During these unpredictable times, many organizations are finding the need to reinvent their strategies and how they work. In this podcast, our organizational change management experts discuss change management tips for keeping employees optimistic and productive amid significant organizational and global changes.
Read about some of the most interesting points from the podcast here: https://hubs.la/H0K4Y1f0
During these unpredictable times, many organizations are finding the need to reinvent their strategies and how they work. In this podcast, our organizational change management experts discuss change management tips for keeping employees optimistic and productive amid significant organizational and global changes.
Read about some of the most interesting points from the podcast here: https://hubs.la/H0K4Y1f0
spk_0: 0:03
Panorama Consulting Group brings you confronting the Crisis Cove. It 19. The role of change management and response and recovery with Rick Blatz and Christy Trend.
spk_1: 0:17
Hello and thank you for taking the time out of your day to join us. We're here to help. Provide Resource is an advice toe. Help leaders and organizations through this very difficult time. As you know, it's it's unprecedented. Um, it's something that nobody actually saw coming, and the connection to change management is, um, parallel to what we do on a day to day basis. But it's really like change on steroids. There's a lot of unknowns and variables out there. And as we all, I think no, in our own personal worlds in our business worlds that this man might be the only might just be the beginning. Um, and really a panorama. We're here to help you step up and cope with the challenges that you're facing today and knows that we're gonna be facing in the future when we reach into the what is being referred to is the new normal?
spk_2: 1:09
Definitely. Rick. And you know, we really today want to create hope. Admitted this major disruption. We are looking at change management in a different light. You know, Rick, you know that when we go and we do training for leadership, what we do is we asked them to actually focus on themselves first. So that's what we're gonna encourage you to do. Today is take sometime, listen to some of our suggestions, giving some tools and some knowledge of how we can get through this crazy time. You know, if you think about where we were just a month ago, how things were at that point, you know, we had at work, we had a strategy. We had a mission. We had a focus. I always say, you know, that people come into work with a helmet on and they know what's expected of them and what's happened since then and what the way this looks now is it's chaotic. Everything is changing. Clients, you know, their needs are changing. We're having to ourselves here, a panorama consulting pivot. The way that we are offering service is on, so it's just it's a very interesting time for us.
spk_1: 2:19
It really is. Christy. It's a great point because you think back to when you probably did your planning sessions late last year, moving into the New year and your hopes and aspirations, your goals, your strategies and overnight by the early March that all got blown up and you had to do a quick shift both for yourselves, your company, your supply chain, your customers, your employees, most importantly on And how do you How do you cope with this? And it literally does change every day in almost every minute.
spk_2: 2:48
So Rick and I have been spending a lot of time researching, attending Webinars, doing listening to podcasts and we listen to a pro side weapon are the other day. And it was Reese guarding the response to the virus, and they're looking at this in three different phases. And so, you know, if you think about phase one, it's really our personal response to the virus itself. So, you know, what's our self isolation? Rick came in with a mask on having to wear that mask when we're outside, and you know, someone said the other day that it's not social distancing. It's actually physical distancing. We physically have to stay apart, but we don't socially have to stay apart. So, you know, navigating through what that looks like for us. You know, people laugh, and there's a lot of means and things on social media that says, Why don't we all of a sudden have to start washing her hands? We should have been doing those things already control. So again, it's just that phase one of, you know, helping ourselves dealing with it ourselves on then Rick, you know, what are the other phases that they talked about?
