After two years of pandemic, what if we changed the rules of the game for businesses, leaders and society by focusing on what we have best in Quebec: our collective intelligence, or our ability to find solutions to complex issues? we face by putting everyone’s skills, knowledge and abilities at the service of a common goal?
Posted yesterday at 9:00 a.m.
In May 2020, in these same pages, I signed a column entitled: “Reinventing yourself. Now. » , in which I invited companies and professionals to develop their management practices.
Two years later, we can draw several lessons:
The curtain raiser will not take place, at least not immediately
Some had predicted six months, others three years. We all had our predictions on the exact date of the end of the pandemic and the great reunion party that would follow. Today, we understand better that COVID will not go away. Just as we had to get used to reducing our social contacts, we will have to get used to developing them again. The cultural and entertainment industries, for example, will need to use communication and marketing efforts to attract and reassure the public. Some will be cautious, others, for whom screens and platforms will have created new habits, disinterested. I understand that Quebec broadcasters and producers recently agreed on a common message: develop a plan to end the crisis… for up to five years.
The talent shortage has confounded the most skeptical
Telecommuting, international recruitment, changing of the guard… even those who didn’t believe in it had to follow suit. I can still hear this leader (whom I will refrain from naming) assuring me on the phone that “as soon as the pandemic is over, everyone will be back in the office for five days”. What would he say, two years later, when it is more difficult than ever to recruit and retain those who, in search of meaning, are looking for flexible companies?
Also, the labor shortage, in addition to social changes, has led (and this is good) a growing number of companies to create executive positions responsible for ensuring inclusion and diversity within teams. We ourselves, at Infopresse, have set up, in the last year, with the entrepreneur Danièle Henkel and several professionals, a training program to enable companies to promote their leadership in diversity, in order to recruit without regard for gender, sexual orientation, culture, generation or disability. We are all part of the solution.
Let’s develop our know-how in addition to our know-how…
At the start of the crisis, benevolence imposed itself as much on individuals as on organizations. And for good reason: the number of burnout, depression or mental health issues took center stage: one in five Canadians tested positive for symptoms of depression, anxiety or post-traumatic stress disorder, COVID survey finds developed by Statistics Canada in collaboration with the Public Health Agency unveiled last March. The issue of mental health is therefore becoming essential in our organizations, both for employees and managers, who need support in a constantly changing environment. While it is important to develop our know-how (the acceleration of changes in consumer habits requires the development of new skills), it is essential to equip all professionals and managers today and now to prevent, detect and act in case of distress.
… and make communication a priority
If we needed proof of the importance of communication in our organizations, two years of the pandemic were enough to convince us. Internally, it becomes the central point of our daily life on Zoom, or non-verbal language is more difficult to decode: you have to learn to say things, reassure, establish a human dialogue. Externally, it is an engine of growth and distinction for organizations. Those who stand out know how to present ideas in line with the challenges facing society. An example ? The arrival of Sophie Brochu at the head of Hydro-Québec in April 2020, when the pandemic had just broken out in Quebec, and who, a little over a year later, confided in an interview to The Press having accepted this new professional challenge with, among other things, the objective of “opening the way and meeting the Aboriginal peoples in a non-transactional context. Whether we have a project or not, can we just sit down and chat? “Inspiring!
This strange second anniversary will give us the opportunity, I hope, to adopt a common language and to move in the same direction: that of investing in our greatest asset, our spirit.
Together, let’s leverage the power of our collective intelligence. Quebec deserves more, and that begins by forming differently.