Return to "normal." The "new normal".
These phrases are the death knell for your small business, especially during this crisis, sucking creative problem solving out of high level action and stopping forward thinking in its track. Waiting for a return to "what was" is not only potentially destructive, but an obstacle to any innovation and growth. What's more, searching for some new baseline for your journey is not only limiting, it will lead to your companies' demise.
Candidly, there should never have been a "normal". Normal doesn't exist. What was true yesterday has changed today, and reaching backwards means you've stop looking forward.
So what can we do?
Try replacing the word normal with NEXT. You'll be amazed the instant impact it makes in your thinking. NEXT, I will attack this problem... NEXT, I want to grow in this direction... NEXT I want to learn about this modality... Thinking about what's NEXT, instead of what's normal, totally flips on that growth mindset and forces us all to look at EVERYTHING around our business with the eyes of a tinkerer.
If COVID has taught us nothing, it's that the past ways of doing things are gone, and that those who cling to those models become casualties to the crisis. But why shouldn't this have been true for us before these unprecedented times?
Shouldn't we constantly be tinkering? Asking ourselves why we charge what we charge; why some of our staff outperforms others with the same resources; why marketing to this customer segment is more effective during these times of day but not these... We should be change warriors, always ready for the NEXT creative debate that leads us to the NEXT progress battle.
We are beyond offering just a cheeseburger. We need to constantly broaden our menus, and look to our failures as motivation for the NEXT NEXT.
So bury the word normal. It's passed. When you cling to the past, you negate the NEXT. And it's that NEXT that may be the thing that not only saves your business in this time of crisis, but propels it into something incredible and NEW... and wouldn't it be exciting to be anything BUT normal.
What's your NEXT NEXT? Tell me about it at achievesleeve@gmail.com