When A Crisis Becomes A Catalyst For Change

Dora Naydenova Local Group Sofia

WHEN A CRISIS BECOMES A CATALYST FOR

CHANGE

“You are an explorer, and you represent our species and the greatest good you can do is to bring back a new idea, because our world is endangered by the absence of good ideas. Our world is in crisis because of the absence of consciousness.” - Terence McKenna

Living in a crisis is quite stressful because it affects all aspects of our lives, personal and professional. On the professional side, how the companies interact with customers, what kind of goods and services they decide to purchase and how the companies deliver them is affected. This ultimately leads to a big change in how companies do their business. At a first glance it is pernicious, but when you think about it better…

Someone once told me that the best area for innovations is the one which has a lot of problems. The crisis creates significant new opportunities for growth and this varies between industries. During the lockdown, many companies that sell physical goods were facing a big threat of bankruptcy since interactions with customers were extremely limited, or completely stopped. Either way, some of them saw this bankruptcy threat as an opportunity for innovations. The point is not in developing something totally new and unique, it is in adapting an existing product or technology to the new standards which will A crisis demands movement and change – the complexity of generating an idea, decision making and implementation all increase dramatically. This mindset became the main part of the new “COVID-19 strategy” of the company I am working for: we quickly started experimenting with the new ideas, in order to fail, to learn and the most important - to move forward: to innovate. As a company which provides productivity solutions for the offices, we turned our company message

boost the business. to the new normal - the home office. Also, we were providing different discounts and variations of our products every week. As the crisis was expanding rapidly and each organization started promoting their solutions more and more through traditional forms - newsletters and advertising, we have decided to start webinars where the guests were our customers. We were discussing how the working process is changing when we all are at home, how they use our products and if they find them useful. This strategy built more trust in us because we were there for them, talking, sharing knowledge and ideas.

Let’s talk in numbers now:

The COVID-19 crisis presents an opportunity that few feel equipped to pursue.

Although most executives agree that innovating the business will be critical... 90% 85%

believe that the COVID-19 crisis will fundamentally change the way they do business over the next 5 years are concerned that the COVID-19 crisis will have a lasting impact on their customers’ needs and wants over the next 5 years ...few feel equipped to face the challenge.

21% 2/3

have the expertise, resources, and commitment to pursue new growth successfully

believe that this will be the most challenging moment in their executive career

Being proactive is a needed step for survival. We cannot just stay and wait for the upper management to decide how we will act. Innovations do not usually require a special degree of education or high company position. They require thinking, observation and bravery. A crisis offers the chance to focus all the creativity towards a very real problem. While leaders are learning to respond to the change, there are quick-hit lessons, guidelines, and tips that can help them make the most out of the opportunities for innovation that the current crisis presents. Learning teams who had previously refused to explore different kinds of virtual learning are now seeing a window of opportunity to experiment with these tools because of their power to address the constraints we are under today.

In conclusion, I would highlight that optimization of processes is cost-cutting. Focusing on this will also save time which you usually spend doing operational tasks, which is not always productive. Generating ideas is a process which nobody can manage because ideas are in our minds, and they can come up suddenly, but it requires a certain level of calmness. Decision making is about collaborating with the team, being brave and ready to meet failure. The failure today could be a big chance tomorrow and analysing the results is the way we appreciate the ideas. Do not be afraid of failure because it is better to move and act instead of waiting for the perfect situation in uncertain times.