Time for reflection...

For most HR professionals, this has been a crazy few months - emptying offices overnight for lockdown, deciding who or what is ‘essential’, learning a new “F” word (Furlough obviously!), and fire fighting all of the associated tasks and issues.

So, now we seem to be partially out the other side of the COVID19 pandemic and have a relative respite until reopening all our offices and our workload getting back to ‘normal’ (whatever that brings), this is an ideal opportunity for some reflection.

I believe reflection is vital for effective learning from our experiences. After all, as the saying goes, “if you always do what you have always done, you will always get what you have always got”. In other words, if we don’t reflect to learn and make changes, how will we improve and grow?

Firstly, do you see the current business situation as a threat or an opportunity? What about your team and your organisation? In reality, the situation is probably a mix of threat and opportunity to your organisation but the approach and mindset you take will make a difference to the outcome. Those who approach their strategy and plans to make the most of the opportunity to change, whilst mitigating any business threat, are likely to have a more successful outcome than those with the opposite approach (emphasising the management of threats whilst hoping for an opportunity).

Also, remember that to make your strategy and plan a success, you may well need to factor in changes in culture and mindset, not just improving your systems and processes. Partly to bring everyone on that journey to making the most of opportunity with you but also reflecting on the culture you had in your organisation before lockdown as this is probably the culture you’ve still got. Has this culture helped with the changes you have needed to make or does this need work too? Have your line managers struggled with remote managing, is there still resistance to flexible working, or are your senior team open to making positive changes?

Next, reflect on what has worked well during this time for your team and your organisation, what could have been better, how could you make it better if you had to do this again? What have you found that you had to do that you want to keep? What have you or your team missed during this time? Are there any task or processes you haven’t been able to deliver during lockdown that you have found actually no longer matter? Be honest in your reflections, ask for input from other stakeholders, you could be pleasantly surprised!

Indeed, many HR teams have proven their worth to their organisation with their response to the pandemic, they have greater credibility and are much more likely to be seen as adding value than prior to COVID19. All of this adds up to an opportunity for getting a ‘yes’ on your plans to make those positive changes.

So what’s stopping you…..grab that blank sheet of paper, take some time out and get reflecting!