As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to evolve (or by some, is ending), companies are still challenged to move to the ‘new normal’. Some organizations may have already a clear vision on the future way of working, where other companies still look for the right thing to do.  Regardless where you are as a business, we all agree today that the pandemic will impact the future of our workforces; the great resignation, the war for talent, a focus on well-being and organization needs,… The expectations are higher than ever. In a serie of articles, we try to uncover lessons learned from the past year(s) and how HR can cope with the expectations of our current and future workforce in the way forward.

At HR jump we had the opportunity to ask Dave Ulrich some insightful questions to ensure we go to back to the HR fundamentals which are much needed today:

1. Which trends do you see out of an organizational/business perspective going forward into a post pandemic environment?

Dave Ulrich: I hesitate to propose a definitive new normal or to speculate with precision what new practices will emerge from this virus.  Rather, I would like to suggest five general principles in progress that may follow this coronavirus pandemic by labeling them with an “-ing” adjective. 

1.Increasing personalization

Personalization has two meanings.  First pay attention to the person which is an increased focus on emotion, empathy, experience, and energy. Second, tailor or customize the work experience (-ization) to the unique needs of each employee. This means all forms of work space… home, office, travel, full time, part time, etc. 

2. Defining boundaries of work from place to values

Traditionally, people go “to work”, are “at work”,  and return “from work.” With this mindset, work has a physical space and place boundary. The social distancing required by this pandemic may evolve this definition of work. The new insight is not where work is done, but what work is done. Instead of asking “where are you working?” leaders may ask, “how does your work create value for our customers?” The emerging boundaries for work may focus less on space and place and more on creating value for key stakeholders. Creating value for customers, investors, and communities outside the organization can be done anywhere, in an office, at home, on an airplane, in a hotel, etc.  

3. Navigating paradox

The simple calls for shifting practices from A to B miss the complexity of organizations.  In this crisis, leaders have recognized and been forced to navigate paradoxes, including:

• Care for the individual AND create a competitive organization

• React to the short term with bold decisive actions AND envision the long term future with sustainable values

• Take care of yourself AND offer care to others

• Be divergent to seek new ideas AND  be convergent to make things happen

• Practice social distancing AND avoid social isolation

Leaders and organizations navigate these paradoxes by recognizing and avoiding predispositions and unconscious biases, encouraging disagreements without being disagreeable, and constantly adapting to current circumstances. A great leader once said “Run with patience.”

4. Harnessing uncertainty

The crisis reminds us how much we want certainty even when it is not possible. For example, people want to know they will be out of lockdown, when the government loans will come through, what will happen to their company, and when they can return to work. The reality is that no one really knows. 

Harnessing uncertainty comes when the brain’s threat response is replaced with rewards and opportunities by:

• Recognizing, naming, and accepting the causes of uncertainty;

• Spending less time focusing on ambiguity triggers (e.g., watching endless reports on the virus updates) and more time being mindful about the present and celebrating what is right (e.g., discovering new activities during sheltering);

• Reflecting on choices made in times of uncertainty and learning what could be adapted to future choices;

• Anticipating the worst possible outcome of the uncertainty and recognizing that this outcome could be withstood.

5. Seeking guidance

In any crisis, decisions and choices get magnified requiring even more attention to making the right decisions. Post-coronavirus crisis, decisions should increasing be made with rigorous analytics using digital technology. Making the right decisions comes from offering guidance that prescribes what should be more than describing what is. In the last year, my colleagues and I have worked to create an Organizational Guidance System that identifies which choices in talent, organization, leadership, and HR have the most employee, business, customer and investor impact. It moves beyond scorecards that report what has happened, dashboards that offer current information, and predictive analytics that show what might happen. Post virus, this rigorous guidance should further inform decisions and choices.

2. What are your thoughts on the impact on the culture of many organizations?

Dave Ulrich: Many companies have begun cultural transformation journeys. Unfortunately, many of these culture transformation journeys begin with fanfare and promises and end with fizzle and disappointment. They start with declaring that culture matters and may work to define desired values that then shape behavior. But the culture journey is a cul de sac without clearly defining the destination or outcome of the effort. Too often, culture is about the past not future and about generic not tailored values.  

For culture transformation to be effective, it is critical to identify the right culture: what is the destination of the culture change journey? 

We like to begin the culture change journey by defining the right culture, or the desired destination. The value of culture is that it shapes the right behavior. Who defines what is right … the leader’s personal values or the customer who acts on those values?

We believe that the right culture starts by identifying what leaders want their firm to be known for by targeted customers in the future.  This means that internal culture starts with firm brand or identity. There is a right culture that goes beyond noble generic values.

