The “ReShape the Future” report by the Digital University and Microsoft is a recording of debates and discussions where leaders from various sectors share experience from the pandemic and the resulting new reality. This concerns all the processes that need to be modified for the companies to remain competitive and to develop according to a new plan. The aspects touched in the discussion include, among others:

• Working remotely and lack of possibility to go back to the pre-pandemic normality. The workplace evolution forces companies to analyze all the processes and get rid of those that are no longer valid.
• The use of artificial intelligence in business and the resulting challenges, threats, and benefits. The latter obviously include the use of AI to support human creativity.
• New attitude to the European Green Deal – shift in the way of thinking, e.g. implementation of the closed circuit concept to the economy is no longer a matter of goodwill, but a condition to remain on the market.

Humanizing business the major trend

Tearing down the previous order, the pandemic has shaken employees’ sense of security, not only due to the epidemiological jeopardy, but also due to the changes one needs to adapt.

Monica Parker, HR expert, founder of HATCH Analytics, explains in the report that implementing technology will not solve the organizations’ problems if they don’t help their employees to understand what is happening. She admits that even for such a tech giant as Microsoft, the first months of the pandemic were difficult. The greatest challenge was to keep employees motivated and to take care of good atmosphere at work. Leaders were forced to learn more empathy-based management, focused on the employees’ needs.

With reference to the introduction of AI in organizations, Dorota Dublanka, head of HR at KIR SA, discusses the dangerous trend of replacing current employees with new ones. This is a short-term strategy, which in the face of an inevitable lack of talents on the market can lead to a poor ending. The main question should be, “How to retrain the employees and encourage them to remain with the organization?” Experts emphasize that in these new times, organizational culture, including the ability to manage learning & development processes and communication, will be the major factor of competitiveness and market presence.

Embracing the new (dis)order

Professor Witold Orłowski, chief economic advisor at PwC, notices there are still numerous future scenarios that are possible. We don’t know if the crisis is going to take another year or two. Companies again have to face the question about their mission and strategy, about setting new goals. We can see a completely new dimension of the domains that are an inherent element of any organization: finances, law, psychology, and sociology. And even though accepting the situation and preparing employees for the change is the only way to go, companies still find it difficult. Meanwhile, sharing best practices, knowledge and experience helps to adapt more rapidly to the new conditions, which is beneficiary for the entire business community. Digital University and Microsoft offer solid knowledge supported by experience, helping you to find your place in the dynamically changing world.

Among the experts invited to take part in the discussion were also, among others, Sylwia Górska-Przytulska, IKEA global leader in training and development, Tomasz Staszelis, digitization director at Grupa Polpharma, and Andrzej Borczyk, HR director at Grupa Żywiec. Microsoft was represented by, among others, Irada Sadykhova,  strategic director for organizational development, and Michał Jaworski, head of technological strategy. Among the speakers were international experts, including Leesa Soulodre, innovation management consultant, and Rebecca Fiebrink, expert on the use of machine learning in art and professor at the Creative Computing Institute, University of the Arts London, and Department of Computing at Goldsmiths University of London.