Navigating Disruption: Week 1.5
A Live Documentary of a Disruptor’s Disruption
We are “disruptors.” We are a healthcare technology start-up focused on eliminating waste in the healthcare system by disrupting traditional operating practices. But now COVID-19 has disrupted the disruptor. Throughout the pandemic, we will document the thoughts we have, the plans we make, the risks we take, and the choices we face. Here is our story, one week at a time.
Week 1.5 — Our Ethos
Sleep is scarce, But I’ve lost sleep before. Frequently. Somehow this time, it feels different. What will happen today? Tomorrow? It’s 2 AM. I am out of bed only to find wife, just four weeks from her delivery date, awake too. I question my experience to handle the unknown. Wife, baby number two, staff, finances, clients, progress. It’s harder than usual to calm the noise.
Our Culture
About a year ago, our team enjoyed one of those “over-a-beer” conversations about the character of our company. We discussed the values that reflected us as people, and we as a company. It was an entertaining conversation that ran late into the evening. Heck, this is our company. We could define it as we like.
We identified several core values. They included such things as “we won’t shy away from complexity”; “the patient is always first,”; and “we will choose colleagues who are passionate about our mission.”
The latter proved to be exceptionally wise.
When I arrived at the office on Monday the week of the now-canceled HIMSS conference, Lisa, Chris, and Heather were already there. Lisa, our extrovert “alpha-female,” Chris, the quiet, steady hand on the team, and our co-founder Heather, pulled up chairs.
Chris began with a “state of our start-up.” Fundamentally we are a stable company. Financially-speaking, with some belt-tightening, we can survive the crisis. And regardless of the disruption, we possess the technology and product that is relevant precisely for the COVID-19 scenario. Lisa emphasized, “I think there’s an opportunity here. Where should we start?” And before I realized it, Heather was scribing on the whiteboard as we fell into an impromptu “SWOT” analysis.
Weakness:
- Dwindling customer interaction — at least face-to-face — which is our strength.
- Nascent product awareness in the market
- The potential slowdown in our product roadmap
- Restrictions of unknown duration.
Strengths:
- Our team’s 70+ years of healthcare experience and passion — we know intimately what health systems and providers are facing and feeling.
- Our time in the frontlines — we are not office people
- We don’t have control over many things, but WE control our burn rate and financial plan. We have Chris!
- Our healthcare partners
- A timeframe — of unknown length — that frees us to do to some outstanding work!
Just we were about to launch into Opportunities segment of the SWOT, Lisa forwarded an e-mail about travel suspensions. I was disappointed but not surprised. What did surprise me was her response: Lisa was offering to drive 18 hours to be on-site. In fact, for the duration of the restriction, she volunteered to live in the client’s city. Away from her husband — and dog “Bailey.” Wow! Who has employees like this?
The crisis is, from our business product and service perspective, ironic. The Coronavirus outbreak and its impact on a healthcare system’s operations is precisely the scenario for which our product is designed. So, we forged on with our Opportunities, which quickly became a goal setting exercise.
Our strategy: Set 90-day goals and the plan to reach them. We created OKRs (Objectives and Key Results)
We are determined not to allow COVID-19 to dictate our company’s success, its trajectory, staffing, or mission. We cannot be reactive — we must be proactive. We also anticipate the crisis to peak in the U.S. in approximately 45–60 days, with a leveling off at the 90-day mark. These are fluid dates, we know.
The OKRs were daunting. But we felt like we had direction. And, just as I sat back in my chair wondering where to start, Lisa tore off the following page from her notepad.
She said, “If I am a hospital executive or a bedside nurse, these are the things that are important to track for the CORVID-19 influx.” We all had light bulbs go off. Suddenly we had clarity!
With a renewed sense of purpose we turned our focus to an immediate and addressable need for our clients and their patients!
