The Covid virus is technically a living organism that inherently is programmed, like us, to survive. It adapts and evolves, like the human species has over the ages to maintain its place in the world. I would conjecture to say that Covid will be here for centuries. Covid has no intention to kill us, because if it did, it would lose its host. Our objective is to be able to coexist with it as we do with flu viruses and the multitude of other microscopic organisms that occupy relative the same world as we do.

Not long ago many organizations did something called “flattening”. It simply was a cost cutting measure that eliminated positions through the consolidation of job responsibilities. Interestingly, most of the job responsibilities flowed downward to lower level positions rather than upward. This makes sense from a business perspective, which is to get specific deliverables for the lowest cost possible. The downside was that the role of management became more demanding and broader. Management is not management any longer.

The Covid pandemic has sent a subtle message that many organizations have not yet heard and responded to. That message is, “Beware of the threat of a pandemic!” Before we address the true meaning of the threat, let us investigate the basis that gives this message the power behind it.

Success, in some cases, is a matter of “Buyer Beware”! This is especially important in the certification arena. As of late, many companies and organizations have expressed their discontent with people that they hired claiming to possess certifications and their inability to meet performance expectations. Sadly, many of these employees are now “former employees” who, claim that they were misled by the providers of these so-called certifications and if they realized what they were really getting would not help. When asked why they chose specific certification providers, the responses were nearly the same.

Futurists and Economists are predicting that “work at home” will be an inevitability of the “New Normal”. Not only created by the external environment, but also an expectation of the upcoming workforce. This means that companies that wish to survive into the next decade will also be prepared for work at home, if and when, it is required.

An interesting observation about management performance is that their interactions and impact can easily be “cause/effect”. In other words when a manager does something (cause) the team or department reacts (effect). This is the foundation of management. “Cause/effect” is the foundation of the science of Physics. The answer to poor team performance may lie in the blending of Management and Physics