New Game Plans: Survive and Reinvent

Every business has been affected by the coronavirus in one way or another. 

Certain companies are feeling the brunt of the outcome of the virus, in response to increased demand for products and services. Other companies are seeing complete shutdown of work, while others have had to cut workers or reduce hours, but still keep business going. 

Every company is trying to survive. Store owners and high-up executives are all in the same boat. They are thinking about how to keep commerce up, ways to temporarily reduce spending and keep their employees safe. 

We Need To Survive

The first thing on most companies minds is: we need to survive this. Executive thought leadership during this time is critical. Companies need to hear what their trajectory is. It might be difficult to give solid answers, but acknowledgement is important. 

Organizations are trying to reconfigure the way that work is done in order to survive during these unprecedented times. In order to do so, some companies have had to make the hard decision to lay-off, furlough or cut employees. This isn’t great for the employee, but is essentially for the employer. It’s hard to lose work, but some companies are also doing their best to help these workers that have been impacted. Whether that is promising to be a great reference, putting it in written-word for furloughed workers that they’ll have a job when this is over, or offering considerable severance packages. While it might not be much right now, companies are trying their best. 

In order to survive, we had to move away from the norm. It was weird for all of us. I promise, you are not alone. We moved our workstations home, rolled out of bed and to our home desk instead of rolling through the office door and made things work. Organizations are still fine tuning obstacles as they come. That’s OK.

‘Normal’ Will Never Be The Same Normal

When things do go back to “normal” they won’t go back exactly the way they were before. It’s like trying to fit a piece of a new puzzle into an old one. You can turn and twist it and it might fit in some places, but it won’t ever sit the same. 

Organizations have started trying to guess when their businesses can reopen and go back to business as usual. The thing is, businesses probably won’t do things completely the same. Employees are learning new skills, trying new ways of doing business and adapting. 

The Need To Reinvent

If organizations want to keep moving forward, they need to adapt and think differently, As new challenges come each day, companies are realizing that they need to reinvent their business. What new things can they do? Is there something new they can offer? Does the plan they had four months ago still work? Some things will work, while others won’t. Every company is different and they have to figure out what will work best for them. Reinventing can be hard for companies who are set in their ways, but they need to intentionally do things differently.

Innovation Needs To Become Reinvention

Organizations are always speaking about their way of innovation. They look to the future to figure out what to develop now to get ahead of the game. However, this mindset might not work in the new normal. Innovation has pushed companies forward for so long, but when uncertain events happened, reinvention of plans is what must occur. 

In no way do you need to reinvent your entire company. There are, essentially, small things that need to be changed to fit the new needs. There will, however, be ideas and plans that need to be reinvented. 

This reinvention can include timelines, transferring certain interactions from physical to virtual, the breakdown of workforce structure and overall automation. Companies have to look at the industry that they are in and move with it. If it does a 180, they might have to as well in order to survive.

Survival And Reinvention Are Our Lifelines

Two fundamental strategies for organizations that want to come out of crisis ready to hit the ground running are survival and reinvention. Taking these ideas into consideration can help you get business ready for what might come next. These are only ideas, inferences and tips to help get plans in place if your organization is stuck on what to do and how to keep going.