Lessons Businesses Learned From the Pandemic Series

This is part of a series of posts that look from our last 500 days of COVID-19 response. Sharing some lessons learned from the home, our family, work and our online.

As traumatic and dramatic as the COVID-19 pandemic has been for most US citizens, there are still lessons to be gleaned from it. Remember, the wisest leaders work to gather lessons of growth from both success and failures, including global catastrophes! If you own a business, you have been impacted by the pandemic, and this means you have a chance to learn and grow from this impact. What are some of the lessons of the pandemic, which you and your team can use to propel you forward in a post-pandemic world?

Supply Chains Are Vulnerable

It isn’t hard to see this lesson, ongoing, as businesses still are scrambling to refill their stores, complete their supplies, and complete orders. Whereas before a few weeks delay was perhaps the exception, now it is a cause for rejoicing! America learned how deeply it is enmeshed with Chinese supply chains, and other East Asian suppliers as well. National businesses and local ones alike realized the importance of having diversity in the sources of their supply, and everyone learned to appreciate their network!  

Safety is Paramount

One of the most interesting things businesses have learned is that there are times that the government, due to not wanting to overreach, cannot make provisions for safety requirements for all workers.. This includes things like mask mandates, which have been left for individual companies to decide what is applicable in their area, and finding appropriate PPE. Businesses need to keep PPE on hand to protect employees from workplace risks. You cannot protect your team from every eventuality, but you can mitigate as much as possible, which also raises confidence in your determination to value your employees.

Your Team is Everything

Managers and directors have learned how to value employee’s work-life balance more effectively and have realized that extra hours in the office don’t necessarily mean extra productivity. You know that without their amazing work under ridiculous pandemic conditions, none of you would still be afloat. And, you learned almost every job can be done remotely!

Now that you’ve done the hard work to keep everything moving in one of the strangest situations in a century, you want to make sure to carry those lessons with you, long beyond this year. What have you learned this year about your team, your personality, your capabilities? How can you write those things and remember them, so that they can become permanent in your leadership style?

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