Moving Words – 2020

Timothy Brady

“I do find that there’s a fine balance between preparation and seeing what happens naturally.” Timothee Chalamet

20-20 was supposed to be a year of perfect vision. In strategic planning sessions in the last quarter of 2019, did any of us plan for what became the defining events for 2020? As a whole I imagine very few, if any of us, anticipated the shutdowns, the lockdowns, the procedural changes created by the COVID-19 Pandemic.

It’s said hindsight is better than 20-20 vision. This means we can take the experiences of this year and look at them, keep what works, toss out what failed. One lesson we all learned is if necessary, our employees can work remotely. Actually, the moving industry has done remote working for years. Every van operator is and has been a remote worker. The big change was setting up dispatch and sales to work remotely in order to protect their health. Even 10 years ago, this would have been a greater challenge than it’s been in 2020: the technology and internet access, along with advances in software for doing things remotely, frankly, didn’t exist.

A great example was a conversation I had with an agent who works a very large rural area in which traveling to do estimates rolls up hundreds of miles. A few years ago, they started using Facetime on theirs and the shipper’s smart phone. The shipper would give a tour of the family’s belongings, using their smartphone as directed by the agent’s representative, working through a room in a clockwise fashion while having a conversation regarding the items in the shipper’s home as they would have done in person. When the pandemic worsened, social distancing became necessary and to ensure the safety of the estimator and the shipper, this became the go-to method for estimating even homes within a few miles of the agency’s office.

The point here is, because of the pandemic and the likelihood it’s going to be around for a long, long time, our ‘normal’ changed. And it’s going to take time to figure out what the ‘new’ normal is going to be.

While I’m not sure of the correct term, I’m going to use ‘Post-pandemic Planning’ for what needs to looked at when we do strategic planning for 2021 and beyond. COVID-19 isn’t going away. We can hope that within the next year we have a vaccine along with more efficient procedures so lockdowns and limited access are no longer needed. Our economy and very lives depend on it.

So, what could this Post-pandemic Planning look like?

First, have your department heads sit down and list the procedures that are working in their department. Have them write down how they had to tweak or change how they do the tasks required by their department. Next, have them list the challenges they’re facing with the revamped procedures of other departments and how those changes have impacted the efficiency of their department. The point of this exercise is to determine what works, what needs changing and how everyone can create more cooperation and efficiency between departments.

Second, bring all the department heads together for a problem-solving session. This should be an all-day event with breaks every two hours. The intent here is to come up with a cohesive plan of action to deal with future events that range from total community (or national) lockdown to the fully open for business. There’s a lot we’ve learned over the past six to nine months of what works and what doesn’t. Each department will have similar experiences. However, they’ll also have challenges unique to their particular set of duties. Just like in a line-item cost analysis, cutting a cost in one area may increase the cost or decrease efficiency in another one. The idea is to find equitable, workable solutions to balance the entire organization.

Third, you need to have a buy-in on the plan from the people it’s going to impact the most. Every employee also has a right to make their voice heard on an individual level and needs to know that. When given the opportunity to speak up in a safe forum, people need to be honest with their organizations. Likewise, department heads who are engaged in the well-being of the company should recognize their influence and exercise it. It’s very easy not to see the forest for the trees, but in hindsight it’s imperative you see the whole picture, not just what you can see from the Interstate.

“Thanks to the Interstate Highway System, it is now possible to travel across the country from coast to coast without seeing anything.” Charles Kuralt