spk_1: 3:53
Well, you know, it's like the whole mass ALS hierarchy of needs. And it's that core base level of taking care of your family and yourself as well as your co workers, your employees in this case, too. But it's really hunkering down and making sure that those bases are covered. You know,
spk_0: 4:09
I know you have
spk_1: 4:09
Children. I have older parents and older relatives that we're having to take care of into shopping for Make the deliveries and and I know you're balancing both kids now at home from school as well as your professional life from what you're trying to do. So there's a lot of that in that phase. One is that response levels that we
spk_0: 4:27
got to cover that that base level to make sure we can take that next step into the next phase. What's the organizational response to the Cove? It 19 outbreak? And it's it's really making sure that we're ex selling as a virtual employees. And then if you're a leader in your organization, it's helping set them up to be able to do that, there's lots of things out on the media now around, um, using things like Zoom or Microsoft teams and actually trying to interact with one another creep bringing tools into the homes for people to be able to do their jobs better
spk_1: 5:02
and empowering those virtual teams and the networks to go with that and helping people stay connected. And one of things we've heard a lot and that we actually do here, too, is using the video. So we stayed connected in a face to face format as well. Um, we're getting to see a lot more what people's houses look like. It's a result, and uh, and that the other part is the rapid resource, that redeployment, I mean, that's really part of this is where we have to put the people in the right places to do the right thing. and it's so in addition to the tools, it's how do we actually put them in a place to still do their job, if it's essential, are not as much essential. How do we deploy those? Resource is and and then actually, then how were we communicating with our customers and understanding what they're going through two and how to best interact with them?
spk_2: 5:48
And we definitely here at Panorama Consulting. We've done that ourselves. You know, we do have the ability to work from home. But now that we're home on a daily basis, you know, we've had to set up whiteboards and we've had to set up tripods. And we had to do things ourselves to just manage this new world that we're living and also, and also making that connection with our clients again. As you know, Rick commented that we're using the video zoom, you know, teams a lot just to make sure that we're connecting face to face with people. Still,
spk_0: 6:19
that's right. So if you think
spk_1: 6:20
again back to when we set this up, it phase one of us is the response face Tuesday. The organization, responsive and face three is really that looking forward. What's the What's the future look like when we come out of this, how are we gonna be working with each other? How we're gonna work with our customers? How are you gonna interact with your clients and customers and really starting to shape that new future statement? What's that going to look like? And what is that new normal? And how soon do we get back to being able to interact more closely with people? A lot of our businesses travel to be face to face with our customers. It's highly effective. They want us on site helps us better understand what they're doing. And so how we gonna navigate those those roads down into the summer and into the fall and the next year?
spk_2: 7:05
Definitely. And, you know, as we talk about how this virus has changed our life, you know, obviously we want to make sure and, you know, look at what this new future state is. Heart of change Management is changes emotional. So again, you know, Think back to where I said, you know, you wear your helmet into work every day. You know it's expected of you when someone says, Hey, there's a change. There is an emotional reaction to that. Typically, it shock, denial, anger, bargaining. What we're learning through this new pandemic is that there is a new. There's a new cycle that we're going through, and it's the grease cycle. Everybody is grieving in a different way, grieving the loss of coming into work. I'm grieving the loss of a job for a lot of people on DSO. We're having this cycle through that grief process. Also, the Golan Change management is to really give you tools and a methodology, something that can pull you out of that dip. The lower production did the lower, you know, emotional dip, and it brings you out of that depression, and it brings you into an acceptance, you know, support of this change support of our new reality. Know, someone said the other day. You know, I can't wait to go back to what we used to have, and it's like we're not gonna ever go back to what we used to have. We created a new norm with our environment today, and so by having changed management by coping with change in a in a better manner, in an easier man and were able to get out of of those depression. That grief stage drew and again really focus on that hope. What can we do out of this? And that's what Rick and I are gonna focus on. Moving forward is to talk about what we can do now and how we can make this a successful transition.
