Dear Better Future,
Great question - and you already have the right mindset to create what you want for yourself and others.
To me, “returning to work” points to a bigger opportunity for us as business leaders. What do we want to bring forward from the past and what do we want to turn away from to create the future we most want?
John F Kennedy famously said “When written in Chinese, the word 'crisis' is composed of two characters. One represents danger and the other represents opportunity.”
危机与机遇
Emily Chang, in a LinkedIn post, says that while JFK’s comparison was helpful, he was a bit off. She notes:
Crisis = 危机 (wēi jī) where 危(wēi) indeed translates to “danger, to endanger.” However, 机 (jī) by itself doesn't really translate to “opportunity”. 机会 (ji hui) means “opportunity”, but an accurate translation of 机(jī) by itself is more like “a crucial point, when something begins to change.”
Because of the continuing human and economic impacts of a worldwide pandemic, I believe we are at that crucial point when something is beginning to change, and as leaders, it’s up to us to harness the opportunity within the danger.
The power of a simple tool
Here’s a tool I often use when I’m faced with a choice between two courses of action - a version of the classic 2x2 matrix:
To try this out, grab a piece of paper and a pen and draw the four boxes - or start a 2x2 table in your favorite word processor.
To make this work in our situation, we’ll substitute Pre-Pandemic for Choice A and During Pandemic for Choice B:
So far, so good.
Now, write down all the things in your business that went well before the pandemic started in the top upper left box, and write those things that went badly - especially where a strength was overdone - in the lower left box. I’ll fill in a few examples - you do your own:
Here’s a caution: if you’re simply writing down the opposite of good things in the “Went badly” boxes, or the opposite of bad things in the “Went well” boxes, you may have already prejudged which option is “good” and which is “bad.” If so, go beyond thinking in absolutes by going a little deeper and finding unique positives and negatives for each option or situation.
To harness our current “returning to work” opportunity, ask yourself: how can I/we simultaneously achieve the items in the top boxes (bolded), and simultaneously minimize or avoid the items in the lower boxes (grayed out)?
For example, how might we continue to create powerful in-person experiences for clients without using our offices? Or what existing skills might we want to build on as we create new ways to positively impact clients through online or hybrid work, and how could we develop those skills together to also strengthen our relationships?
This brainstorming often yields unexpected and highly helpful results since everything you think of should fit within the constraints you just uncovered.
Your mileage may vary
These examples are intentionally simple to jumpstart your thinking about clients, team members, business processes, financial resources, etc. etc. - and you’ll get out of this what you put into it. Your full list may take multiple sheets of paper to get everything out.
Start out by writing down as many things as you can think of in all the boxes, then get help from one or more of your team members. If you end up with a long list, you may want to prioritize to get to the most impactful items in each box.
Then, brainstorm away! Ask yourself and your team: “How can we use the best of our past and present to create our best new future together?”
Finally, choose one or two items you can get results from quickly and get to work! If you get stuck, we’re here to be a listening ear and brainstorming partner. Let’s find time to have a conversation.
