As the world accelerates into uncertainty, rapid decisions are having to be made, leaving companies with not much time to check their blind spots. Innodirect CEO, Philippe Meloni, believes that this is a time of instinct and intuition, a time for businesses to adapt in order to survive.
Let’s be frank: this is chaos. Companies are scrambling to adapt to the restrictive effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Most are encouraging their employees to work from home, many are rethinking their supply chain, and some are closing their doors entirely.
Business owners may be pessimistic about all these changes. But what if these events forced us to overcome our resistance to change. What if they ended up revolutionizing the way our businesses operate – for the better? What if COVID-19 was actually good for business?
Adapt, Survive, Thrive
Allow me to explain.
The ecological principle “adapt to survive” (a principle just as relevant in business as it is in nature) indicates that in order to survive an environmental change, one needs to adapt to it.
When an ecosystem is relatively stable, as it has more or less been in the business world for the last few decades, it favors known methods and the optimization of those methods. This leads to increased specialization, silos and increasingly complex decisions – decisions that require time and expertise.
However, when an ecosystem changes very quickly, as it is doing now, it encourages innovative new methods and breakthrough solutions.
In other words, our old decision-making methods are no longer effective; in order to survive this current change, we have to find new solutions. There’s no time to work on and improve our existing approaches, we must first locate the one that works. We find ourselves, then, catapulted into a world of generalists, collaboration, collective intelligence and complicated decisions, whereby there’s no one right answer, but several more or less good directions.
In a very short space of time, COVID-19 has altered the rules of the game. Let’s be honest, the world was already teetering on the edge of transformation; climate change awareness, a greater demand for gender equality, a shift in generational power structures (as baby boomers retire, gen-x’s take over and millennials enter the workforce) and the development of AI – all contributed to a test in the pH balance of the greater business ecosystem. The introduction of COVID-19 disrupted everything.
Now, the world as we know it is in a phase of rapid change in countless areas, and for many this is probably a good thing.
Talking about evolution
So what do we do now? Well, it’s clear that calling in a “fixer”, an individual specialist who intervenes and saves the situation, is no longer a possible solution to our increasingly complex problems. A single person simply cannot see and deal with all aspects of a problem; some facets will be overlooked and others forgotten, resulting in major implementation challenges.
Instead, the solution to current decision-making issues lies in collective intelligence.
According to an article in the Stanford Social Innovation Review, a collaborative approach is the most sustainable way to address multi-faceted needs. It’s a no-brainer when you think about it: a team of professionals from different areas of expertise, employees at all levels and users, will approach an issue from multiple angles. This three-dimensional perspective not only produces more creative and comprehensive ideas, but also allows a greater number of potential problems to be identified and solved before the solution is applied.
Moreover, collaboration is not only good for companies, it is also good for individuals. Working in a diverse team distributes the workload among members, encourages healthy working relationships and allows people to pool their expertise towards a common goal.
So, how do you collaborate under quarantine? With online solutions, of course!
From adaptation to transformation
There is a plethora of online collaboration tools available. But if you really want to innovate, why not go all the way and introduce an environment that’s more efficient, more inclusive, more creative and produces more imaginative solutions?
Innodirect differs from other knowledge-sharing platforms by the fact that all exchanges are anonymous, which improves the quality and quantity of the ideas produced. To guarantee professionalism, efficiency, and avoid “trolling”, messages are validated before being posted. All this sets the stage for team members to express their ideas more freely, without fear of being judged, damaging their professional reputation or worrying about online harassment.
The other unique thing about our platform is that each discussion that takes place on it is manually facilitated to obtain optimal results. The facilitator keeps discussions on track, encourages participation and summarizes ideas. Added to this is the convenience of online discussions, which allow members to participate from anywhere and at any time.
Simple, easy to use and cost-effective; online collaboration is certainly one of the keys to adaptation and transformation in these transitional times.
Want to learn more about how we can help your business adapt, survive and thrive?