Before I continue, I recognise and acknowledge that the current Coronavirus situation is really tough for many many people and livelihoods and jobs are at risk (putting aside the obvious health implications of the virus). I therefore write this post with that in mind and in the genuine belief that focusing on the future can provide some potential help during these difficult times.
It’s natural and a necessity for people and organisations to be responding tactically at this time to ensure their businesses are able to operate in some way, shape or form during this pandemic. Completely understandable and a requirement of any responsible business.
However, it can be easy for business owners to take their eyes off the long term vision of their business (I know I’ve done it!). It’s also easy to forget to learn from the current situation – there are many valuable lessons learnt already and to be learnt over the coming weeks. So here are some ideas I offer to help:
- Take time at the end of each day to think about:
- What went well and what could have gone better?
- What processes could I change to make things work more smoothly?
- How could technology help me do things more efficiently?
- Are there any opportunities to use tech’ to help me work even more collaboratively with my team and customers (remotely/virtually)?
- Has working from home/remotely actually improved mine/my teams productivity and effectiveness?
- Every few days set aside time to think about:
- Is there anything I’ve learnt over the last few days that would fundamentally change my long-term vision for my business?
- Is there anything I’ve learnt over the last few days which will help make my business more resilient in the future?
- Are there any new opportunities I’ve identified for the business which I can plan for or take action now to achieve?
Taking the time to think about and act on the above will pay dividends for your business both now and after this situation comes to an end. You may even find that your vision for your business alters to a greater or lesser degree due to what we’re all experiencing at the moment. But it will need you to ‘look up not down’ during these tough times.
Good luck and as always if Crackerjack can be of help do contact us.
All the best,
John