that help you interact with your clients. This could take the form of online chat bots, VOIP systems, texting applications, online intake forms. Go where your clients want you to be.

3.  It ends with reputation management and advocacy. Create an easy opportunity for your happy clients to write online reviews and refer new business. There are solutions available to automate this process. Remember, this all flows back to Google, and the flywheel continues.

Running your law practice does not start and end in three stages. Collect data and benchmark your results. Capture feedback from your clients and iterate. Without spinning your firm’s flywheel, your practice will begin to plateau and operate at the status quo– the very reason that the legal industry has yet to have a platonic shift until COVID-19.

As you read this article, we will have entered Pandemic Recovery phase 2 or perhaps phase 3 of re-opening in your jurisdiction.  You will be focused on:

• Who and when will people return to the office?
• What business processes need to adapt to the “new normal”?
• Will existing practices and policies ensure cashflow to meet current and future financial obligations?
• How will this all come together?
  
  

There will be many challenges as we resume a physical presence in our office spaces.  Rather than taking this time to dwell on those challenges let’s pause and reflect on this experience before we lose sight of the successes, we achieved during the COVID-19 Pandemic.  I would also like to challenge you with a call to action – how do we retain these successes beyond the pandemic?

When working with our clients we frame challenges and successes in the context of:

• I – what do I personally bring to the firm?  How does “x and y” impact me?
• We – what do we collectively do together for the firm?  What is the culture?  Do we have each other’s back?
• It – the firm as an entity – with good decisions now, what lasts beyond us?
  
  

Let’s reverse this order and focus on “It” – the firm:

“It” – the firm survived!  There were minor and significant bumps along the way as the firm management navigated equipping people to work from home, creating a safe environment for essential workers, court closures, work shortages and work overload across practice groups.  Difficult messages were delivered with layoffs and cost containment.  However, there were successes that should not be forgotten – the IT investments paid off, workflow continued and you were nimble as you navigated the new legislation to continue working.  Client requests were met, dockets posted, fees billed/collected, and expenses paid.  Firms discovered that what we once thought was impossible was very much doable as you engaged in a “paperless” world.  How will firms look at keeping up with innovative ways to work once we are cleared to return to the office?  What commitment will your firm make to sustain the successes of virtual workflow?

“We” – our clients have shared so many success stories.  We re-engaged “call trees”, found innovative ways to stay connected with colleagues and clients.   There were Zoom cocktail and poker nights to replace social gatherings.  In some cases, more people participated and from a broader geographic base.  In-person meetings were replaced by technology of some sort.  We found a way to connect “personally” to ensure mental health concerns were addressed and resources shared.  I heard from many people about how firm leaders made themselves available to speak and truly listen to the challenges of working from home and concerns about the pandemic.   Collectively we demonstrated compassion as we balanced work, childcare, teaching our kids, dual professionals sharing the “home” office and single people struggling with the isolation.  What commitment will we continue to make to ensure voices are heard and people supported post pandemic?  How can we ensure that the compassion we exercised during the pandemic continues when we return to our “normal” routines?

“I” – a number of clients shared that working from home wasn’t so bad.  In fact, it came to light that stressors pre-pandemic were often self-imposed and became glaringly obvious once people started to navigate working from home.  Let’s celebrate family dinners, later start times, flexible work arrangements, making physical and mental health a priority, and focusing on productivity vs face time.  What is one lesson learned from the pandemic that you will continue so that you bring your “best self” when we return to the firm?  How will you support other members of your team, practice, and firm so that they bring their “best selves”?

Personally, the pandemic has reminded me how resilient, caring and compassionate we can be when collectively we are dealing with a significant challenge.  When the economy fully re-opens, I commit to active listening, remaining present and continue to demonstrate the compassion that we all exercised during the last 4 months.   And you …?

Now is when legal service providers must embrace how business works and align accordingly. 

If anything good is to come from the global pandemic, it’s a rebirth opportunity that enables legal service providers, including law firms, legal companies and individual lawyers to re-calibrate their operations and run like laser-focused, bottom line-driven businesses.

Now is when – before it’s too late.

This time of rebirth provides an opportunity to trim down to fighting weight in order to thrive rather than merely survive. This means streamlining service offerings down to only those that the legal market wants now and in the future. This, in turn, means spinning off practices or services that no longer answer client needs or fit into the business. Doing so enables the establishment of a tightly targeted, differentiated and client value-obsessed position in markets that are key to the success of a legal service provider’s enterprise.

