COVID Took Away a Business Opportunity. Here's How We're Adapting.

As an industry, agriculture already tends to be highly decentralized. A typical model is one corporate location with one or many satellite locations where sales, manufacturing, or research are taking place. Or it may be many equally-sized satellites and a global network across multiple time zones. The nature of agriculture work, and where the customers are, also means that these satellites are located in places not easy to get to.

For us at Envision Partners, the ability to effectively use video-conferencing for individual meetings and group facilitation is what makes working intensely with these highly decentralized groups at all feasible. From a service perspective, the ability to effectively use electronic communication with our clients became a cost-, quality- and novelty-differentiator for Envision Partners.

“Yes, we can facilitate important group conversations without traveling to each of your locations, and it will be as effective (maybe more) than in-person, and it isn’t the traditional means to deliver programs.”

Then came along the mass disruptor, COVID-19. Having previous experience, we at Envision Partners were well prepared initially to support our clients with tools, tips, and tricks on having effective remote meetings with their own teams as everyone transitioned to the virtual format.

After an intense 3 months, the novelty of video-conferencing has worn off. Employees within our client organizations have brought their skills to the next level with the technology piece, and the barrier to entry (lack of motivation) was broken down. An easily identifiable differentiator for how Envision Partners delivered services is gone. That part of our business plan has been disrupted by COVID-19.

To find a new differentiator, we needed to identify the current pain points. When the pandemic disrupted everything, companies dialed in on what absolutely had to get done. After months of focusing on the urgent, short-term work that was necessary just to "get the job done", we all have to start transitioning to the more important, longer-term work.

When you left the office in March, there were off-site group visioning sessions planned, complex in-person strategy meetings, and project reviews. People were being brought to the office, interviewed, and on-boarded. Training and development on hard and soft skills were in-progress. Employee development plans created and performance reviews being held. These important activities were and are not reactionary to the COVID-19 pandemic.

This is the new business opportunity. How do we create the tools and facilitate the conversations to do this important work as well as before and maybe even better than in-person? How do we use digital communication to do the important and longer-term work that is not happening and needs to happen right now?

Jonathan partners with high-performing technical specialists to reach their full potential as people-leaders. Combining his science background, corporate experience, and teaching skills, he creates a knowing and trusting relationship necessary to ask clients to do the hard work of building new skills, using their time differently, and embracing values that bring them and the organization the greatest success. To learn how Jonathan can help your organization, visit envisionpartnersllc.com