spk_0: 8:50
That's right. You see that and hopes the key word in that Christie, that's excellent. And that, you know, you think of that change curve in the dip is you know, we've all had to take some time to digest this, that we see this in our practice every day when companies were going through change in a new project or a new E r p or whatever is happening. This one's just on steroids, and it affects everything about our lives and, well, you're starting to see as we've getting deeper into it. Is that movement out that acceptance and that support and stabilization in the hope in creating that hope for where we can go and you see cos turning on a dime about if your restaurant doing to carry out and aggressively going out and trying to help people, Um you see it with companies making the face masks and the three D printing. You see, it was like today I heard they're accepting ski goggles on a ski store here in Colorado is donating ski goggle. Match our ski goggles to a hospital as a backup for eye protection. So you see a lot of people coming together. You see this in our history through other major events that we have between the wars or the Spanish flu or other things. 9 11 All those things where we actually can show we can come together as a country and how people can actually find, um, opportunity to help support one another and help us become more stabilized. Which is that again,
spk_1: 10:09
that higher level on a change curve, Mister, where we want to go and what we want to be to be successful.
spk_2: 10:15
So as we talk about, you know, next steps. What can we do now? You know, one of the things that we're learning and all this is you goingto have to adapt quickly. We are getting new fax. We're getting new evidence all the time. Everything is changing. So what we want to encourage you is to make sure that the information that you're getting is from a trusted source. You know, we all know if you go on social media right now, there's a lot of things being posted. There's a lot of information that isn't necessarily true on. So if you start making decisions on some of that information, it can actually, you know, cause issues. Eso just remember. You know, don't don't be afraid to change quickly, but make sure that you're basing your changes, your decisions on actual facts and evidence.
spk_1: 11:04
Yeah, and
spk_0: 11:04
the other thing is, in addition to that is to take care. Take care of yourself throughout all this, both your family and your and your personal self. He asleep yet exercise and what's really underlying this is the mental health, and then next that most important is your team in their mental health. And if you can't take care of yourself, you're not going to really be strong enough to take care of anything else in life. So, first and foremost to make sure that again back to that my Oslo example make sure that core base levels being attended to and taking care of and be aware of actions and not just words. A lot of times in our
spk_1: 11:40
practice, we talk about the unintended consequences of when a leader might say, for instance, say my say we're gonna be more efficient. What the receiving person hears is, Oh, I'm not gonna have a job. So be aware of your actions and maybe the unintended consequences of what you say or the intended consequences. So be mindful of what you say and not just your words, but through your actions as well. And obviously, and I think everybody's doing this from what I'm observing personally is that make the place safe to your number one priority, you know, here Panorama. We went a virtual just overnight. We got the tools in place to help people be effective overnight, and it was paramount in in our leaderships approach to this to make sure that all of us on the team we're making should take care of ourselves. And the other thing, which Christie mentioned earlier was those chickens with each other and use video she and I and a couple other people in our change team. We meet every day for just 1/2 an hour, just a video check in. Sometimes it's about work. Sometimes it's working a little bit about social and just making sure everybody's doing okay. And, you know, that's really important at this point in time because everybody's a little on edge and it's a new normal.
spk_2: 12:55
Definitely. And, you know, it was interesting. My family is, you know, not close by, and so we'll talk on the phone. But we actually, on Sunday, we zoom together. So we all sat in a room and we got to see each other and talk to each other. I've done the same with girlfriends. Uh, Rick, I know that you had something interesting in your neighborhood the other night that you guys did.
spk_0: 13:15
We, our neighbor, did a little concert on their porch, and everybody's doing at least 10 feet away. But they set up their keyboard and, um, ukulele on the front porch, and just everybody brought a glass of wine and just enjoy each other's company from afar just to kind of
spk_1: 13:31
reconnect and make sure everybody was being taken care of. You know, I just saw two on the news
spk_0: 13:37
where Matthew McConaughey hosted a virtual bingo. He was apparently going to go to some senior home and do it in person back in September had committed and obviously things change. So he hosted it virtually on Zoom, and there was probably 30 or 40 people playing bingo with him just for that interaction. And it was great.
