Why GCC Organizations Must Rethink Their Post-Pandemic Operating Models

The past few years have reshaped virtually every assumption about how businesses operate. Yet many organizations are still functioning with structures built for a pre‑pandemic world.

While it is quite natural to focus on ensuring business continuity at these tough times, the firm’s leadership is expected to look beyond.

Pandemic Quick Fixes: What GCC Leaders Should Retain- and What Must End

No one would argue that during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, the key driving priority for organizations was to sail through the rough seas (of existential crisis). However, it is high time now that leaders review their quick fixes (made over the last one and a half years) that were used to firefight criticalities. They need to ask themselves if those fixes still offer utility or if such ‘fixes’ have passed their purpose and validity.

The Need to Address Process Shortages and Shortcuts

For many firms, the initial twelve months of the pandemic, with chronic employee shortages, meant approving certain process shortcuts to ensure business continuity. The executive leadership needs to do the following two things as their key priority:

• Retain the process improvements made during these testing times (i.e., not slip back to the old non-value-add steps or any organizational bureaucracies).
• Do not allow any short-cuts that were approved as interim arrangements to continue, even if they appear risk-free. If needed, revisit the entire process to make it leaner or more effective, but do not simply agree to continue with short-cuts that sailed through the pandemic-related supply chain or employee shortage challenges.

We believe the two actions above are the first steps toward getting back to where firms were before the pandemic, with hopefully improved, more agile processes.

Preparing for the Future Through Redesign

The true differentiator for companies, however, would be to redesign their organizations to gear up for the future. The world has a very different playing field now. The talent market has evolved, the employee expectations have changed, and so have the opportunities. Firms in the UAE and Broader GCC, therefore, need to re-adjust, re-design, and become future-ready.

Recognizing the Value of Flexible Working

One example is the very prominent silver lining that resulted from the pandemic, which most professionals appreciated- an improved work-life balance associated with higher acceptability of flexible working. Your firm’s human resources leadership must balance its return to ‘old’ ways very cautiously so that the socially vital and high-value employee engagement aspects do not get completely compromised.

The Importance of Thoughtful Organizational Redesign

Your organization and process re-design needs to be carefully crafted and managed. A simple going back to pre-pandemic organization design and processes is not an option. Such a retreat may, in fact, only set the organization up for a quicker failure. It will not be an exaggeration to say that firms where the executive leadership charter or HR Charter for 2022 does not have Organization Design as a key agenda item risk losing traction and their competitiveness.

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