The $64,000 question is what will things look like following the Coronavirus epidemic. More specifically, what will business look like, and how will customers change? Instead of focusing on specific tactics, we should look at how behavior will change and we can look to history to give us some insights. If we examine past generations that have experienced major events in their youth, we can glean a bit of insight as to the next wave of change.

If the Coronavirus pandemic has taught us anything, it's that behavior is everything. The impact of the stay-at-home policies shows in the decline in new cases. But like a virus, behavior within organizations can be healthy or detrimental. Not only for individuals but for the success of the organization itself. Many companies emphasize their focus on strategy, financials, or even products over organizational behavior. However, the behavior is actually the key to success in those areas. Here's why.

It's an unprecedented time in our history. The COVID epidemic has turned virtually all business on its head. With virtually the entire world on partial or complete lockdown, this is the opportunity to examine what the business world will look like once we get through this pandemic. While many might believe that our world will dramatically change, it's more likely that many people and organizations will want to "get back to normal" as fast as possible. However, there likely will be 4 key changes that will impact almost every organization.

The coronavirus has transformed our world virtually overnight. Companies have had to change on a dime how they operate and communicate. While this is an incredibly serious situation, it's an opportunity for businesses to re-evaluate their approach to managing change going forward.

Mutualism is the doctrine that mutual dependence is necessary for social well-being. Where fundamentally, helping each other is to everyone's benefit. Instead of simply competing for resources and market share, the ability to practice mutualism is critical to our business's short term and long term growth. Mutual partnerships come together because they solve a problem. Sometimes one half of the partnership benefits more, while the other half finds itself barely benefiting — but it does not matter as long as both sides can grow their business and get better results.

This is what might be deemed as the "old way" of doing business. Business owners and staff who had built deep, genuine connections with their customers. And for that effort, they had truly loyal customers. This deep connection wasn't built by sifting through immense amounts of data, tracking purchasing patterns, or even a series of special offers. It was built by truly knowing and caring about the customer.

Many legacy organizations are facing a crisis. What worked in the past, whether a product, service or even business model, is somehow not working anymore. The entire organizational infrastructure and operation - often built around this - is humming along as it did before, but incremental cost-cutting has been happening for years. First, it was seen as simply cleaning house and eliminating unnecessary expenses, but now the 1 or 2 years of decreased revenue growth has turned to 6 or 7 or more. There's concern amongst leadership and the board. An idea is tossed out here and there along the way - typically new sales incentives - which show a small boost, but nothing that sustains. The team is now worried - and wants an immediate, clear plan to solve the problem. Does this sound familiar?

There's a constant push to differentiate in today's competitive climate. Companies often invest in new products, services, and technologies to help shrink the divide and get a leg up on the competition. It's a constant struggle and many organizations even create "innovation teams" and programs to discover that next "big idea".

Most organizations focus on what might be considered the "low hanging fruit". They examine what competitors are doing and work to create their own flavor of those products or services. They often believe it's a safe bet and that they'll simply "do it better" than their competitor, and the revenue will follow. Alternatively, companies will look to differentiate through a unique marketing campaign with a catchy slogan and creative promotions. Or they will conduct a series of internal discussions to identify what they believe customers want and select the most cost-conscious, easily implementable idea that pops out.

However, none of these things are real differentiation.

Most of us never get formal training on how to lead a team, let alone lead an organization. Many simply learn on the job and make their way through the ranks, picking up both good and bad traits along the way. Sometimes, new leaders get the opportunity to attend "leadership" training programs and learn some basics. However, there's still a preponderance of organizational leaders who don't empower others, continue to micromanage and become a "tyrant of small things".

We often think that organizational change requires a series of all-hands meetings, announcing a new set of company values, often accompanied by a pizza party or even a series of team-building activities. Then, we sit back and wait for the amazing organizational transformation, that never comes. What went wrong? We told everyone what we wanted, and it seemed like the team was positive and optimistic about our vision! The flaw in this thinking is the belief that culture can be changed by simply declaring it should change. Lasting change requires much more - the building of new behaviors.