Law & Management – 1 year with corona

We remember: before Covid-19, we may have worked with technology but had failed to tackle many processes of change in a really proactive way or had implemented them only reluctantly. Last year’s crisis showed that without technology, it would simply have been impossible to keep on working and run our courses. All of a sudden, the generally popular classroom teaching became impossible overnight, and alternatives were required. What did this mean for us?

To begin with, classic crisis management was required. New problem areas emerged, which had to be worked on. In particular, we received many enquiries from our participants as to whether and how classroom teaching and their own personal executive education as a whole was still feasible. For our team, the objective was clear from the start: we wanted to be perceived as a trustworthy provider of executive education which participants could also rely on under adverse conditions. Our mantra was therefore purely and simply: “Everyone who wants to start, continue and complete an executive education course with us should be able to do so.” And this would also apply during the pandemic, even though this meant that we had to go without our beautiful Executive Campus. Overnight, we had to restructure everything in order to convert operations from classroom teaching to the “pandemic with online teaching and working in the home-office” mode.

What we underestimated initially was the need for communication – not only within our team, but also with our participants and speakers. We had to observe and actively guide the whole change management process in order to gather in all those involved and integrate them into the new teaching model. That was more easily said than done. Just over a year ago, only conference calls by telephone were known. Video linkage with Zoom – that was new, and new for everyone. Participants had to get used to attending classes remotely by camera. It need not be specially explained that this was not found agreeable by everybody. Many participants were working from home and had to share their makeshift offices with other family members, who were all in video meetings at the same time. Some people also expressed their annoyance with us at this situation. We could understand this and empathised with them. The good thing about this crisis was that we did not have to think about or discuss whether to change over or not – there was simply no choice: we had to go online, at once and worldwide, and everyone had to come to terms with this somehow or other.

Added to this, there was the logistic challenge, because for us, online teaching meant having to procure suitable cameras, lights, microphones and green screens on the dried-up market as soon as possible. Owing to the great demand, delivery periods were easily some months. Thus we couldn’t do anything but make the best out of the situation and improvise until we were gradually able to professionalise things.

An exciting year is behind us. Looking back, we notice that all of us – participants, speakers and team members – climbed an incredibly steep learning curve within next to no time, of which we may all be proud. And we would like to thank everybody for their mutual respect and understanding, as well as for the fact that we did not lose our sense of humour despite all the adversities. In the meantime, certain feedback that we received frequently at the beginning, such as “A pity we can’t meet physically, but let’s make the best of it” or “I’m surprised at how well it all went despite online teaching” has also petered out. Instead, we have noticed that even those who were critical early on now find online teaching incredible fun and enjoy its concomitant advantages.

This is even going so far that we’ll now have to observe carefully whether and how strongly participants – as well as speakers – have come to like the “new normal” and do not really want to return to the campus. Although we are enjoying another initial easing of restrictions and the fact that on-site classroom teaching has become possible again for a maximum of 50 people, we were surprised that participants’ enthusiasm remained within limits. Does this mean that the next change management process is already needed? At any rate, the good news is that Covid-19 once again provided evidence of the fact that people don’t like change but can live with it and make it work well, in particular if there are no genuine alternatives.

The HSG conceives of itself as a “digitally fit classroom university” (Prof. Bernhard Ehrenzeller, President). And we would like to be able to cultivate an exchange on site as soon as possible again – of course without having to do without the new amenities and without giving them appropriate space in classroom teaching. How far we have at present come on the first or even the second change curve remains to be seen when we are permitted to return to the campus.

The team of Law & Management conceives of itself as a trustworthy partner by your side. We are looking forward to accompanying you on your exciting executive education journey… and to seeing you soon here on site.