What: The HBR takes stock of the key learnings made during the Covid-19 peak when it came to organisations and their resilience, and defines the key criteria to look at to maintain this resilience and agility in the future.

Why it is important: None of the 4 pillars they identified is new, and Covid, just like for digital, was a leap forward in terms of working methodology and organisation. Companies were not adapting, they were forced to jump in the future of work.

The HBR has made a review of all successful practices that were set up and tested during the wake of the pandemic, which was an extremely stressful moment for teams having to deal with uncertainty. This reflects also the works the IADS has made in November 2020 in its first White Paper, Global pandemic, local department stores.

Moving forward, the HBR identified 4 essential ways to build adaptable teams, making sure that the resilience will be set as an embedded feature into organisations:

• Collaborate through inclusion: it is all about going beyond silos and use the richness of virtual, remote and hybrid teamwork. This can lead to corporate innovation: Google or AT&T sourced new ideas within employee networks. The Dow Chemical Company used digital virtual tools to communicate with small customers who did not have contacts with the company before. Now, it generates 80% more leads.
• Lead through agile management: the norm is now to launch new product lines (such as General Motors) or processes (such as Delta) in weeks rather than in weeks or years. This requires giving teams a clarity of mission as well as adequate resources to be self-sufficient, self-organised and self-managed. Target has developed a Target Dojo, a resource centre where employees are expected to spend a fifth of their time to learn new agile methods.
• Promote team resilience: this goes through the use of specific indicators: psychological safety, positive intent, fast and frequent check-ins, generosity, gratitude and empathy. Resilience is also sustained by the possibility given to all team members without exception to express and voice their ideas.
• Develop active foresight: as the IADS also advocates in its White Paper, it is all about making sure that companies are prepared by addressing challenges and foreseeing them through strategic planification and scenarios.

How to help teams coping with ever-changing and uncertain contexts