Main Idea:
Are you feeling completely out of control? Have you thought about what life is going to be like in two or six months? Are things so crazy that you have thrown up your hands in despair? Do you know you need to do something but aren’t sure what?
Expansion of the Idea:
Dwight D Eisenhower said “In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable.”
All of us are affected by Covid-19. Some businesses are thriving but there is pressure on the businesses and the employees. Other businesses are completely shut down until the stay at home orders are lifted. And a lot of businesses are somewhere in the middle. Once the stay at home orders are lifted, some businesses will be able to go back to business as usual, others are going to see a decline from where they are now. But most just don’t know how this will work.
There are uncertainties in almost every area of our business such as:
Overall business environment and economy
Cash flow
Customers – needs, tastes and their cash flow
Employees
Supply Chain
Social Distancing and Physical Interaction
Mistakes of the Leaders
Relationships
Trust
The coronavirus issues have impacted our world at our core. Our leaders have done some things right and a lot wrong. The same is true for us. Most of us have messed up some part of handling the variety of issues that have surfaced. We can look at this and get upset or we can look at it as a great big educational learning. I think the people and businesses that survive and actually prosper out of this are those who are learning from the mistakes and then using those to improve the future.
To move forward, the first thing that all of us have to do is to examine our attitudes. Right now, it is extremely rough for those who have lost work or their business is shut down. If they have school age kids, they are realizing that they are going to have to do home schooling for the next two months. It is very easy to get into a victim’s mindset. If you are struggling with this, I would encourage you to read my weekly idea from last week.
When our attitudes are in the right path, then we can move our businesses forward. This is going to require a lot of planning and dissecting our businesses to make sure that they are structured for the new reality. We need to develop a true working business plan that will help us think through our new reality. Part of my plan is to offer a weekly Zoom conference call with my clients where I will walk through a key part of the business plan. I am also starting to make a list of what I learned today or things I need to learn. This may be something about a client or it may be a system that is partially broken by having to work from home. Just by putting a few things on a piece of paper, you are starting to take control. And that is a muscle that needs to be built back up.
Next Steps
Evaluate what your attitude is. Are you looking forward or backward?
Start working on your business plan. If you need help, ask.
Make a list of things you are learning. This can be critical because you will see different things than your team.
Sign up for the LEADING THROUGH A CRISIS conference call.