Innovating our Interactions

“If you can keep your head when all about you /Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,” – Rudyard Kipling

Over the last two weeks, our schedules and travel plans have been turned upside down by Covid-19 – at first the cancellation of discrete events, and now a seismic shift in the way we interact with others across all aspects of our lives. In times past, a sudden cancellation of travel might be a welcome respite from the grind of business travel. But at present, particularly for small and middle-market companies, the loss of opportunity related to a major conference or critical face-to-face meetings can be disruptive – or even catastrophic. Companies who placed outsized bets by timing a product or service launch around a major industry conference may be left reeling with the heretofore unthinkable cancellation, wondering what the heck to do now.

As citizens, these are scary and uncertain times. For the owners and leaders of small and middle markets companies – this is also downright terrifying without the cash reserves to ride out whatever economic storm lies ahead.

Looking back on disruptive social and economic events, novel or sudden constraints have driven invention, innovation, new and better ways of operating. Industries and companies that rethink their business models and capture the learnings from market transitions survive and become stronger. At the risk of sounding trite, it’s a matter of looking at the situation we are in and turning new limitations into future opportunities.?To do so, however, requires a clear head and the ability to think rationally.

So….the question then becomes – how exactly do I keep my head about me? We all know that reason is superior to panic. But keeping the mental wolves at bay when they leap at every window, scratch at every door?

Today we would like to propose five specific tasks you can take to start your mental journey to see the opportunity in the current crisis:

1.????Name it. The amorphous problem is impossible to solve. If you lost the chance to travel to a critical conference – write down (or revisit) the goals you had for going in the first place.?Feeling generally anxious about what might happen? Write it out – capture the thoughts in black and white.?Absent a specific problem to solve, the mind has a tendency to go in circles. Writing it down will help you to focus on the real challenges versus the “free-floating angst” and prioritize the most leveraged action.

2.????Seek new opportunities. Social distancing measures mean unprecedented changes in how we interact. Where virtual models may have previously been developed for the sake of cost-cutting, or to leverage technology, or even just because we could – now a virtual model may suddenly be your lifeline. But rather than clinging in desperation – how can you take a look at this brave new world with new eyes? If you converted to a totally virtual model, what markets could you serve that you couldn’t yesterday? What new services could you offer?

3.????Revisit your own backyard. In the past two decades, the world has gotten ever smaller, with companies increasingly boasting that they are “geographically agnostic”. After all, why not when it has been so easy to jump on a plane for a few face to face meetings, and use conference calls, video chats, email, and messenger to fill in the gaps. But in the midst of being so eager to earn our cosmopolitan stripes, we invariably spend less time at home. Local interactions, particularly small groups and 1:1 meetings, will come back far before the large scale meetings, sooner than most people risk getting back on a plane. This is a great time to revisit your own backyard – who are the local connections you haven’t talked to in a while? If your business had to operate wholly within your local/regional area – what would that allow you to do? While that is not likely, it is a useful mental construct to spur new ideas.

4.????Tag Team. If you can no longer travel to a location you typically visit – who do you know that is already in that market? Establish new collaborative partnerships or identify existing ones you can foster to help each other out.

5.????Bias for action. This is not the time to wait and plan until you have it perfect – this is the time to try. If you think about a product life cycle – or better yet a scrum cycle – you come up with a plan, get feedback, launch, get data, refine, and improve. The squirrel in the middle of the road is in the most danger – so rather than analysis paralysis, take this chance to experiment!

As people begin to reimagine different ways of interacting with schools, businesses, and overall life, out of necessity, we will gradually embrace a new normal because the new ways are simply better than what we did before.?

When working with clients on innovation, the best ideas don’t often come from moderate change scenarios in the external environments – they come from drastic or expansive scenarios. What if you had to cut prices by 50%? What if you had to find all new customers? What if the world suddenly went into social distancing and stopped interacting? You get the idea. Well – here is a real-life, drastic scenario. What I know is that as a nation, as a global economy, we will move past this, and actually come out stronger for it. Years from now we will look back at the innovation spurred by Covid-19 – what are you doing today for yours to be the story to be told?

Looking back, the path of progress we make will no longer appear incremental, but likely a quantum leap. History has shown us that cooler and more thoughtful heads usually prevail. For leaders with foresight and a willingness to embrace a new order, they have an opportunity to pull the change forward to thrive in the future state.

Authors

Stephanie Chambliss Gaffin is Co-Founder and Managing Partner of The Gaffin Group, a boutique consulting firm dedicated to supporting middle-market companies through transitions and pivot points. Contact her at [email protected] to discuss support for your organization.

Timothy Zoph is a Client Executive and Strategist with Impact Advisors, a nationally recognized healthcare consulting firm dedicated to improving healthcare through technology and process improvement. Contact him at [email protected] to discuss support for your organization.