“Don’t Waste a Good Crisis”
This morning we hosted a virtual breakfast, bringing together senior leaders from a variety of industries, to share their recent experiences. Before the session we pulled together industry and expert intel on the effect C-19 will have on people, businesses, society and the world at large and broke it down into digestible chunks. We used this piece to frame our conversation at the event; Adapting is the Definitely the New Normal. No-one wanted C19, yet it’s already created lessons and opportunities that we can all act upon. The event drew out fascinating conversation and insight, here’s a snippet of some of the best bits:
“Ultimately it’s people who have to take responsibility”.
While a strong company culture and leadership are essential, what’s even more important is that employees feel (and are) empowered. Assurance and quality control systems have been disrupted, meaning employees have to be trusted and supported to make the right decisions and provide stellar customer experiences — often without the tools, they’d usually have.
“Dust off the disaster plan, then bin it”
In times of crisis, communication is key. Good, timely and honest communications help people feel secure, clear and motivated in a crisis situation, particularly when most of the workforce is at home. A Comms leader for a billion-pound company shared the steps he follows in a crisis:
- Locate and empower a locus of decision making.
- Over-communicate, even when there’s nothing new to share.
- Commit to appropriate channels and stick to a rhythm.
It turns out that the Business Continuity plans we wrote after SARS often weren’t that useful (Zoom and MS Teams didn’t even exist when we wrote them!). What WAS impactful was visible leadership coupled with clear organisational purpose and values, the organisations that were strong here will come out of C19 even further ahead.
“We moved 13 customer journeys online in 10 days, usually it would have taken 1.5 years.”
Businesses have been forced into a ‘new normal’ and we’ve moved into the thrive phase, as opposed to just ‘survive’. Companies that will do best are those that have already started their digital journey, and have the culture to accelerate. Equally, businesses set up to operate across global (or different) markets will weather this storm better compared to those that are relying on a single market to bounce back.
Some of this newly discovered speed has been a necessity and compromises have been made to achieve it, but in many cases it showed us how fast and decisive our organisations can be when the alternative is unthinkable. How can we keep some of this agility and make it part of our DNA?
It’s the time for foresight.
Now is the time to invest in foresight. There are macro trends that everyone will follow, but the secret to success will be finding the pockets of opportunity for customer and revenue growth that map with your organisation’s purpose. Short term, this could mean partnerships, mergers and acquisitions, but long term this will require some strategic foresight.
“More compassion has been shown in these last few weeks than we ever knew existed.”
There’s lots of uncertainty right now. Customers have been patient but now have rising expectations. Equally, employees have been flung into new working conditions, and often expected to juggle increased working hours, family commitments, and the mental stress of lockdown. What was crystal clear in our conversation was the compassion, understanding and empathy that we are all showing to one another, in an attempt to get through this time of crisis, together. Let’s remember to keep hold of this long after C19 has gone.
Next up we plan to combine this morning’s discussion with our research to co-create a C-19 Business Recovery Guide. If you have any nuggets you think will help, please get in touch.
Stay tuned with all that’s Fluxx by following us on LinkedIn or signing up to our WTF Newsletter. Are you curious as to how Fluxx has helped companies such as Condé Nast, Mars, Thames Water, HSBC, Addison Lee Group and many more? Learn the secrets for sustained, repeatable innovation models, from expert practitioners. Get in touch now Jassi@Fluxx.uk.com. Equally, if you have any thoughts on the piece above, I’d love to hear from you!
