New Normal, what actually is that? Fitting for the new year, we have encountered a current trend in the working world. In this article, we clarify the term and show you how your company benefits from the "New Normal."
In the wake of the Corona crisis, the working world was turned completely upside down. Until spring 2020, working from a distance was unimaginable in many industries. But with the lockdown in March 2020, many sectors (forced by necessity) developed new and, above all, digital solutions. Slowly but surely, working from home became the new normal for many employees: the "new normal," as many HR developers call it today.
New Normal – of what?
The New Normal trend is actually a kind of collective term for the new forms of collaboration that have arisen primarily as a result of the Corona crisis. Huge changes occurred in many companies, and working parents in particular had to adapt and reorganize significantly at home as well. But what have we learned for the working world through Corona?
Corona as a digitalization booster in the working world
In mid-July, the Fraunhofer Institute published a fitting study on the influences of Corona on virtual work. The results alarmingly show how few companies were prepared for digital work:
Working during the Corona pandemic – On the way to the New Normal (Fraunhofer, 2020) // Presentation: blink.it
The study makes it clear that many companies were indeed able to switch to pure home office work in a short period of time. The survey also shows that this option continues to be desired in the future. Nearly 40% of those surveyed explicitly stated that they would even like to expand the offering – conversely, hardly any respondent stated they were against new digital measures.
Many companies seem to have only now learned that working from home is not an impossibility, and even more importantly: Digital work does not lead to a deterioration in cohesion and, above all, collaboration!
New Normal: The new forms of collaboration
An important note in advance: These new forms of work do not regulate themselves! As a manager, you must provide your employees with clear guidelines. This way, you avoid unwanted routines from the very beginning, which creep in faster when working from home than in the office.
But what new forms of collaboration exist due to the New Normal?
New Work
Home office or mobile working is already a familiar concept to most employees with office jobs; nevertheless, before the crisis, it was often disliked by many bosses. With Corona, it was finally introduced in many companies after all.
In order to implement mobile working successfully, regulations should be planned with the team. This means: Both employers and employees decide together which regulations are to be made. Ask yourself and your employees what is going well and what is going poorly when working from home. Think about where there are problems and how you can fix them. On the one hand, this ensures that the needs of all employees are taken into account. On the other hand, you also clarify your company's goals to your employees, and thus what they are actually working for.
New Leadership Models
Working from a distance also leads to a change in the executive suites. If the bosses are also sitting in their home office, they can hardly look over their employees' shoulders in the office. And that's a good thing! Nevertheless, when collaborating virtually, it is particularly helpful to centrally record the work progress of each employee. This is not for control purposes, but rather to align goals with reality.
Logging one's own tasks should, however, never be perceived as a constraint. After all, it also helps employees to see how productive and focused they are at their own desks.
New Working Hours
Through the New Normal, many employees working from home desire more flexibility. This also applies to working hours. After all, not everyone is in top shape at eight in the morning or wants to sit at their desk until late in the evening. As long as there are no joint meetings, there is nothing to be said against flexible working hours that fit the employees' routines.
Of course, core working hours are an important prerequisite so that finding meeting times between colleagues does not become impossible. In the spirit of the New Normal, many companies should also think about relaxing working hours in order to preserve their employees' work-life balance during permanent home office work.
New Work Culture
When working from a distance, one's own work culture plays a major role. After all, contact and exchange with one's own colleagues are missing in virtual collaboration. To create virtual proximity, it is therefore sensible to enable new communication channels. This also makes the work of rather invisible colleagues more recognizable.
For some questions that might have been resolved in the office while getting coffee, an extra meeting is not needed. For exactly such cases, a shared chat is completely sufficient! This often results in further small groups dealing with specific topics.
New Skills
Very important: The New Normal is new for all of us, which is why we all need corresponding new skills. Promote all employees in a targeted manner and offer appropriate training. Topics such as software training, collaboration, customer and leadership contact are particularly important here.
Tip: Before you implement new regulations across the entire team, it is also helpful to run mini pilot projects. For example, if you introduce a new meeting tool, you should test its usefulness on a small scale.
New Normal, the new Now of the working world
How long we will remain working from home is currently still uncertain. The past few months have shown that digitalization has also arrived in the working world. As the term "New Normal" itself suggests, digital work is more or less new for everyone!
That is why right now is the right time to promote skills for digital work. Of course, given this topic, it makes sense that you do not rely on an in-person seminar, but rather start directly with digital professional development offers. For an easy entry into online professional development, we particularly recommend blended learning or microlearning.
Take the opportunity for a fresh start into the New Normal and digitalize your professional development for the long term!