This is best done by:

• Providing only those services at which a firm/company/individual excels
• Servicing only those industries and clients to whom offerings are critical and valuable
• Developing a go-to talent pool or skills set specifically tailored to support these goals
  
  

And, most importantly, excluding everything and everyone else.

Ruthless? Not really. Strategy is about knowing how to say no.

Do What You Love and Money Will Come

In addition to saying “no”, strategy is about being true to you – whether “you” are a firm, company or individual – and doing only the work you do best and want most.

A couple of business adages resonate with me: “Do what you love and money will come,” “If you love what you do, you’ll never work a day your life” and my guiding light, from Shakespeare’s Hamlet: “To thine own self be true.”

I’ve learned by doing that the first two adages are absolute truths and the quote was bred in my bones. I’ve been through a few careers in my time and they hold me in good stead to this day, but for the last 20 years I’ve been doing what I’m very good at, love that I get to do it, and am passionate about clients with whom I work.

Now I’m privileged to be considered one-of-one and a go-to for what I do, which is working alongside law firms, legal companies and individual lawyers to help them differentiate and position in critical markets and industries, and build profile and develop business with key clients who value their offerings. This enables the legal service providers with whom I work to enjoy what they do for a living and thrive in their professional lives, and results in their achievement of healthy revenues and profits.

Working with lawyers successfully in this manner isn’t magic and neither is it rocket science. It’s about insight, perseverance, patience and faith. Mostly, it’s about helping them get out of their own way.

Service Offerings

It’s folly to think that every dollar is a good dollar. This isn’t true especially when you do work that is outside your wheelhouse or out of scope in terms of the legal services at which you excel.

This is why it’s true that marketing yourself as everything to everyone means you’re nothing to no one.

What is also true is that time is finite, but money isn’t. Time is finite because there are only 24 hours in a day. But by doing only the type of work you love to do and do well, you’ll be the go-to and, as a result, money can be infinite.

Targeting services – whether for firms, companies or individuals – has four key factors:

• Focus solely on what you do well.
• Ensure that what you do well is also something you love to do.
• Target only industries and key clients within those targeted industries who will value your offerings and with whom you want to work.
• Stay in your lane. In other words, stay true to yourself and what you do well.
  
  

While focus, determination and diligence are all necessary factors for success, I have yet to experience an instance when this four-step strategy hasn’t worked. That’s because it’s successful every time.

One of the reasons it’s successful is because clients don’t care about your practice; they care about their industry. And because they care about their industry, they pay greater attention to those who serve it.

Keep in mind that there will be prospective clients within your target industry that either don’t value your offerings or aren’t aligned with you in terms of work styles, ethics, temperaments, etc. This is to be expected and absolutely fine. You don’t want every prospective client. Instead, you want only those clients with whom you align.

Many years ago, a client firm of mine struggled to scope its offerings to what it did best: commercial real estate. Instead, the lawyers kept accepting whatever work came in the door. As a result, they were doing everything for everybody, got spread too thin, and were becoming exhausted and frustrated. By analyzing and narrowing their client roster, we determined there were enough industry-relevant clients for whom the lawyers could do commercial real estate work.

Doing so enabled them to stop handling residential real estate, wills, and other matters that were outside their scope of expertise. This, in turn, resulted in opening capacity in terms of time and energy to take on more commercial real estate work and they were able to refer out-of-scope matters to residential real estate colleagues, will and estate lawyers, and others who were able to reciprocate.

I’ve coached individual lawyers in the same fashion. Every single one of them who has had the grit and guts to narrow his or her practice and focus on either a targeted industry or particular type of clientele has hit their career sweet spot. They’ve gained a reputation as the go-to lawyer for their particular expertise, and are thriving and loving what they do.

For example, “Stay in your lane” was advice provided to a solo lawyer last year. Since then, she has reaped the benefits of targeting and perseverance, and been deluged with the kind of work she loves most from a client she’s always wanted within a narrowly defined sector. She has also relocated to a larger office, hired more help and declined an invitation to add her practice to a name brand firm.

In each of these situations, like in every instance, success is never accidental. Success happens by design, and is aided by perseverance and patience.

Industries and Clientele  

It’s a well-known business rule that 80 per cent of your business comes from 20 per cent of your clients.

