3 Transformation Strategies From the Pandemic Playbook

Looking back to Q1 2020, little did we know that a tsunami was brewing: live events around the world would be canceled in record numbers and the state of an entire industry would shift. Many of us thought it would last a couple months, not well over a year. While the world and business were already moving at a rapid pace, the pandemic accelerated us on a trajectory few could have predicted.

There was no playbook for a pandemic. We had to tear a world-leading, 94-year-old company down to the studs. In many ways it was devastating — to our people, to our customers, to our partners. But we had to take action.

So, what do you do in times of tumultuous change? Having led numerous transformation initiatives, I applied much of that experience to the situation at hand and led our team at Freeman to navigate the seismic shift in the following ways:??

Look for Opportunities

The events industry was crumbling around us, and what freed us — our lifeline — was that nothing worse could happen. We were free to try new things, to take risks we may not have taken before the pandemic. This became the opportunity to accelerate our digital transformation at Freeman. What may have happened in 5 years became reality in mere months.

These questions can help you take a similar approach to uncover key opportunities:

1. Are there projects or initiatives that you haven’t prioritized due to time or resources?
2. Look at obstacles and reframe them — sometimes perceived obstacles are actually the opposite.
3. Think like a start-up, no matter what stage your business is in. Where can you disrupt the market, shift your focus, follow the customer, lead the market, create an opportunity?

Engage Key Stakeholders — Listen and Interact with the Team

Engaging every level of management and your team is critical during a transformation, and it was especially key during the pandemic.

Here are my recommendations for leaders:

1. Be a decisive and efficient leader.?Your decisions may not always be popular, but you have to do what you know is right and guide your team down that path.
2. Meet with every level of management within your organization. Middle management tends to affect the most change quickly.
3. Get to know the rest of the organization, too. Dive in. Employees at every level of the organization are critical to successful transformation.
4. Listen and discover redundancies or outdated ways of thinking.
5. Identify areas where you can implement change quickly.

By implementing change quickly, you’ll instill confidence in your teams, who will then be more likely to embrace and adapt to change.

Over Communicate

With so much change happening so fast, communication is a huge part of the equation. It helps to keep people aligned and focused during times of change, not wondering or worrying.

My top tips for great communication:

1. Change is hard. Communicate frequently.
2. Again, your teams are more likely to adapt and assist when they understand what’s being asked of them in their role. Help them understand transformation and how it can improve their job as well as the company. Frustration, stagnation, and fallout are often the result of unclear communication.
3. Town halls, 360s, feedback gathering, internal and external communications —?every tool at your disposal should be aligned toward the mission for maximum impact.
4. Make sure everyone is walking the walk and realign as needed.

And remember, Rome wasn’t built in a day. Give yourself grace and space.

What’s your top transformation strategy or tip?