I recently wrote about our experiences in the first few months of the pandemic in a blog post for UNICON, a global consortium of business school-based organizations whose members are the global reference for executive education.

Over the past several months, we have all found ourselves having to adapt to a new reality, both at work and at home. Or should I say, at work-home? Here at MIT Sloan Executive Education, what we do hasn’t changed but how we work now and how we deliver our programs to customers and clients quickly became an extreme version of what had previously been a gradual transformation. In a few short months (really in a few short weeks!), our work has become entirely virtual and entirely digital. To be sure, we are very aware of how fortunate we are to be able to make such a transformation and keep our work and our business going, when so many workers and businesses all around the world have simply not had that option. The ramifications of this global pandemic (and potential future ones) for the structure and operation of entire industries and spheres of human activity may be dramatic. Many jobs may require new skills and capabilities, or disappear entirely requiring large-scale upskilling, reskilling and career transformations. Meanwhile, in the face of such profound changes, if there is a useful “devil in the detail,” I hope that continuing to share lessons we have learned about working and living virtually and digitally in our own small corner of MIT—albeit a work in progress—might provide some useful and inspiring pointers.

Taking flexibility to a whole new level

The term “flexible working” has taken on a number of new meanings in recent months, going far beyond where people work and when. Our team has had a systematic flexible work policy for several years now, so it may have been somewhat easier for us to switch to remote work entirely than it was for more traditional, entirely co-located organizations. Where we had to become much more flexible was in finding new ways to continue serving the professional development needs of our clients. To wit, we adjusted to market demands quickly and tailored our deliveries to meet the changed reality: in some cases, we redesigned our custom engagements in response to budget uncertainties on our clients’ side; we moved a large portion of our of campus-based open enrollment programs to a “live online” delivery, with more to follow over the coming months; and we expanded the roster and frequency of our free webinars while making individual ones shorter to accommodate increased demands on people’s time and attention.

Setting new business standards

Unlike many industries around the world, education can thrive virtually and in the “hybrid” modes that many educational institutions at all levels will be experimenting with over the coming weeks. Many of the core values of education, executive or any other, remain the same online: dissemination of knowledge, exchange of ideas, engagement with subject matter experts, networking with peers. For us, this means that if we have executive education customers who want to keep learning (and we do!), we will keep teaching and we will keep adjusting to meet and anticipate the needs of these and indeed new customers. This is as good a time as any time for innovation—in any industry including ours—not only because, as the saying goes, necessity is the mother of invention, but also because there is much more engagement and forgiveness around figuring out how to operate in a time of crisis than there will be when we’re back to some form of “normal.” Times of great change and uncertainty seem to reward innovators and entrepreneurs, whether they are in nimble startups or large, established organizations.

Holding on to our humanity

It’s difficult to imagine everyone wanting to stay working exclusively from home indefinitely. Humans have evolved as a social species and we need one another’s company to feel happy. For us at MIT Sloan Executive Education, the decision to keep things running is less about meeting our fiscal objectives than it is about providing value to our customers, engaging our faculty and staff, and maintaining as normal of a life as possible. It also helps us focus less on the question of how to “restart” our business than on the much more important and energizing question: how can we reinvent nearly everything in our work and in our lives and emerge from the current crisis even stronger, more agile, and more able to help our customers and clients succeed. Above all, this is a human-centered mindset, and the world needs principled, innovative leaders who cherish and elevate people and humanity more than ever! With that in mind, we are excited to collaborate with FRED Leadership, an organization whose purpose is to connect and inspire those who exemplify and cultivate ethical, inclusive, and transformational leadership. This year, the organization’s annual gathering, the FRED Forum, is going virtual, but it promises to be just as inspiring as the in-person events of previous years. Consider attending!

For a more detailed look at what we’ve been doing at MIT Sloan Executive Education to keep our customers, faculty, and staff engaged, see the article on the UNICON site.