2020 Reset Roundtable Report

We originally phrased our question as, "What is your strategy and timeline for a return to work and what are the challenges you're facing in doing so?" Many have reworded the phrase "return to work" as a "return to office" or a "return from home" because in many if not most cases they have been able to continue their work remotely, with many doing even more work than before to accommodate new tools and initiatives.

The pandemic has crystalized for many a need to rethink work-life balance and has awakened many to the possibilities of remote work and remote learning as a realistic strategy for the future.

Shifts to digital and virtual tools were more easily made than expected. Some people who have resisted the digital transformation have more quickly than expected adopted and even excelled in their new environment.   Physicians and patients, for example, have embraced telemedicine. Virtual health sessions for one health care organization skyrocketed from 25-250/day to 6,000.

As a culture and talent chief for one global health care organization put it, "The NEAR suddenly become the NOW, and the FAR became the NEAR because of how quickly things are changing and escalating."

We've learned to get comfortable with uncertainty because of the many unclear paths before us. As a result, agility and a mindset for progress, not perfection, have become the watchwords of our workday. Rethinking everything has energized teams to break through the status quo, take risks, and launch what originally had been longer-term initiatives in short order.