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Turning volcanic crisis into opportunities for video conferencing
By Maury Peiperl |
April 22, 2010, Thursday
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THE unusually long weekend of April 15-19 was a surreal experience for anyone traveling to, from or within Europe. Or rather, for anyone hoping to travel, especially home on a return leg.
As the working week that followed opened with no let-up in the travel restrictions (though it remains a fast-changing picture), for anyone in a business that depends on air travel, things are looking a bit, well, hazy.
It might be a week; perhaps a month until everything is cleared up, or perhaps two years, like the last time Eyjafjallajoekull erupted in 1821.Or everything could be back to normal in a matter of days. The reality is, it is impossible to know. That is the nature of a crisis, at least a crisis of nature.
Western managers have heard numerous times that the Chinese character for "crisis" is the same as that for "opportunity." Yet which of us really acts on this principle? What opportunity do we have to deliver value to our customers, using other methods than the air travel on which we have become dependent?
One option is simply to replace travel with technologically intermediated contact.
Given the increasing bandwidth of telepresence technology, in which the three main elements of communication - tone of voice, non-verbal signals, and (least important) words - are all clear, most of what happens in face-to-face meetings can also happen virtually.
Just try
Often, all that is missing is the willingness to try, and the patience to perfect the process. Some businesses have long since bought into this practice. Many still have not, but present necessity may be sufficient reason for them to change their view.
Still, what if part of your value-added is not only communication, but also shared experience? This is the kind of "high touch" business in which we at IMD business school find ourselves.
Our primary market is executive development, a highly interactive process which has its core very much in classrooms, study rooms and social spaces, not only at our campus in Lausanne, Switzerland, but throughout the world.
Our participants come from every corner of the globe, and often benefit greatly by being brought together. It could well be said that we are a "high fly-dependent" institution. In a "no-fly" environment, how should we respond?
First, get on the phone (or better, video chat) with clients and find out how they are being affected - not only in their work with you, but also throughout their business.
The aim is to both understand their situation and look for opportunities to collaborate in solving shared challenges. For example, a company in which some executives have made it to our campus (but may be stuck there indefinitely) while others are unable to get transport out of a regional headquarters may be seeing both its executive development program and its day-to-day business disrupted.
Online meeting
We can respond, not merely by offering a parallel combination of in-class and virtual instruction, but also by providing online meeting facilities for the managers who find themselves staying on with us longer than they had intended.
Such support of one's clients is not expensive, but serves to deepen the relationship.
Second, quickly offer alternatives to disrupted plans. An obvious one is to postpone (or worse, cancel) the planned activity. But opportunity-seeking organizations would go further, introducing technologically mediated solutions, even imperfect ones.
Remember that a disruption like the present crisis means clients are likely to be more forgiving of an imperfect solution and more willing to work with you to perfect it.
Third, look for ways to make positive examples of your opportunistic activities.
People will be shaken by the crisis and looking for ways forward. Every successful change leader knows that the stories people tell about a change are stronger determinants of their future behavior than the change itself.
I am not saying that telepresence is the solution to all travel challenges. But using the crisis to stretch our applications of technology is an opportunity we should not miss.
(The author is professor of leadership and strategic change at IMD in Lausanne, Switzerland.)
As the working week that followed opened with no let-up in the travel restrictions (though it remains a fast-changing picture), for anyone in a business that depends on air travel, things are looking a bit, well, hazy.
It might be a week; perhaps a month until everything is cleared up, or perhaps two years, like the last time Eyjafjallajoekull erupted in 1821.Or everything could be back to normal in a matter of days. The reality is, it is impossible to know. That is the nature of a crisis, at least a crisis of nature.
Western managers have heard numerous times that the Chinese character for "crisis" is the same as that for "opportunity." Yet which of us really acts on this principle? What opportunity do we have to deliver value to our customers, using other methods than the air travel on which we have become dependent?
One option is simply to replace travel with technologically intermediated contact.
Given the increasing bandwidth of telepresence technology, in which the three main elements of communication - tone of voice, non-verbal signals, and (least important) words - are all clear, most of what happens in face-to-face meetings can also happen virtually.
Just try
Often, all that is missing is the willingness to try, and the patience to perfect the process. Some businesses have long since bought into this practice. Many still have not, but present necessity may be sufficient reason for them to change their view.
Still, what if part of your value-added is not only communication, but also shared experience? This is the kind of "high touch" business in which we at IMD business school find ourselves.
Our primary market is executive development, a highly interactive process which has its core very much in classrooms, study rooms and social spaces, not only at our campus in Lausanne, Switzerland, but throughout the world.
Our participants come from every corner of the globe, and often benefit greatly by being brought together. It could well be said that we are a "high fly-dependent" institution. In a "no-fly" environment, how should we respond?
First, get on the phone (or better, video chat) with clients and find out how they are being affected - not only in their work with you, but also throughout their business.
The aim is to both understand their situation and look for opportunities to collaborate in solving shared challenges. For example, a company in which some executives have made it to our campus (but may be stuck there indefinitely) while others are unable to get transport out of a regional headquarters may be seeing both its executive development program and its day-to-day business disrupted.
Online meeting
We can respond, not merely by offering a parallel combination of in-class and virtual instruction, but also by providing online meeting facilities for the managers who find themselves staying on with us longer than they had intended.
Such support of one's clients is not expensive, but serves to deepen the relationship.
Second, quickly offer alternatives to disrupted plans. An obvious one is to postpone (or worse, cancel) the planned activity. But opportunity-seeking organizations would go further, introducing technologically mediated solutions, even imperfect ones.
Remember that a disruption like the present crisis means clients are likely to be more forgiving of an imperfect solution and more willing to work with you to perfect it.
Third, look for ways to make positive examples of your opportunistic activities.
People will be shaken by the crisis and looking for ways forward. Every successful change leader knows that the stories people tell about a change are stronger determinants of their future behavior than the change itself.
I am not saying that telepresence is the solution to all travel challenges. But using the crisis to stretch our applications of technology is an opportunity we should not miss.
(The author is professor of leadership and strategic change at IMD in Lausanne, Switzerland.)
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