This usually means that whether it’s obvious or not every law firm, legal company and individual lawyer has a set of industries they currently serve. Therefore, it’s smart to learn what these industries are and stick to them. If, and only if it makes sense, you may want to carefully consider adding only those industries that are ancillary to the core sector(s) currently served. Go no further.

In Toward Industry Alignment, I outline how to use North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) or Standard Industry Classification (SIC) codes to ascertain your sector strengths based on your current client roster. Using NAICS or SIC codes are recommended because they are chosen by the client themselves. They know their business better than anyone and, as a result, these codes are indisputable.

An industry team is a kissing cousin to a key client team. However, an industry team is often more successful because of its deep sector focus, which includes a wealth of prospective clients.

The key to a successful industry team is that it must be sector-proven to be credible to clients. When I’ve helped create an industry team, potential members must provide resumes detailing work experience in that specific sector. This often unpopular, yet enormously effective tactic winnows out legitimate expertise from pretenders. Because fact is separated from fantasy, the result is an efficient, credentialed and compact core team.

Most importantly, this method provides evidence for industry clients that the sector-specific team members have real world knowledge, are fluent in the industry’s language, and have hard core and shop floor experience to prove it.

The concept of specialization encompasses both targeted services and industry expertise. Specialization features prominently in the Wolters Kluwer 2020 Future Ready Lawyer Survey: Performance Drivers that found significant gaps between what clients want and what law firms think clients want.

The importance of specialization was ranked second among the top five reasons why clients would switch firms.



The survey found that 80 per cent of legal departments said it was important that a firm specialize in the types of services they need with only 34 per cent saying that describes their current firm very well. This assumes that 46 per cent of legal department respondents describe their current firm otherwise. 

There is also a gap of understanding that specialization matters more than price:

When evaluating law firms, criteria most important to corporate lawyers are a firm’s ability to: specialize, use technology to improve productivity and understand client needs. Law firms believe price is the top criteria on which they are evaluated, followed by the ability to understand client needs and specialization.

The survey of 700 lawyers in law firms, legal departments and business services firms across the U.S. and nine European countries was conducted in January 2020.

Talent and Skills Sets 

Many traditional law firms carry dead weight and know it. Yet few do anything about it. Instead, they carry people and practices for two main reasons: 1. We’ve always done it this way; and, 2. Doing nothing is easier than doing something.

But this is how a lethargic and stodgy social club operates. It’s certainly not how a high-functioning legal enterprise runs a lean, bottom line-driven business.

The price of admission for a traditional legal life compounds this complacency. Top marks are one of the key criteria for student admittance to law school. For law firm laterals, it’s a book of business. But are these the right measurements? Just because you’re smart doesn’t mean you’ll be a good lawyer any more than promising to be accompanied by a herd of clients means they will follow.

Businesses that are outside of the legal industry hire explicitly for positions that need to be filled so that products and services their customers want are delivered as expected. Conversely, law firms often hire for smarts rather than alignment with services the firm provides. As a result, individuals can be allowed to stray beyond the firm’s core areas of service because of a willingly naïve belief that doing so enriches the firm’s offerings.

But this is not so. In fact, it is the worst type of slippery-slope scope creep that a firm can entertain because all of its service offerings become watered down. The most obvious symptom is that the firm becomes bloated beyond recognition—a dead giveaway being an ever-expanding list of services and practices complete with a myriad of chairs and co-chairs—and its brand literally becomes diluted and convoluted to where clients can’t identify the firm from its competition.

At this point it’s painfully clear that the legal service provider, regardless of structure, size, practice, industry focus, specialization of service or jurisdiction, has become distracted by placating egos rather than serving clients and its focus has drifted away from the business of running a business.

Clients Call the Shots

We’re in a buyer’s market. We have been for some time and will continue to be for many years to come. This means that clients call the shots and want their matters executed with maximum efficiency regardless of whether the work is handled by a law firm, legal company or individual.

This is why right minds trump bright minds, and aptitudes and temperaments of legal service professionals of all types, stripes, business experiences and backgrounds along with the development of particular skills sets are so very important.

It’s also why providing targeted services to select industries with key clientele are paramount to running a lean, efficient and thriving business.

The combination of these factors can enables a legal service provider to excel to the point of being one-of-one rather than one-of-many. This is exactly the level of legal market differentiation that is beneficial right now. And, it will continue to be advantageous well into the future.

