At the time of writing we are about to begin a period of a “new normal” as we endeavour to return to some resemblance of life pre Covid19, but our reality is more likely to be one in which we adapt both our business and professional lives for the foreseeable future if not forever.
Embracing Simplicity
Is it now our opportunity to consciously embrace simplicity and retained some of our new habits for spending more time at home, consuming less and placing greater value on our relationships and the natural environment around us?
Embracing simplicity in our business lives could simply mean consciously taking a pause and step back to evaluate our performance, before setting off into this new normal but on a new path refocused on what really matters and adds true value.
By embedding this new approach into our business routines, we could avoid overloading ourselves with endless to do lists all with deadlines never met, or trying to constantly navigate a series of tasks which blur between essential and optional never quite finishing any of them effectively.
George A. Miller, one of the founders of cognitive psychology identified that our brains can only manage 7 things at once, so why wouldn’t we restrict our plans for each day to achieving 5 or 6 task successfully and over deliver rather than having the perception that we are constantly underachieving?
With greater simplicity in our approach to navigating the business day, we can focus on making more effective decisions, giving greater quality of interaction with our teams and give ourselves time to take an all important step back and reflect on the value we are generating – or not.
Value creation
If nothing else Covid19 has given us all an opportunity to reset and reshape our businesses. By setting out a clear and simple 5-point plan linked to value creation, should optimise our competitive advantage by delivering solutions to customers new found needs never known before and even better solving problems they don’t yet realise they will experience post lock-down.
As we all begin to initiate our new plans, whilst trying to navigate the new commercial landscape, being clear on our purpose is essential for making the right decisions about the new direction we are headed. A shared purpose backed up by a simple plan, communicated across the whole business will ensure all employees are clear on how and where together we create value for each other, our customers and our shareholders investing in the business future.
Understanding our newly adjusted value proposition, will become the core of achieving competitive advantage and the most important factor in whether we win or lose sales and bounce forward in a sustainable way. By adopting a simple approach to value creation at the start of this journey, will change the way we all look at where and how to grow.
Creating employee value will also be crucial to our future success having mastered homeworking and now faced with new office working conditions being able to find new simple ways to reward, engage and develop our people often remotely will be key to retaining talent and attracting new skills, whilst offering flexibility and security of both health and employment.
Undoubtedly the remainder of 2020 for all businesses large or small, will be focused on establishing the new normal:
- Creating Value for Customers
- Creating value for Employees
- Creating value for Business Owners and Shareholders.
Taking a simplistic approach to the creation of value, will avoid overloading everyone across the business balancing a new way of living and working, increasing the chances of generating earlier, higher and sustainable business growth as we bounce forward.
I provide strategic business advice, with practical marketing support for ambitious businesses looking to create value and win new business. If I can be of help by offering guidance, independent advice or practical support with your plans to bounce forward, please do get in touch.
