Consulting firms: Preparing for the post-COVID-19 start of the school year

1. Follow-up with prospects
2. Preparing for an altered start to the school year, possibly in different phases
3. Gain visibility into the team schedule

The start of the 2020 school year, and especially the post-COVID-19 start of the school year, is not like the others. Consulting and professional services companies will be exposed to an unprecedented economic context, particularly difficult to anticipate and tame. The practical conditions for this return to work will represent a particular challenge after several months of working from home and activities interrupted since March, but also the persistent impossibility of meeting "as before": remote working is likely to be continued for health reasons, team meetings in the office and with customers on site will be permanently hindered... 

There is no "one-size-fits-all" solution for this new school year, rather a mosaic of situations and responses. The start of the new school year will require creativity, flexibility, the ability to take a step back and question oneself in the face of legal, logistical, health and economic concerns. This risks calling for a radical transformation of working methods, relationships between employees but also of the tools used on a daily basis. 

Indeed, in addition to monitoring and complying with health safety instructions, new elements must be taken into account to return to work safely and strategically.

Follow-up with prospects

First of all, because the start of the 2020 school year remains a return to work, reviving prospects and revitalizing customer prospects is obvious. It's about making yourself a key player in their back-to-school season and never leaving their perimeter: you have to stay in the prospect's head so that they can't forget you.

Different techniques exist and are implemented in all areas of industry. The distribution of a newsletter to your target audience, attaching elements demonstrating your expertise, your experiences and the real added value of your service, regular activity on social networks and other media, the regular creation of quality and relevant content, etc. are so many examples of techniques used and usable.

However, the post-COVID-19 situation remains unprecedented and requires special attention. Consulting and professional services companies will not be able to meet with clients as easily as before or participate in face-to-face networking events in the current situation.

Preparing for an altered start to the school year, possibly in different phases

            After several months of quarantine, lockdown and economic slowdown, the start of the 2020 school year presents challenges that were unimaginable just a year ago. As a result, faced with this still unpredictable and risky context, companies will have to be flexible. 

There will still be work from home and less travel possible: little at the customer's site, little grouping in the office between teams, many employees still at home (with all the additional difficulties that this situation entails)...

As a first step, clearly informing employees about the safety instructions and new procedures is a priority in order to comply with the law but also to guarantee the safety of employees, potential visitors and customers. It also helps to calm minds and fears about a return to face-to-face work. It is a question of protecting structures against real risks as well as impressions and doubts.

Links to the official guidelines of the European Union and the United Kingdom: 

https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/COVID-19/national-sources

https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/covid-19/facts/infographics

https://ec.europa.eu/info/live-work-travel-eu/health/coronavirus-response_en

https://oshwiki.eu/wiki/COVID-19:_guidance_for_the_workplace

Secondly, if it is possible for your company, offer employees the option of flexibility, staying at home and/or returning to the office, including gradual flexibility, in phases. For example, more than 80% of employees at organizations like Nationwide and Barclays work from home and are looking to gain efficiency despite this particular setup. 

As a result, companies need to transform alongside this flexibility and learn how to manage a new division of tasks and absence management in a more comprehensive way and adapted to the lack of face-to-face interactions.

Thirdly, consulting and professional services firms will themselves benefit from actively listening to their clients and networks on the various concerns about the management of organizations and possible return-to-work strategies. To listen to all the actors involved to build together the best possible working environment by connecting leadership and employees in this unprecedented context for everyone.

Gain visibility into team schedules

A post-COVID-19 back-to-school season is also an opportunity for companies to take advantage of these troubled times to convert them into an optimization phase in order to maximize their performance. Thus, it is a question of gaining clarity and visibility on team management, planning, load monitoring and resource management.

Many questions arise:

Consulting and professional services firms have learned that it is necessary to equip themselves with tools that are flexible and powerful enough to facilitate visibility into the work of teams and simplify remote processes, especially when teams are located in different locations. Under the current conditions, the intelligent distribution of the workload according to individual and technical capacities, and the careful monitoring of production capacities in relation to the expected workload is an essential element to better control costs in these uncertain times.

            In this way, such tools make it possible to clearly visualize what are the priority and essential tasks for the start of the 2020 school year. 

The resource planning to work on optimized performance

Working remotely has accentuated the need for companies to equip themselves with centralized exchange and communication platforms to visualize the progress of various projects but also the well-being of the teams by optimally assigning the workload. Management must have better visibility on the workload of its teams: who is available, at what time, with what skill(s)... The resource planning has become more flexible in the image of the employees themselves: the LSE Business Review notes an increase in the willingness to collaborate, to be flexible and quick to adapt. 

Connect and exchange effectively

 With the inevitable dispersal of the workforce at the start of the school year, a tailor-made overview, based on explicit and relevant data, is fundamental to monitor the performance and commitment of teams in this troubled context. A thorough understanding of the various activities allows for the appropriate positioning and organization of timetable tasks over the long and short term. On the other hand, spotting gaps in schedules allows you to optimize them.

Finally, employees must be able to account on a daily basis for their performance as well as for each of their difficulties; and this in detail and with attentive ears.  

Consulting and professional services companies are particularly concerned by these issues. Indeed, their workspaces and exchanges can extend from the office, to the employee's home but also, and above all, to the customer's home. This delicate and frequent geographical flexibility leads to distancing and multiplies communication difficulties. Report on your performance, clearly explain your schedule, work in a team, etc. are becoming much more complex in these areas and require an urgent response.

Flexibility put to the test by COVID-19

A crisis, social or individual, like COVID-19, has a direct impact on the resource planning and work practices. The responsiveness of the structures is decisive in order to deal with them effectively, quickly and in a relevant way, but also in order to learn from each of these difficulties from the start of the 2020 school year.

Consulting and professional services firms need to invest in tools that enable and facilitate working from home and virtual collaboration among their employees. 

These still unusual reflexes will require great flexibility on the part of companies and individuals. It is a question of completely reorganizing the management of resources and the resource planning in order to attack September 2020 with the greatest possible impact. 

The start of the 2020 school year promises to be full of challenges and challenges for consulting and professional services companies. COVID-19, in addition to imposing the application and monitoring of unprecedented health safety procedures, requires a new involvement of the teams from September. Beyond a traditional return to work, this period is also an opportunity to optimize the performance of each structure, taking a step back from the last few months at a distance. Flexibility, visibility, connectivity are so many key words to prioritize in this post-COVID-19 back-to-school period.

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