How to Adapt My Business to the New World Order

If you own an SME right now, the last thing you need is another motivational pep talk. This article is pure tactical and practical guidance so you can beat the odds, keep growing your business, and ultimately come out of this crisis with certainty and strength.

One definition of crisis is “a stage in a sequence of events at which the trend of all future events, for better or for worse, is determined; a turning point.” In a crisis every action and decision shapes our future. As leaders, business owners, entrepreneurs, and professionals, what we do now in the middle of the two crises we face (COVID-19 and its subsequent economic impact) will decide our destiny.

The first decision every one of us must make is whether we are determined to come out the other side better than before, or whether we will simply hide under the couch and wait for things to pass. This is a decision, a commitment, to challenge the assumptions we held about how the world worked, the willingness to go beyond the thinking and strategy we had before the pandemic, and to free ourselves from the tyranny of “the way it has always been done.”

1- We Have Options

Whether we become victims of our circumstances by asking “Why is this happening to me?” or captains of our destiny by asking “Given that we are here, what do I want to create?” is a decision every one of us has to make during this crisis. That decision does not make the crisis itself disappear, and it does not mean we ignore the tragedy of so many people dying around the world or that jobs magically appear for the tens of millions now unemployed. What it does is move us out of the victim position and into the role of protagonist.

“Where focus goes, energy flows.”

We limit ourselves when we focus on what we cannot control, and we empower ourselves when we focus on what we want to create given a certain set of circumstances.

2- Challenge Your Assumptions

Everything we thought we knew about how our strategies would work, who our competition was, what our revenue streams were, what unmet needs existed, and what our specific roles were has changed. Two powerful questions that drive action and strategy are: “Where can we add value? What do our customers and employees actually need right now?”

This almost certainly means you need to adapt my business partially or completely. It also means you will want to have a real conversation with your customers (not a conversation inside your own head with your own assumptions) about what they need.

3- You Are the Leader of Your Company and Your Team

This moment invites each of us to develop renewed and empowered leadership. No knights are coming to save us; we are our own heroes. So take a moment, listen, and ask yourself who you need to be to make sure you and your organization come out better on the other side. One strategy suggested by Hollie Heikkinen, CEO and founder of iWorker Innovations, is to form an “expert group” around you to seek advice and new ideas, while balancing that input with the understanding that you know what is best.

4- Those Who Design and Deliver Best Practices for “the Interim” Will Have a Clear Competitive Advantage

The crisis we face will move through three distinct moments that provide the context for deciding and developing strategy.

1- The first is “lockdown.” This is the moment most of the world is in right now, where movement, activity, business, and social interaction are restricted to essential activities.

2- The second is “the interim.” This will be the 6-to-18-month period when businesses begin to reopen, but operating models will have to be different because we are still trying to slow the spread of the virus.

For example, how do you redesign a gym’s operations when you must keep a minimum of two meters between every piece of equipment and can only allow X number of people inside the facility at one time?

3- The third moment will be the new world we create during the first two periods.

According to Ted Snyder, professor of economics and management at the Yale School of Management and Chicago Booth School of Business, the companies and people who can develop and create best practices during “the interim” and spread those best practices will become market leaders and will have ample opportunities to create value.

5- Collaborate with Others

The challenges we all face right now are embedded with high degrees of complexity. Like a lightning strike, the spread of a disease has triggered a massive and almost instantaneous shift in everything from small-business operations to global supply-chain management, access to education, and the way we define work.

No individual, organization, or industry has a silver-bullet solution for what is happening or for guaranteeing that we take what is happening and create something better, more inclusive, and more valuable once this moment has passed.

Reaching out to others and being a connector or bridge-builder of resources, ideas, and opportunities from where we are to where we are all going will help us get through this more easily and more quickly.