Major transformations challenged management in 2020… and will impact 2021

A series of changes in patterns of behavior, technology, consumption, risk and uncertainty – which strongly impacted the management of companies – was the great landmark of 2020 for companies.

These were transformations that, in fact, had already been taking place for some time, but which intensified as never before. And they encouraged (or even forced) organizations to reformulate processes, plans, strategies, products, services and their business models. These are changes that are expected to intensify even further next year.

I highlight at least five major transformations that in 2020 go down in history as “engines” of organizational change. For today and for the future.

Intense digitalization

Never has the relationship between companies and consumers been so mediated by digital technologies (for example, the use of apps, which came to be used to do practically everything). Not to mention social media, which is increasingly consolidating itself as the great interface of the market, capable of leading companies to success or even to decline.

In this scenario, organizations were and will be even more challenged to conceive and execute ever smarter ways of promoting the lean digital transformation of their processes, products and services. As well as using better technological means to interact with their various audiences.

This means, for example, continually reviewing processes, so that companies do not fall into the still typical traps of digitalizing waste or even bad services.

Risks, insecurities and uncertainties

It was and still is impossible to remain immune to the impacts of the global pandemic. Not without reason. It is an unprecedented phenomenon and, as such, it affected companies in the most diverse ways. And its effects will still last for a long time.

In general, it can be said that the pandemic increased the degrees of risk, insecurity, uncertainty and instability in practically all markets.

As a result, long-term strategic plans were revised or even “torn up” and replaced by short-term thinking and actions. And processes had to be rethought.

Rapid adaptation

Economic crises are frequent and periodic. However, 2020 will be remembered as the year of abrupt, sudden and unexpected economic changes.

At the height of the “first wave”, a large part of the economy of the largest cities simply stopped. At the same time, other sectors were overloaded with demand, such as medical supplies, delivery services, packaging production… After that, equally sudden recoveries began to occur in specific segments.

All of this required and still requires a capacity for rapid adaptation, flexibility, cost adjustments, negotiation with suppliers and creativity to change or launch products, revise services or even improve processes to meet demand.

Remote work

Not even the most attentive human resources specialist would have thought, back in January, that 2020 would be the year of remote work. But it was. And also abruptly. Suddenly, company leaders saw a large part or even 100% of their employees having to work from home.

With this, an unexpected transformation began in labor relations, which has been generating a series of challenges. This includes people having to adapt quickly to working in their homes, the investments and learning needed in new technologies to do things remotely, in addition to the inevitable need to reinvent the relationships between leaders and those they lead.

Greater appreciation of diversity

With no direct relation to the pandemic, but concurrently and perhaps amplified by the unique situations, this year saw a renewed appreciation of diversity, which highlighted in social relations and in the media the importance of respecting and valuing differences.

This has encouraged many companies to take a public stand on the subject. More than that, they were encouraged to review their human resources policies, in order to embrace diversity in their workforce.

All these transformations caught companies, without exception, by surprise. But certainly those that already had lean principles in their management were able to respond better and more quickly, using their problem-solving capabilities and improvement orientation with a clear purpose and in a participatory way.

2021 is coming and will be a year in which these transformations and their consequences will continue to reverberate in the world of organizations. Many of these repercussions are still unpredictable. What can be said with certainty, however, is that the winds of change will increasingly require companies to be better today than they were yesterday.

In these present and future scenarios, continuously strengthening lean management is and will increasingly be the decisive factor. Both for survival and for organizational success.