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COVID-19 Black Swan

By KyoungHee ChoiUntil the pandemic hit, the sharing economy was disrupting many business models and was a trending topic of discussion in business circles. Renting out assets to other people as a business model has been around for decades. However, modern technology allowed for new ways to connect owners with buyers with greater ease and convenience. This mega trend impacted nearly all business sectors such as transportation (i.e. Uber, Lift), hotel (i.e. Airbnb), consumer goods (i.e. Ebay, Etsy, Rent the runaway), professional/personal services (i.e. Fiverr, Upwork) and health care (i.e. American well, Doctor on demand). Many factors helped accelerate this key trend

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By Brie DeLisi Experiencing a pandemic and changing the way organizations operate in a very short period of time has identified plenty of opportunities for improvement, particularly in developing contingency plans. The purpose of a contingency plan is to identify outside forces that could potential impact business operations and identifying solutions to be able to mitigate and respond to those situations. There are several crucial steps to developing contingency plans, the following steps are an example of how to develop a contingency plan for a call center – specifically with forward looking impacts of COVID. Create a contingency team  stakeholders from every part

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By Eric Johnson As states and local governments begin to loosen the travel and commerce sequestration guidelines, many people are looking to get back to the sense of normalcy from pre-lockdown. However, a number of locales that have commenced reopening have also experienced an increase in Covid cases.  It is currently not clear if the rise is due to the greater number of people being tested, or due to actual statistical increase in cases. However, the nominal numbers are increasingly worrying both elected and health officials and there are many discussions around a potential second wave and the possibility of a new round

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By Josh Williams, Ph.D.Positive psychology is the application of empirical research to study and positively influence the human experience. It is founded in humanistic psychology and lends itself well to leaders managing employees during COVID re-entry (and beyond). Martin Seligman developed the PERMA acronym which represents key components of improving our human experiences. This includes being Positive with others, actively Engaging with them, valuing these Relationships, providing Meaning to others’ actions, and celebrating Accomplishments. Each will be briefly discussed below in relation to COVID re-entry to work. Positive Leaders need to be especially positive now with employees as they return to work. They are coping with COVID and the uncertainty

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By Josh Williams, Ph.D.Having the right attitude for safety can be a challenge, particularly as we get back to work during the COVID era. Not only are people stressed out about COVID, but work activities may also seem less consequential than normal with constant news about COVID deaths and sinking economies. Here is a model for assessing attitudes that may be useful for honest self-appraisal and for influencing others. Attitudes can be classified as Complainers, Spectators, and Champions (adapted from Yanna, 1996). Leaders can use this information to positively influence employee attitudes for COVID re-entry. Types of attitudes to COVID re-entry: Complainers usually voice

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By Brie DeLisi Returning to work will require physical work environment changes, as mentioned in Blog 2 of this series, and it will also require considerations around Safe Working Procedures and PPE (personal protective equipment), as it is not likely that employees can just go to work ‘business as usual’. Prevention and physical environment changes should be the first line of defense, followed by administrative and procedural changes, then the last line of defense with PPE. Procedural considerations are of the utmost importance - consider a customer service call center in which first shift starts at 8:00 AM, while the night shift is

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