3. What is the role of HR in these challenges and is there a specific need to transform HR to cope with these challenges?

Dave Ulrich: The 2020–2021 crises (global health pandemic, political toxicity, social injustice, digital 4.0, emotional malaise, and economic uncertainty) could be called the people/organization crises. And in these last 18 months, the business context has placed human capability challenges even more central to how organizations deliver value to all stakeholders (employee well-being, strategic reinvention, customer share, financial performance, and community reputation).

As a result, HR professionals have the unique challenge to “rise to the opportunity” of increased expectations. Consider a simple metaphor from American football: a backup quarterback has high status but is not fully accountable to contribute. But when the starting quarterback is hurt, the backup either rises to the opportunity or stumbles into irrelevance. Consider Tom Brady. He was the 199th pick in the 2000 NFL draft who was put into play when the starter was injured, and he became perhaps the best quarterback in history.

The people/organization crises have made human capability a central business agenda and raised expectations on HR professionals. When more is expected, more must be delivered. Think of two restaurants, a diner and a fine dining experience. Which restaurant gets more customer complaints? Inevitably, fine dining because of higher expectations. As expectations have risen for HR in the current crises, HR professionals need to “rise to the opportunity.”

Let me offer four suggestions to help HR professionals rise to today’s opportunities:

1.Look forward and not backward. HR has been on a journey towards impact and relevance for many decades. In each stage of this journey, HR has acquired a number of insights by overcoming obstacles. But building on progress is more helpful than revisiting obstacles. For example, in the 1990s in leading companies, HR worked to get “invited to the table” and join the management team as a business partner, player, or leader (pick your term). Some want to revisit this agenda to get invited to business discussions so that they do not have to attend to the challenge of responding to today and tomorrow’s opportunities. HR is already invited to the table in most cases. The question for HR professionals should now be, “What do I uniquely bring to a business discussion to help deliver results that matter?”

2.Attend to patterns and not events. Wanting to respond to today’s immediate troubles is easy, seductive, and even important for HR. For example, when COVID began, the crisis du jour was helping employees work at home by accessing technology, finding a space to work, managing work/home boundaries, etc. While HR has to respond to such operational crises, framing today’s events in the context of principles that will create longer-term patterns is more important. While needful to set up a home office, the enduring principles of how to create employee experience through believing (meaning/purpose), becoming (learning/ growth), and belonging (relationship/community) no matter where employees work shape a long-term agenda that delivers sustainable results. Human capability principles move beyond a singular focus on people (called talent, competence, employees, or workforce) to a broader human capability contribution that includes organization (called culture, capability, system, or workplace). When engaged in business discussions, HR should seek to upgrade both people and organization by asking, “What are the principles that will guide our choices to improve human capability today and in the future?”

3.Focus on results and not activity. To measure training efficacy, many once tracked how many employees received 40 hours of annual training. With a little more thought, this metric shifted to assessing the impact of training on outcomes that mattered. HR needs to evolve from delivering activities to guiding outcomes. An HR activity agenda often starts with

a.    what HR does (e.g., new technology app created, process designed, or competence acquired),

b.    then moves to how well the activity is done compared to someone else (benchmarking), and

c.     then moves to identifying best practices of others who do the activity well (predictive analytics).

While this activity agenda helps HR know who they are and how they are doing relative to others, it may not lead to results that matter. In today’s challenging world, HR should provide guidance to know which human capability initiatives will add value to their specific stakeholders of their unique company with the question, “Which human capability investments will best deliver the right outcomes?”

4.Use information to make knowledge productive. HR is often replete with many opinions and has often been accused of chasing shiny objects, the latest fad, or the silver bullet with quick-fix solutions. To rise to opportunity, HR needs to move beyond quick fixes to make knowledge productive through [1] theory (why things happen so that they can be replicated), [2] research (what happens based on studies so that patterns can be shaped), and [3] practice (how things can happen better). HR can start with the question, “What information do I offer to deliver outcomes that matter?”

About the author

Dave Ulrich is the Rensis Likert Professor at the Ross School of Business, University of Michigan and a partner at the RBL Group ( http://www.rbl.net ) a consulting firm focused on helping organizations and leaders deliver value. He has published over 200 articles and book chapters and over 30 books. He edited Human Resource Management 1990-1999, served on editorial board of 4 Journal and on the Board of Directors for Herman Miller (16 years), has spoken to large audiences in 90 countries; performed workshops for over half of the Fortune 200; coached successful business leaders, and is a Distinguished Fellow in the National Academy of Human Resources. He is known for continually learning, turning complex ideas into simple solutions, and creating real value to those he works with in three fields; Organization, Leadership and Human Resources.

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