Like you, I have not been in a crisis of this scale of there Covid crisis before but about 5 years ago I was in a conversation that now seems very relevant.
I was a key advisor to a GM with ambitious sales targets. Her sales figures were not tracking where she needed them to so she suggested I meet with the entire sales team and see if I could break through some corporate concrete.
The sales team had three different divisions, one for each part of the sales process. We all gathered, about thirty people, in a board room with a wall that was also a massive white board. For nearly an hour the teams explained all the problems at every level of the process. My observation was that they almost enjoyed it. Their energy was lifting with every verbalised problem. It made sense they felt better for feeling heard on issues, but there was more happening. They were telegraphing to me which side of the outcome they were invested in.
Over the hour I let my body slump a little more with each problem they vented and which I intern wrote on the board. More and more I let myself appear overwhelmed and daunted by it all until the massive white board was full of problems and they believed they had broken the consultant.
With nothing left to write I stared at the board and said “It is stuffed isn’t it?” To which everyone knowingly nodded in agreement and satisfaction.
I continued. “Well just so we are clear, it is stuffed everywhere. That is the game we are playing. ‘Who can get through the stuffed-ness?’ It is not like our competitors are living in some type of utopia, with no problems and a casual path to success. It is stuffed everywhere! For everyone! And that this the game we are playing; Who can get through the stuffed-ness?”
There was a short silence before key people began moving in their chairs. The candidness had awoken them. Literally they started shifting themselves from being an observer of the problems to a participant in digging our way through all the crap. Slowly began the journey of moving their sights and energy toward winning.
Similarly, this is true for us all at the moment. Especially those living in lockdown areas around the world. Things can feel insurmountable. The obstacles and limitations have been quadrupled but the game remains the same; who can navigate through the insurmountable?
The GM’s sales team did hit the sales target. (And this is not a made up story.) But we did have to spend time dialoguing ideas, opening up to new ways and inevitably we did have to change key things. We had to look at each part of what we could control and assess if there was a better way. Some things which were thought to the fabric of the company had to be reinvented or morphed. As did people’s roles. However, the reward of succeeding and of making progress far outweighed the difficulty of adaption.
I am keen to help you navigate how stuffed things are. Like you, I have not had to navigate Covid before, but over the past 20 years I have built a network of phenomenally talented people. And for 20 years I have been connecting them and their knowledge to those looking for it. They are CEO’s, Business Owners, Olympians, innovators, thinkers and just really smart people. Collectively amongst them is enough knowledge to win the game of getting through the stuffed-ness. Much of my role is delivering this information directly to those in my Business Club, members of The Micro Library, to a handful of people I still coach and through emails to those in my database. (Not so much social media)
Over the next few weeks I will write regularly to help with key ideas for your business and well being. If you want to invite others to be part of this journey, they can sign up for these emails here: www.dobbo.com.au/blog/
Until then, we all have taken a hit. All of us have a part of our life or business that is massively impacted. Do not surrender:
- Lick your wounds,
- take a breath,
- if needed write down every obstacle or impact you have to navigate (include your team of family)
- and then ponder for intelligent strategy.
- Take a mindset of ‘chipping away’ to get to the success.
Ultimately, re-engage with the game!
I hope you will join in the journey with us.
Dobbo
