The Coronavirus has sent shockwaves around the world and the worst affected areas such as China, Italy and Iran have already taken drastic measures to prevent further spread.
Sadly, the situation in the UK is also escalating.
With many regions across the country confirming new cases of the Coronavirus, it may only be a matter of time before the UK goes into lockdown too, which begs the important question for organisations: how prepared are you for a global pandemic?
How prepared are you for a global pandemic?
All the evidence suggests that the likelihood of pandemics in the future will rise because of increased global travel and integration, urbanisation, changes in land use, and greater exploitation of the natural environment (Jones and others 2008)
Digitally-led organisations that are already operating in a ‘virtual’ way may find that they are impacted to a lesser extent than those organisations who are still in the early stages of enablement but are forced to employ ‘emergency’ remote working.
So, organisations must take serious steps to enable their workforce in every way possible if they want to protect themselves from the significant economic, social and political disruption caused by potential pandemics such as the Coronavirus and the consequences they have on our ability and desire to travel extensively.
This includes fostering a culture that embraces virtual working as well as virtual learning.
We learned this week that one global company, who are now accelerating helping their mostly office-based staff to work remotely, have taken the measure to ban all training across the organisation. They don’t want to put learners in a room together or create reasons for additional travelling. They have made just one exception, STAR® Manager.
That’s because Notion’s award-winning fully blended management development programme STAR® Manager is 100% virtual and can be completed anytime, any place and via any device. STAR® Manager has been described as ‘better than a live programme’ because it combines all of the best elements of our live programmes, including direct access to world-class tutors, on a robust technological platform which doesn’t require people to be in the same place at the same time, yet still delivers incredible ROI.
As a result, and in spite of the huge challenges facing them, this one element of the L&D strategy can continue to support their leaders and managers. It will also support the development of critical skills that all managers need to succeed when communicating and collaborating via virtual platforms.
Development like this, which can be delivered virtually just as effectively as in-person, is on course to become a major component of any future L&D strategy, not simply because the new technology allows it, but because not being able to do so could have catastrophic consequences on an organisation’s ability to sustain, grow and compete in dire circumstances such as these.
The Coronavirus may force us to expedite such solutions and increase the need to upskill our teams to get through these challenging times.
If you need to rethink your L&D solutions for 2020 or want to find out how you can integrate STAR® Manager into your existing development plans (at speed so you don’t lose momentum) click here for more information or call us for an informal chat on +44 (0)1926 889 885. Alternatively, click the link below to watch a short demo of STAR® Manager in action:
Click Here to Download the Demo Now>>
