It is time to be honest with yourself. Are you mentally prepared for the future? How has your thinking changed and, accordingly, how ready is your team and your organization for what is ahead? Take some time to think about the magnitude of change that has occurred and your place in it. Have you taken the necessary steps to plan and ready your team to survive and thrive in the new reality?

For many organizations, operating models and supply chains have been disrupted and perhaps are no longer relevant. As I offered up in an earlier article, your organization’s end-user/consumer’s perspectives and expectations have changed and must now be remapped to surviving in the post COVID-19 world. There is a new “zone of comfort” for how we will be interacting with each other for both personal and business needs. B2B and B2C interfaces are being re-written at this very moment. No one set of rules will apply as the virus has affected each one of us in a different way. While the experience is shared worldwide, the lens through which each of us views it will be uniquely different. My take is that the zones of comfort that we will be operating in will ebb and flow depending on circumstances – the goods or services being procured and consumed, the degree of customization required, and the immediacy of the need. However, in my opinion, the new normal will be that the greater the distance between the consumer and consumable, the better most will feel.

As a leader, your ability to see what has transpired over the last few months and translating those signals into actions is what will allow your business to get right side up sooner than your competitors. The virus is the catalyst for change on many fronts. Capitalizing on that change for the good of all falls squarely on leaders and their respective boards. I believe that your stakeholders are expecting to see changes as they emerge from their stay at home orders. To get the most acceleration for your employees and your customers, your organization needs to be clear on what has/will change and why. Most of us expect that changes to business will need to be made. If not, then the question becomes one of why not? The virus has created many new and different types of barriers that will restrict and constrict existing business models and core operations. Gaining a perspective on these changes and transforming your organization will help you to create the future. 

It is time to reset your compass – but how? Clearly there is no user manual for thriving in the post COVID-19 model and each industry and organization is going to be starting from a different place. The same goes for each of us as leaders: How willing are we to adapt? How brave are we? How can we gather up the team to help drive into the brave new world? Helping organizations by challenging leaders to think and act differently is a good first step.

If you are eager to get your transformation process started, contact planning@cgsadvisors.com and a member of our team would be happy to discuss how we can assist you.

Tim McCabe is a CGS Fellow helping to lead clients through significant transformation. He is a former global CIO and officer of Delphi Corporation where he helped to lead through the restructuring and digitization stemming from the largest industrial bankruptcy in history. He can be reached at Tim.McCabe@CGSAdvisors.com