Opportunity in chaos

OPPORTUNITY IN CHAOS How to Live and Work While Riding the Waves of Change

Last month, we talked about what you can do in your business to be innovative during this time of change. Although the economy is being re-opened, the pandemic is still a threat, and we will be working on business recovery for quite a while.

Here are some more thoughts, as you navigate the shifts and changes, on what you can do to position your business well:

Be open to change. During change is a good time to make changes. I know that sounds kind of weird but consider this: Have you tried to make changes in your business and you get pushback, resistance and barriers? Times of great change can be scary, with all the unknowns, but this is the paradox of where we are at. You are in a place and time for changing the way things have always been done. You can use this time to explore what might be possible. A crisis is a great time to ‘unfreeze’ what you have always done, make big changes and then refreeze to create stability. If you can focus on what you are really good at, what opportunities can you leverage and take advantage of?

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Notice new trends. What trends and big changes are you noticing in the world? Take time to look around. What are you seeing and what do you need to consider? What are you good at and how can you find new ways to get your product to your clients? What is the community going to need from you and your business right now, in a week, in a month? Two of the big changes are the move to online and virtual. How do you reinvent your business for your staff, clients and processes?

Scenario Planning. There are three types of plans or planning that you can be considering now and into the future. Below is a graph (a reminder from last month) which shows when you need to be each type of planning and using scenario-based planning will help you and your team focus and explore what needs to take place. by Cathy Forner Bringing on a Project Consultant can help you plan and manage for potential risks and scenario planning is a great way to explore those

risks. Those risks can be explored and planned for using scenarios to explore from an intellectual or emotional perspective, such as what excites you or scares you about the situation. At times, exploring something completely outside of the box can help you plan for what is closer to home. In the mid-1990’s, as a joke, I planned for the possibility of the Calgary Zoo flooding and having to deal with the animals. At the time, all of us in my organization laughed and joked about it, but we planned anyway, as a ‘scenario’. Well, we all know what happened in the Southern Alberta Floods and our plans were used. The lesson is that no possible scenario is too silly to consider!

Here are a few thoughts to consider as you do your business continuity planning:

a. Maybe you are well-positioned and had planned for this. If so, perhaps the thing to do is stay the course and recognize that this too will pass.

b. Companies, governments and the general population are tired and want the world to return to normal as quickly as possible. How might you position yourself to consider being part of bringing things back to “normal”?

c. Crisis is an excellent catalyst for fast, creative thinking. It stimulated innovation and early development in new systems. Can you pivot?

d. Our industries have become more fragmented. How can you merge, acquire, or establish partnerships to shore up your business and extend your reach? Think about situations in terms of ‘If we have this… we can arrange to do this…’ e. How can you build resiliency in your industry? f. How would/will your business respond if there was a second or third wave of isolation?

The point of all of this is to do some planning. Panic and reacting will not serve you or your business. Having a strategy and building a flexible but well-thought-out plan will stand you in good stead to weather whatever lies ahead.

Cathy Forner, owner of C4ner Project Consulting, specializes in tackling unique, complex organizational challenges with clear, actionable steps. With more than 25 years of experience in virtual and in-person projects, as well as her business management expertise, Cathy has effectively led changes across a diverse range of organizations and industries. Cathy lives in Sylvan Lake.