“We’ve Been Here Before!”
“We’ve Been Here Before” Do those word fill you with a sense of comfort or looming fear? Let me guess … it depends.
Full Disclosure: As a change practitioner, the words “We’ve been here before” are actually very soothing to my ears. Perhaps it’s because I have a few decades under my belt and have learned to embrace the constancy of change or perhaps it is my “keep calm and carry on” default setting that resonates with the hope of this comment. Either way, when I hear the phrase “we’ve been here before” I also hear “we’ve gotten out and through this before too”.
That’s comforting. That’s hopeful. That says there is likely a playbook we can glean from.
Yeah, nice ... but how does that help MY Business today?
If you have been around long enough in business, there is likely nothing you are experiencing today that hasn’t already been experienced by some other businesses before you … start-up initiatives, bankruptcy, pivoting for disruption, stellar years of rapid growth, mergers and acquisitions, etc.
Do you know the similarities between all types of businesses? They all need humans to make them work.
Do you know the similarities between all humans? They all respond to changes and disruptions in predictable patterns. In fact, the only differentiation between human responses to change is the speed with which they learn to adapt – or not.
Change Involves Loss
Elizabeth Kubler-Ross captured the human response to change very nicely in her Change Curve diagram which was developed in 1969. Do you see the similarities in the change curve and what you know about grief? The Change Curve actually follows the same trajectory as the grief curve. In fact, Kubler-Ross developed it through her work in personal transitioning with bereavement. No surprise, it wasn’t long before businesses began to leverage it to help explain stages of change behaviors experienced by both leadership and employees during times of organizational disruption. Just like transitioning through grief, humans need to process their perceived losses (of daily normal, expectations, control, etc.) caused by organizational changes.
TRUTH BOMB: People generally don’t mind change – they just don’t WANT TO BE CHANGED.
Let’s Get Real
I am writing this article in the middle of a global pandemic that has seen businesses shut down for months on end, economies destroyed, people mandated to wear masks or quarantine in their homes for weeks, schools, restaurants, entertainment of all types shut down. Pretty much a global disruption of life as we know it with no end in sight. You know what I say to that?
“We’ve been here before.”
Ok, maybe not “us” exactly – but humanity certainly has. Think about the Tuberculosis outbreak in 1914 when children went to schools in the forest of Toronto, the Spanish Flu outbreak in 1918, the Great Depression 1929-1933, World War 1 and 2, and the list goes on and on.
Now here’s the good news … not only did humanity get through it all and survive, we got stronger and better because of it! Why?
Because humanity is hardwired to survive and adversity is often a catalyst for us (and our businesses) to thrive!
Dust off the Play Book!
So what does this mean for businesses caught in the middle of this global disruption? It means we need to change adversity into opportunity. It means we need to adapt to thrive. It means we need to dig into our core values to dig out of our economic hole. Two simple ways to do that:
1. Take care of your people.
Together is always better. Link arms with your employees. Get human and touch base with them. Talk about the change curve with them and ask them to identify where they are at. Respond in kind with actions that are meaningful TO THEM (see bottom of Change Curve for ideas) to help them process the current changes to their work world. Take care of them so can take care of your business.
2. Write your COVID 19 Business Story
Get your team together and dust off the previous generation’s "disruption" playbook for inspiration on how to write a new game plan for 2020. Business as you knew it has changed. Take the opportunity to get back in the driver’s seat with your teams and set a new course corrected direction for your business today.
If you remember nothing else from this blog, please remember this - "We've Been Here Before" and humanity will undoubtedly, "Be Here Again". And guess what? They will be looking for YOUR playbook as inspiration for how to get through this. Here's my recommendation on behalf of the next generation ... take this moment in time to write an epic, page-turning playbook that will not only help you today but inspire them for tomorrow!