Amidst the 2008 Global Financial Crisis, Rahm Emanuel - an advisor to President Obama used a phrase that he has repeated in the past couple of months. Emanuel said - both then and now:

“Never allow a crisis to go to waste”

Business leaders are setting their sights on a return to the office as Australia and New Zealand take steps to relax restrictions and return to a new normal. It represents a unique opportunity to reshape the way that our teams work and set them up for current and future success.

A 2019 report from Deloitte picked up some interesting trends - in particular, the gap between the opportunity presented by working through teams and the current reality. 65% of the survey respondents viewed the shift from “functional hierarchy to team-centric and network-based organisational models” as important or very important — but only 7 percent of respondents felt very ready to execute this shift.

65% wanted teams and organisations to shift, but only 7% felt ready. Let's not go back to that.

Even before the pandemic, our way of working wasn't serving us. One thing that we know about human behaviour is that the pull of the status quo is strong. There will be a strong and understandable resistance to moving the way that we work towards the future. For that reason, it is good to consider this question.

If not now, then when?

The window to make the most impact in the shortest time is small. It won't take long for the next version of normal to establish itself as the status quo and the task of helping teams to operate in a more fit for purpose way will get harder again. 

Explore the resources on this page. I'd love to connect with you for this important and timely conversation.

I recently delivered a webinar exploring this topic. Click here to watch a recording at a time that suits you.