spk_2: 13:55
E think we're in a place now that we're getting very creative with how we are handling our our new norm. The other thing that we want to talk about is, you know, just be clear and transparent, you know, everybody's lives are at risk on, and I think that you see that on the news A lot is they're attempting to be clear and transparent, you know, we just got extended and stay at home order for the rest of the month on again. It is for a reason. So just be as you speak. And as you make decisions, be transparent in those you know, share what you know on Be honest with what you don't know. You know, we have in change management when change is happening. We'll have leadership come in and say I don't know how to answer this question, and I always tell them that's okay. Tell him you don't know the answer, but when you do, you will let them know. Or maybe it's an opportunity for you to communicate to brain store. We do a lot of brainstorming with change management with our clients, with even just us as a group. How can we handle this? How can we answer this? How come you communicate this really just sitting back and being very clear, uh, in again? If you don't know the answer, it's okay to say I don't know
spk_1: 15:13
what you learn from that Transparency is that respect and devotion from your team, which, if you think about it, it should start to come out of this into that Phase three. And what's the new, normal, well, lot of its morale and retention of those people. So or if you have to let people go or furlough them, that you're in a place to bring him back, and it's a place you want to go back to just because you're honest and forthright up front pays dividends long term, so it is much important today, but it also is how does that help you? You know, from a long term standpoint, is an organization
spk_2: 15:44
definitely and, you know, it just reminded me it really shows a personal side, too. It's a personal side where you can connect with, you know, whether it be on a personal situation A friend, a family member, but also here at work. Uh, giving them an opportunity to see you. You know, we talk. Don't drink the Kool Ai. Don't give them an answer that you think they want to hear. Actually, be honest in that.
spk_0: 16:08
That's right. Yep. And be yourself. The other thing that
spk_1: 16:12
then obviously spends off of that is the communication side. You know, it's a big part of change. Management is not only what you communicate, but how and to whom and understanding your stakeholders and your segments that are involved with that. And first and foremost in the communications, they need to be able to trust what they're hearing. And more than anything, if you're there's any doubt over communicate. Yeah, I think I'd rather hear somebody say I All right, I got it versus nobody ever told me. Especially now. So and especially because things are changing so quickly, so give yourself permission to change what you're communicating in the information that's their remind people that you might need to change based on dynamics and what's going on. That happens in our company here, too, because things were happening very quickly as to how we're interacting with our clients and our customers and what those customers are going through. So that changes our level of engagement and what we do and how we work with them. And the other thing is to make sure you're being consistent. Intentional does don't go dark for days at a time. If you're gonna set up a cadence that sze reasonable, let's say you're gonna do three times a week to make sure you're consistent with that and be intentional about what that message is. Maybe have ah stock agenda that you do.
spk_0: 17:27
It's like background purpose next steps. That kind of traditional format is to give people context of what it is that you're going to talk about in a consistent way. So it's received in a consistent way, and it doesn't come across as just being all over the map that they're gonna look to you to be organized and and, you know, kind of having your stuff together, frankly is okay. What are we doing, and they're looking to you to help provide that guidance and some sanity and professionalism that goes with that to so as much as we're saying be yourself. But you still want to make sure you're being professional and how you approach that.
spk_2: 17:59
Definitely. And we always say that, you know, consistency is right just that is so important. Research shows that you should say the same thing 5 to 7 times in different ways. It takes 5 to 7 times for someone to hear what you've said, understand what you've said and then actually take it in on and have it be a part of them be a part of their future communications. So again, you know, we will talk even throughout this podcast about the same thing a couple of times just to reiterate the consistency of that message in the importance of that message. You know, during this time, just know that this is all unprecedented. I mean, here, a panorama consulting. We're facing this just like you are, uh, having to pivot having to, you know, redo or change how we're doing things. We always talk in change management that the positives celebrating the success is seeing that hope. Acknowledging the good things is so incredibly important. You can get really bogged down by the Greeks cycle. What? You've lost through all of this. But we are seeing so many amazing things. You know, Rick mentioned the neighborhood, uh, the neighborhood concert concert. Thank you. On the other night, what we did in my neighborhood is we actually had a karaoke party for the kids. My kids six feet away meant Children on the black that we hadn't ever met before making those connections with neighbors that we haven't. Uh, and Rick, I want youto tell people what you did recently for the hospital.
