by Mandisa Makubalo, ceo, Unlimited Experiences SA

We are living in times where the way of doing business and living has been redefined for years to come. Pandemics are generally known for taking years to reach their full destructive potential, it is therefore critical for organizations to behave responsibly during the different phases of the pandemic. The consequence of irresponsible behaviour is a new era of disputes that are going to need to be resolved by employers.

The last couple of days and weeks have seen many organizations making quite a number of operational and strategic decisions regarding their businesses. Some of these decisions include but not limited to retrenchment, changes in work approaches moving to more hybrid models of work, policy changes, reviewing procurement decisions, contracts, new office protocols, moving to more digital channels, negotiating return to work initiatives, strengthening governance and security.

Mapping your organizational journey can be confusing especially with guidance being vague at times we see organizations, customers and employees at a loss about how to behave.

A responsible behaviour is one that recognizes the journey ahead as redefined by the pandemic. Each journey requires a roadmap that clearly communicates the way forward with phased re-opening plans to customers, employees, suppliers, vendors, business partners and everyone who is directly or indirectly impacted by the activities of your business.

Key considerations to designing a roadmap

What is your business purpose?
What is your business strategy?
What are your business and customer goals?
How is your decision making solving customer problems?
Is your decision making solving for an end to end journey?

Let us take a closer look at one common decision being made by organisations

RETRENCHMENT

Key consideration before retrenching employees?

What is driving this organizational decision?
How is this decision impacting on our business and customer goals?
Have we considered the customer’s end to end journey in making this decision?
What touch-points and customer interactions are going to be impacted as a result of this decision and what is our mitigation plan to minimize impact on customers, technology, processes and the rest of our workforce?
What disputes could arise as a result of this decision and how will we resolve them?
How is this decision affecting our new journey?
What vulnerabilities has this decision exposed and how can we ensure that we behave responsibly in the near future?
What customer commitments have we made and how is this decision impacting on these commitments?
Have we considered the sustainability of this decision?

Have we mapped all the stakeholders that are going to be impacted by this decision including the risk associated with each stakeholder group.

Photo by Raphaël Biscaldi on Unsplash

Mandisa Makubalo is the Founder and Managing Director of Unlimited Experiences SA, a Management Consultancy focusing on the entire spectrum of Customer Experience Management through to User Experience and Change Management. The company is based in the township of Gugulethu in Cape Town, South Africa. www.theunlimitedco.com | experience@theunlimitedco.com