As lockdown restrictions start to be eased, one of the big questions on law firms’ minds is: how do we safely return to work post COVID-19? What will this new way of working look like? And as business leaders, how do we best prepare for the smooth return of employees to the office in a way that ensures their health and safety?

With people coming back to the office after several weeks away, staff are likely to be anxious. Law firm leaders need to keep this uppermost in their minds and be flexible and understanding as you make the necessary changes to working practices and health and safety guidance.  

Here are some of the priority issues you need to consider.

1. Plan For A Phased Return To Work

It is likely that businesses will be encouraged to return their staff to work in a phased approach. Keep abreast of guidance from the authorities to ensure you are familiar with any protocols.

Plans should include which employees can return, when and how often. Risk assessments can help decide which employees should come back first. For example, are there roles which cannot be effectively done remotely? Do you have any staff who are at higher risk? Are there any staff with childcare issues who can’t come in? At the moment, the key message is if staff can work from home then they should, and this may continue for some time.

Once the risks have been identified, a phasing plan can be created that meets the needs of the business. Options may include staggered shifts, office rotation schemes and sectioning off teams from one another.

2.  Introduce – And Communicate - New Policies And Practices For A Safe Workplace

When it comes to creating a safe workplace, it’s about more than promoting good handwashing and coughing into your elbow. Guidelines and regulations from the WHO, the Public Health Agency of Canada and federal or local authorities need to be followed. Make sure you regularly check official agency websites for updates.

Though these guidelines are helpful, they are unlikely to be extensive enough to cover the specific circumstances of your workplace. You should therefore assess the firm’s working environment and draw up your own precautionary measures for maintaining a healthy office.

These might include physical distancing protocols and sanitation practices, with practical strategies such as site markings on the floor directing distance and foot traffic, additional office sanitizing, new standards for in-person meetings, and limiting the use of conference rooms and hot desking.

Communicate the new policies clearly and provide regular updates to staff, so they are informed and prepared.

3.  Reconfigure Work Areas

With official distancing standards requiring employees to be “two arms’ lengths” apart (approximately 2m or 6ft), the ‘safe-six’ will become the new norm and workspaces will need to be reconfigured accordingly.  

Firms will need to consider the space they have available and determine the safe capacity for the number of staff who can occupy any particular area at one time. Reviewing your floorplans will help you determine how many people you can safely seat. Plot each persons’ individual space on the floorplan and place distance parameters around each plot to clearly illustrate safe seating. You can then use this to adjust the seating plan until you get the maximum safe capacity for each space.

You will also need to consider how to keep staff physically distanced when they move around the office, such as floor markings to direct the flow of footfall around the workplace to limit contact.

Communal areas such as kitchens, water coolers and break-out spaces will also need to be considered. Will these be closed in the short-term, or adapted to allow physical distancing?

4. Manage And Mitigate Risk

If COVID-19 has taught us anything, it is that planning, and preparation are the best defense. Returning to work post-lockdown still holds a risk level, and your company should be prepared for a possible outbreak. Consider what your contingency and business continuity plan states in the case that employees become sick:

• Identify who is responsible for ensuring the response plan is in place and procedures are followed
• Determine how you will identify someone at risk and what the response will be
• Emphasize that staff should stay away from the office if they feel unwell, and that they should report it to the appropriate person
• Make sure that IT systems are ready to support long-term remote or working from home scenarios
  
  

Meetings and trainings of more than 10 people may need to remain virtual, but smaller meetings might still be feasible, with personal hygiene practices, limited timing, and appropriate spacing measures in place.

Workplace leaders should determine how many employees can safely sit in a room together and set capacity restrictions for meeting rooms. Draw up a post-meeting sanitization process and ensure these policies are communicated to your teams.

5. Establish Open Communication And Address Concerns

A key principle in leading effective change is communication. Direct and honest communication is paramount to keeping employees safe and business operating.

Concerns that should be addressed before reopening:

• Changes in sick leave policy
• Policies around furlough, remote work, pandemic response
• Protocols for bringing back employees
• Physical guidelines and disciplinary measures for violating guidelines
  
  

While business continuity has been a focus during this crisis, the top priority for any business should be the employees that sustain it. Change is difficult under normal circumstances, but under these conditions, change can provide added stress. Employees will need time to adjust to this new way of working.

It is unclear whether these changes to working norms will be temporary or alter the way we work forever. What we do know is that with good preparation, forward planning and effective communication, we can overcome the challenges and deliver a smooth, safe and effective return to work.