Founder of HSM Advisory, Lynda Gratton recently contributed to an article in Raconteur about what businesses have learned from adapting to the pandemic.

Alongside the Managing Director of PureGym, the Group Head of Talent and Learning at Zurich and the CEO of Joules, Lynda shared her views on the changes she feels have had the most impact.

New ways of working – The most profound insight for businesses has been learning that they can be just as productive with people working in new ways. Few companies will go back to how they operated before – and most will be looking to explore new ways of working further.

New ways of thinking – Having been forced to approach every aspect of their business differently during the pandemic, organisations have learned the value of rethinking their way of working. Whether it’s about creating greater flexibility and autonomy for their workforce, identifying new skills sets or exploring new ways to attract talented people, leaders are openly challenging ingrained assumptions, habits, and attitudes. As Lynda says: “Every CEO is now asking themselves whether they could do things differently.”

New priorities – As Lynda often reminds us, we’ve been working in the same ways since the industrial revolution – with time and place being the main priorities driving productivity. With greater flexibility over time and place at work, now is the time to really rethink our priorities and redesign work.

The most important learning, from Lynda’s perspective, is acknowledging that the job of redesigning work is never done. In her words: “these challenges are going to continue, so it’s really important that we have the chance to change how we approach work.”

You can read the Raconteur full article – and see perspectives from the other contributors here.