Time for a Reset?
I enjoy lamb shank as much as the next guy, I guess. However, that morning a few weeks ago when lamb shank was the only item on my local supermarket’s shelves, well, that was my personal moment. No chicken. No burgers, no pork chops, not even “a nice piece of fish.” Oh, and we’re good with vegan here, but dang, there was nary the skimpiest makings of a salad. That’s when COVID-19 got real for me.
Our present situation provides a darned good prism for a reality check. If you’re fortunate to be sequestered with your family, it’s obvious how much you need each other, even if that is expressed with increasing frequency at the top of your lungs.
My home office sometimes feels like one of the rings in 3-ring circus, but mostly in a good way. I have spent a good chunk of the past few weeks counseling business leaders on matters ranging from survival (a threat referred to darkly as the “Boomer Remover”) to the possible emergence of a rare opportunity. The common topic in almost every session is the idea of a reset. Don’t waste a crisis, as the saying goes.
If you are contemplating a business reorganization of any kind, before meeting with your financial advisors, may I offer the following:
- Start with Purpose. It sounds basic, but that’s the point. What are we about? What are we trying to do? Related to this, has our Mission changed?
- How is COVID-19 affecting my colleagues? Try to deeply understand this. Like 3D chess, there are multiple layers and complexities to consider. Every individual’s experience is unique and personal.
- How is COVID-19 affecting my clients, prospects, our industry sector. As in Question 2, go as deep as you can here. Try to project buying patterns; think about how technology and the residual effect of social distancing have altered the landscape, perhaps permanently.
- How can our skills help the greater good, on a large or small scale? Can we give back in some way? Now here’s the strategy move – tie this back to Purpose. What are we about? Think about this as it relates to your colleagues, then your clients and then everyone else. How can we use this time, this unprecedented break from normal, to set ourselves up for success? Start by looking at what’s working. What is showing potential? What gaps in the industry sector can be addressed by you? Revisit Question 3.
- What does success look like? Make sure your stated goals include metrics in order to avoid ambiguity. Accountability can’t hide when real numbers are the measuring stick. As my friend David likes to say, “It doesn’t count unless you can count it. But not everything you can count, counts.”
As with all disasters, on any scale and in any given span of time, one sees it all in our fellow man. The spectacular range of the very best and the very worst. Care givers giving. These are our community heroes, rushing selflessly toward catastrophe while the takers take, stockpiling or much worse – taking liberties with their health, and along with it, yours and mine, as selfishly and as ignorantly as ever.
It is a credit to our better nature that for most of us the basic need for human to human understanding and reliance on each other has never been clearer. Good time for a reset?
You bet.
Questions? Shoot me an email. Grateful for the distraction. jon@lowandbhold.com
Jon