A. Hopkins Insurance & Financial Services

Tag: leadership

  • Time to reinvent your business?

    Time to reinvent your business?

    It’s been said “never waste a good crisis.”  Most business owners who have been enduring the unexpected impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic would probably agree:  as far as crises go, this has been a pretty good one.

    “Good” may not be accurate. For some, words like “devastating”, “ruinous” or “bankrupting” might be better descriptors.  To be sure, the pandemic and its economic consequences didn’t bring much good to anyone – unless you were in the toilet paper or hand sanitizer business – but what it did bring was the opportunity (and for many, ample free time) to take a good look inward and reflect — on our lives, our careers and our businesses.

    If you run a business, it’s certainly the right time to take a second look at what you’ve been doing and decide if you can – or should – keep doing it.  Whether your business is currently open, getting ready to re-open or shut down for good, some reinvention may be in order in this new, post-pandemic world.

    To get those thoughts rolling, here are a few book suggestions:

    The Optimization Edge: Reinventing Decision Making to Maximize your Company’s Assets – Steve Sashihara

    Author Sashihara takes a look at why, on a level playing field, some companies downsize while others keep growing. The book talks about how to approach your decision making in a way that optimizes your assets and gets the most value from your company – under any conditions. Sashihara presents step-by-step best practices and tools to help you stay ahead of the competition, even during a downturn.

    Reinventing the Organization: How Companies can Deliver Radically Greater Value in Fast-Changing Markets – Arthur Yeung, David Ulrich

    Markets change quickly. To keep pace and stay competitive, businesses need to change at least as rapidly. Yeung and Ulrich use their in-depth research into some of the world’s most successful organizations – including Amazon, Facebook and Google – to help readers build an organization that responds to changing market opportunities with both speed and scale. The book includes a six-step framework to help with all decisions leaders need to make in these shaky times.

    Business Model Renewal:  How to Grow and Prosper by Defying Best Practices and Reinventing your Strategy – Linda Gorchels

    When the global market is constantly changing, one-size fits all solutions don’t work. Author Gorchels argues that these days, even best practices can go out the window along with the phrases, “business as usual” and “tried and true”.  The book is not just about renewing your business model, it’s about reinventing it – by re-evaluating your methods, rethinking your strategies and broadening your perspectives. There is no crystal ball, but there is a way you can be ready for (practically) anything.

    What Happens Now: Reinvent Yourself as a Leader Before Your Business Outruns You – John Hillen and Mark Nevins

    What happens when your organization changes faster than you do?  Many leaders change everything around them – hire new staff or put in new reporting structures, for example, while others do things the same way they’ve always done them, only more so.  What Happens Now is the leaders’ guide to changing their own behaviours and skills so they can successfully drive the new ship. The authors share stories from dozens of leaders who have faced the need to change or (figuratively) die, and have come out the other side a stronger person, a superior leader and with the tools they need to adapt – and lead – in ever-evolving situations.

    Good Leaders Ask Great Questions – Your Foundation for Successful Leadership – John C. Maxwell

    John C. Maxwell is an acclaimed leadership authority and has acquired much of his knowledge on the subject by asking questions. He’s used what he’s learned to inspire millions of people through books including Leadership 101, What Every Leader Needs to Know and No Limits Blow Your Capacity. In this book, his readers get to ask their questions. With 70 plus questions answered, the book will show you how to be a better leader and how to ask the questions that will keep you at the top of your game – even in a crisis.

    Author: ChamberPlan.ca

    Read the original version of this article.

  • Keeping your business current during COVID-19: Ted Kouri of Edmonton’s Incite shares his pandemic plan

    Keeping your business current during COVID-19: Ted Kouri of Edmonton’s Incite shares his pandemic plan

    Many of us are stewing, stressing, wondering what we are supposed to be doing right now, other than swimming for our lives. Do I need a new business strategy? Should I plan for a major pivot—think up new ways to deliver my services or products? Should I be shutting my doors?

    “Business as usual” seems a proverb of a long-time past—most business owners are navigating a terrain as foreign as the moon right now. “This isn’t like any other time we have ever experienced,” says Ted Kouri of Incite, an Edmonton-based strategy firm with national reach that helps small businesses grow into new markets and build brand loyalty.
    “It feels different than H1N1 or any market crash that has come before because it hit us so fast,” says Ted. “COVID-19 doesn’t discriminate geography or industry, we are all affected, business-wise and personally.”
    Most people agree, this is not the time to be ‘making the sale.’ We asked Ted how he is keeping his business current and an asset to others, and personally navigating this time of uncertainty. Here is what he shared:
    1. Keep your clan in the loop.
    Internal staff communication has looked like the following over the past weeks: Layoffs, down-sizing, uncertainty, and more layoffs. No question, there are lots of scared people. Ted suggests keep all your staff in the loop, whether they are laid off or not. “If your whole team is kept up to date, messaging regarding your business can stay consistent and transparent,” says Ted. “Don’t pretend it’s not difficult when communicating with your team, but don’t let fear rule the day. Be upfront, but positive.”
    2. Repackage your services. Never has “adapt or die” been more true in business, however, according to Ted, “It’s a mistake to totally abandon your strengths right now. Instead, get creative about how to bring your new ideas or service segments to market,” he explains.

    “There might be new needs your clients have never had before.”

    Ted also advises, make short term pivots that have long-term value. “Don’t give your services or products away for free, but repackage them. A different version of your core services might be a four-week offering vs. a five-month plan.” For restaurants and grocery stores, it’s curb-side pick-up. For the beauty industry, it’s using training technologies such as YouCam A.R.T. to stay connected with clients and have them “try-on” new products. Fashion and retail industries are using new app, Streetify to give clientele a virtual shopping experience.
    3. Make a game plan. “Back to normal” seems elusive right now. No one knows when that will be; however, having a game plan—a vision for what “later” could look like—can put the mind at ease.
    “Businesses need to think about market share that could be gained when businesses are up and running again,” explains Ted. For Incite, 3, 6, and 9-month contingency plans have given them a path forward, some options when it feels like there are none. “A contingency plan doesn’t have to be complicated,” says Ted. “Just a one-pager laying out some avenues to take once we have past certain gates.”
    Ted believes brands that go dark—those who don’t have external communication while they are temporarily closed—will have a harder time to hit the ground running when it’s time. “Decide how you can maintain relevance with your clients and stakeholders right now, and make an authentic connection.”

    “The small businesses that choose to show up for their clients now will do better in the long term.”

    4. Decide your personal mindset. “One of my favourite business pieces is Dan Sullivan’s ‘Scary Times Success Manual: How to be a leader when times get tough.’” How we decide to show up right now matters. A lot. “People admire those who can stay positive, shed light or solution on a situation.

    “There has been no better time to show personal leadership and be of value to others than now.”

    It may be hard to believe at the moment, but there’s a chance that this crazy time is an opportunity for businesses to get better at what they do. “What’s important is to focus on what is not different,” says Ted. When we are forced to downsize, get creative, save money in order to survive, we quickly see the holes in the way we operate. “There is opportunity that will come from this time. The trick will be to have your running shoes tied on the start line when the sun comes out, and all this is over.”