As we read and hear everywhere, we are faced with a situation we have never had before.
Not all of us can deal with the situation as we have hoped.
Whether it is that people feel helpless to keep a routine going, or it is that they are struggling with the lack of contact or meeting people – it all affects our mental health.
Maybe you have lost your job or your product or service is not in demand anymore. The world has changed within the last 6 weeks and it will afterwards not get back to “normal” as we used to know it.
Those who adapt will swim with the change and get their world straight again, some of us will get lost in the old spiral we have experienced and might be swallowed by change.
Now is the time to change things if you want to keep up with the new world we are all about to create – in a positive way if we do it wisely.
1. Rethink
Rethink your product or service. Is it something that is needed right now in times of crisis?
Crisis means change, not devastation: “Vitally important or decisive state of things, point at which change must come, for better or worse”.
It means that we all are getting the chance to create something new.
Think of what you can offer with your capacities and skillsets that might be a help for people fighting the same battle that you do now.
On the other side consider removing unnecessary products or services that are binding capital or other resources without being useful since people do not buy or need it – we all are taking care of our finances right now.
2. Reinvent
Is there something that you think that you have never done before, but for what there is a chance to bring it in now? Something where you, yourself know there is a challenge or a blessing you want to take on?
Do it! Right now, it is the time to reinvent and position yourself as a source of need for people seeking what you have to offer. You adapt your business, your product or service to the market which is forming itself out there to keep yourself competitive.
3. Change
How can you bring it on and get it going when you have changed your offer of products or services? You need to first deliver your new message and possibly adapt your delivery channel.
Go digital if you have not done it yet. You have to adapt to services or products that don’t need a physical presence and make it as simple as possible for people to access.
Introduce your new offer to the market you are in and to your existing client base since you have already worked with these people that trust and know you.
If your change gets noticed, you can be sure that you are going to cover a bigger piece of ground than you probably would when you would have stuck to your product or service before the global lock-down.
4. Execute
Work with your new concept, your new product or service and keep in mind that this could and will be your future of work.
Stay flexible to quickly adapt to changes. See what the world is really asking for amongst all the overload of impressions around us that has been dominating our attention. Now everything has become obsolete and questions consumption behaviour and what we always thought we would “need”. This is your chance to reply to questions, doubts, uncertainties, and new thinking.
If you know “Jurassic Park”, the original movie from the early 90s, you might remember one comment by Dr. Allan Grant that described the nature of change and time: “The world has just changed so radically, and we’re all running to catch up.” I think it pretty much says what we are experiencing now even more so – from one day to another we had to switch from our used-to working routine into this new ethic of remote work in an environment of uncertainty and possibly fear.
So, the one asset that will get you through these times of changes is when you dare to change, too.
You now have the opportunity to reinvent and reintroduce yourself, to do what you always wanted but never had time for, because you were “too busy”.
And it is a chance for those that have been struggling with their products or services – it is this new chance to bring yourself in with offering what is needed. In a brand-new setting that has never been there before.
>> What do you see or have seen as the biggest challenge for yourself or people you are working or dealing with? Let me know.
