"The horizon being blocked doesn't mean there is nothing to contemplate."
Etienne Klein
Planning is more critical than ever. Questioning the future just requires a broader range of detailed scenario.
As the pandemic slows down in some part of the world, at least for the first wave, we realize that we are all in this together despite the great uncertainty about what is going to come next.
Nevertheless the absolute challenge ahead is to mobilize our collective intelligence to design a positive picture of the future. Otherwise, lockdown exit is going to be very difficult.
Planning the journey Back on Stage is not an easy thing because nobody knows what is going to happen. Whatever the organization at stake there are some key components to consider in designing possible future scenario.
May this lighthouse help to inform your navigation chart in the rough Post Covid19 ocean
People at the core
Lockdown has changed our relationship to both space and time. People have been for weeks in a paradox environment (emergency VS calm; intensive digital activity VS very limited social interactions, safe at home VS risk outside...)
Reality is that we are not equal in front of the pandemic. Some of us are getting anxious whereas others are developing severe psychological problems in some case.
Whether their most important stakeholders are the employees, customers or the ones from the ecosystem, each organization has to pay greater attention to people in this special period of time.
Customer segments, customer profiles, persona and digital experience, evaluation grids, job descriptions, these tools and concepts developed by marketing, digital and HR are all based on the idea of the robot portrait. It is based on a kind of belief in the average, but behind abstract syntheses, behavioral patterns, consumer profiles, there are people, individuals of flesh and blood.
Putting people back at the center of strategies was already in place before the corona bomb.
During the pandemic, both internal and external audiences have developed a massive appetite for care, training activities, inspiring views and last but not least, a credible and attractive vision for the future.
The idea of putting people back in the center has therefore become a priority to bounce back after the pandemic. It requires a good understanding of everyone's expectations and attitudes.
The best way to find out what people think is to ask them. The best way to give them confidence is to talk to them. Whether clients, employees or users, 1to1 communication is essential to engage them. Technology offers multiple possibilities for demonstrating emotional and relational closeness to people who need it in the current period of uncertainty.
Everyone's state of mind will change as we are taken through the stages of deconfinement. The challenge is great for brands to deploy dynamic communication and adjust their messaging to be contextulally relevant for each individual according to their resilience journey.
Simple and honest communication avoids confusing minds and "freezing" cognitive processes.
Taking up an initiative that has recently emerged from group employees, the commitment of the new IBM CEO Arvin Krishna is exemplary of relevance and empathy. Aiming to promote the best conditions of physical and psychological comfort during confinement, it supports the essential values of IBM and the importance attached to people in the raison d'être of the company.
How to address the internal and external audiences during the early stage of lockdown exit? What is the vision behind the plan? How to care?
It is not about time to market, it is about "time to people".
PS: After the Corona Bomb, shall we expect Business as Usual or Business as Un-usual ?
What should go back to standard and what should change?
Each business is specific. Let's have a conversation in a 15mn call
Let me know how you feel with this idea
Stephane
+33 6 11 81 03 12
stephane.munier@tbmsmarketing.com