In 2020, Lighthouse Strategic Leadership, like many others, developed new working norms to adapt to the Covid-19 induced isolation. We had planned complex travel itineraries to meet and interview business leaders across Africa. However, with the sudden lockdown and closing of borders, we had to adapt swiftly.
Our team was challenged to pivot into the new online working world, stripped of face-to-face engagements, and met with a few road bumps – such as inconsistent internet connectivity when meeting with those in remote areas, intermittent electricity supply and the requirement of home-based-workspaces.
With determination and hopeful optimism, our team jumped headfirst into this new world and formed ‘work-bubbles’ to create closely-knit teams that would help them work as a tight unit and take on challenges together.
Despite the challenges, the productivity and efficiency of our team experienced a noticeable boost. We learnt that the only certainty we have is change, and in adapting to new realities, there will always be an excitement towards new opportunities and learnings to come.
The incredible shift to online working was a tumble into new territory for our teams. Face-to-face engagements with our clients, team and interviewees vanished. Developing these budding virtual relationships was a new challenge for us, as we, from afar, had to build trust and make genuine interactions.
In the online working world, there is little room for casual conversations. Timelines are tighter. Meetings are more brief and straight-to-the-point. As meetings are scheduled back-to-back, taking advantage of our new ability to hop in and out of Zoom meetings without leaving the desk, it leaves smaller gaps to full with interpersonal conversation. The type of conversation that typically builds relationships and adds opportunity for personalities to connect. Another major tool missing from the online world is body language, which often times speaks a lot louder than our voices.
With these missing pieces, building trust and making connections through the online work world has to be done with consistent quality of work – supported by the odd humorous quip to humanize any conversation. We’ve been fortunate to work with some incredible teams and individuals this year, some of whom we’ve gotten to know without ever having met!
It is possible to travel across the world without packing a bag and leaving the comfort of your home. 2020 saw our team cancel extensive travel plans as the world came to a pause, holding its breath on how we would all adapt to a global pandemic.
Rather than boarding planes, our teams soared through the internet, to perform 80 interviews with business leaders in telecommunications across 22 African countries, and undertook more than 140 interviews, focus groups and workshops with members of Ministries and supply chain experts over 13 countries in Africa.
Connecting throughout these distant countries proved that we are together even when we are apart. The quick and easy way of communication between our teams, clients, and interviewees proved that we were now thriving within a new way of working with an incredible sense of boundless connection across multiple countries and time-zones.
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