9 perspectives on why the corona pandemic will have a positive impact

The Mentoring Club is an initiative that was founded when the corona pandemic hit the german and european business world. The two founders (Jessica & Bastian) actually started this initiative because their employer needed to reduce the amount of work for almost everyone to massively reduce costs. In just a few days there were many other people who asked to join and in not even two month time The Mentoring Club counts almost 70 mentors from around the world, who already donated about 200 hours of free mentoring, support and counseling to others. 

One positive side effect of corona is indeed that the humanity as a whole and the business world showed a very positive and humble face. We asked our mentors what they think how the pandemic might have a positive effect on businesses and organisations. Read here what nine of them think. 

Do you agree? Do you see other aspects? Please add as a comment below!

Pavlo Voznenko - CTO at InstaMotion

"In CORONA times, even the most conservative managers were pushed to try remote work and discovered that their organisation can work efficient. I believe in the future it will lead to more inclusiveness - more possibilities to work for professionals who struggle to meet classical office work “from 9 to 18” or/and issues with relocation. It will lead to a broader global workforce with an inclusive environment, that will lead to better health, happiness and unleash creativity. " (Pavlo Voznenko)

Business Growth Specialist, InFinIT Partners

"These times have forced businesses to look at the user from a different perspective and to focus even more on quality over quatity. I am very happy to see big companies being less rigid in their branding approaches and finding the mix between staying relevant to their customers and showing support. We are seeing a shift towads presenting your brand as one that cares for its customers and that is by their side, rather then "top leading company" as before. I believe that we are witnessing a new vawe of employer branding after the covid-19 times." (Oana Gavrill)

Quality Advocate, ThoughtWorks

"Albert Einstein has said "In the middle of difficulty, lies opportunity." If we grasp all the lessons this painful pandemic has brought, we will learn to prioritise creating human-first flexible and accessible workplaces and systems with more empathetic leadership." (Lina Zubyte)

Amin Bashi, VP Product, CareGuide

"Fortunately, there are two things happening now that could empower any startup to disrupt their industry without regard to resources currently controlled.

First, the pandemic is creating new types of psychological and emotional needs. Digital media and social products are no longer distractions, they are essential for how we work and network. Zoom just jumped from 10 million to 200 million+ daily active users. Houseparty skyrocketed to become #1 on the App Store, adding 50 million new signups in one month. 

Second, the work environment is now an open game for new innovative products. We see how good communication can be with the consumer products we use everyday and demand the same excellence in the products we use at work.

This could be a big enough shift so that the new psychological and emotional needs will not be served only by the incumbents, but also by new companies starting now." (Amin Bashi)

Prasad Gupte, Product Director, Babbel

"Several behaviours that consumers found uncomfortable, unnecessary or even second class before the pandemic, are going to have their status upgraded. This unlocks a completely different opportunity pool that never made it through desirability checks in the past." (Prasad Gupte)

Monique Zytnik, Marketing & Leadership Communications Expert

"Communicating effectively with employees and strong leadership communication is valued more than ever.  Video conferencing from home has allowed our colleagues and clients into our living rooms and this has let us be more casual in the work environment (currently wrestling little person for my computer as I type this)" (Monique Zytnik)

Jessica Dewald, Director Product, Omio

"I would add sustainability as well. Corona has shown what an impact e.g. less cars can have on the environment. CO2 emmissions are said to drop by 4-8% this year, energy consumption fell by 6% during the pandemic (so far). It is THE opportunity for scientists all over the world to model with high accuracy what we can achieve and how our planet could look like if we (people and businesses) are more environmental cautious.

And I believe business travel will be dumped a lot. Remote has proven to work, so why fly 500km if a zoom is now known to be enough?! If not for the environment, company’s will embrace the cost savings." (Jessica Dewald)

Alon Ben Joseph, Entrepreneur

“COVID-19 made us realize again that we are in a rat race and high pace digitalization process of society, where often human aspects are lost and forgotten. The positive effect of this crisis is that we yearn for human interaction (again) and realize that any business is people’s business.” (Alon Ben Joseph)

Konstanty Sliwowski, CEO, Caissa Global 

"I think that the pandemic and covid19 crisis have helped managers develop more trust. It has been mentioned many times that it has forced organisations to move to remote working. One of the reasons many companies and managers were resistant to remote working “back in the day” was a lack of trust that employees would diligently execute their work. The lockdown has proven precisely the opposite. In fact, many organisations have seen an increase in productivity as a result of remote working." (Konstanty Sliwowski)