Improve Business Resilience in 3 Easy Steps

Sonya shelton

Sonya shelton

CEO & Founder

Improve resilience in 3 steps
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“I can’t change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination.” ~ Jimmy Dean

As a business leader, you’re probably well aware that the only constant is change. This year has been a powerful reminder that while we may have plans in place, there will always be things that we cannot predict nor control. 

At ELC, we support business leaders and executives align their business strategy and culture to inspire greater performance and create outstanding results. While working with clients to manage change and uncertainty through these challenging times, we’ve realized there is one piece of advice that applies to everyone: Agility plus flexibility equals resilience!

Take these 3 steps to defeat “change fatigue” and continue motivating your team toward success: 

Be Present in Each Thing You Do

One way to be resilient in times of change is to be present. Remember that the only place and time we can deal with change is here and now. We can only control what we’re doing right now in this present moment.

Right now, the future is just an idea. We can plan for it, but we can’t control it. So, we can’t spend all of our energy focusing on what could happen or the “what-ifs.” By being present in the moment, you can focus on what is actually happening now. 

Every single thing you do for your business is important and essential for the business to succeed. So, when you take the time to accomplish a task, be completely present and focused on that task or objective in front of you. When you have clarity on your target objective, you are able to focus all your resources on completing it. With clarity and focus, you’re able to be more agile and flexible in your thinking and problem-solving, resulting in long-term solutions as opposed to just a quick-fix.

Stay Focused on the Vision

When you utilize agile leadership tactics, you can rearrange and adapt to overcome external challenges. This could include implementing new systems, processes or technology. The trick here is not to get too distracted to the point that you lose sight of the bigger vision. 

In turbulent times, executives and business owners are especially susceptible to falling into the “firefighting trap.” This happens when you get so distracted putting out day-to-day fires with quick-fix solutions, that you forget to work in the context of the bigger vision. As a result, you can confuse and distract team efforts by pulling them in different directions, without context. This will lead to disengagement.

To prevent this, it’s important to keep reinforcing the collective goal/objective. This provides context for each task to get from where the business is now to where you want it to go. So, while you can find tons of new and improved tools and technologies available to help, only use what you actually need to help you get closer to your target. Before implementing new solutions, ask yourself “How does this help me and my team get to our target objective faster or more efficiently?”

Lead by Example

Use your influence to set the example. You can show your team how to manage change within themselves and within the organization. We can shift our perspective from outside-in (what others are doing to me) to inside-out (how I can change to adapt to the situation). Increasing resilience allows you to handle anything by changing, adapting, and growing.

Create and implement a plan to honor and acknowledge your team’s accomplishments, while educating everyone so they fully understand the vision, the context, and the upcoming changes. Then, work with key influencers to help manage the uncertainty, sponsor the change, and realize the vision.

It’s important to recognize that change does have an impact. Most people don’t like unexpected changes, especially when they bring challenges, but by learning the skills to navigate them, we can reach our goals faster and help others do so as well. 

As we go into the fourth quarter of 2020, now is the opportunity to make sure your team finishes the year strong. Need some support? Book a free strategy session with us.

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