spk_1: 19:42
Oh, yeah, We, uh, recently my daughter in law works isn't nice, is an icy you nurse. And obviously there are a lot of stress on what's going on. So we actually made 30 breakfast burritos, and we're getting ready to do some more this weekend and deliver him to him. And just to give him a break and something nutritious and something different in saving money, other pocket taken during their all individually wrapped, it could just take and go. The other thing that we do is like I mentioned earlier is, but the older relatives were going grocery shopping. We make a call on Thursday night and get their orders and go shopping and then delivered to their front porch and sanitize everything. And and you know, there's there's something out there going around around the hashtag of Corona kindness, and we're seeing that everywhere. So in this context to I mean, he's a personal anecdotes. But think about what you could do internally to with your teams and to show that and make sure that, um, now, why do they do some things within their community? But also, uh, recognizes act of kindness and show your human face throughout all this? So the other thing to keep
spk_0: 20:45
in mind we mentioned it earlier is that, you know, there's a lot of stress, and soon as we met and you can't hide it, um, and the mental health is huge. There's mental health implications that this is gonna cause, and again, back to how their families were dealing with it, their jobs that might have been furloughed that might have been laid off. If you're a business owner, how you gonna make payroll? How do you keep your customers happy. How do you take care of your own family and make sure things were, um, in a place where, when we come out of this that you can still be viable and understand what that new normal looks like? There's a financial health of the organization you have to think of. There's new risks more pervasive than ever in that whole anxiety around the uncertainty. And and, like Christine mentioned earlier on that grieving, that's a new element that's actually been added within the Kubler Ross model on the change curve. It was actually mentioned in the Harvard Business Review article here about 2.5 weeks ago. The grief is the new one there, and people are grieving because this hit is so quickly wasn't something that we've got to plan for anticipate. It just came out of nowhere in context, right of how things normally work. And it was an overwhelming loss of what we knew is the status quo. And it's it's really taking control of this both on a micro levels wells a macro level, so they want to stuff going on here. Lots of dynamics that are happening, so it's really important to be mindful of your own mental health, and the stress is as well as what your team is going through. And it doesn't hurt to be low, empathetic along the way to and understanding that people need to to get through this and and the other thing that we also always
spk_1: 22:26
learn and change management. Different people are going to absorb a different way, so it isn't a one size fits all. So it's really important to make sure no, only for yourselves. But let's say your front line supervisors and managers to help coach them when they're working with their teams. It might. This is new territory for a lot of those folks, and they need to be given the tools and advice and insights, much like we're sharing today to make sure that they're managing their teams effectively in in a way that's going to make them feel good knowing about themselves, but about the groups of their in charge of. So it's one thing to hear it from you, but it's even more important on how they hear it from their direct line supervisors.
spk_2: 23:03
Yeah, definitely. We won't encourage you at this time to to also look for opportunities. So, you know, with everybody transitioning from coming into an office to working from home, you know, how can you make that easier? How can you help them be successful and continue to be successful in those jobs this Rick was just talking about, You know, your leaders are typically walking by the desks and saying, Hey, how are you today on and having not check in face to face now we can't so encouraging them to find creative ways Rick mentioned earlier. We're meeting on a daily basis. It's just a daily check in. You know, we start with work, it work out of the way, and then we do some personal conversations and make sure everybody's doing okay. You know, Panorama Consulting. I just got us new headphones so that we have an easier time. We're not holding our phones. Sometimes our computers don't work, you know, allowing us to make sure that when we're attending client meetings that we have the resource is the technology that we need. You know, this really is an opportunity to think outside the box. It's going back to that pivot again. How can we be successful in this new environment. Um, how can you grow your business? You're seeing so many companies that were doing something one way they're doing something totally different. There are companies that are flourishing now that may not have been before just because they're thinking outside the box. So again, it really gives you an opportunity at this time to grow, to expand Thio, do something different. And so we're just really encouraging you to look at these
spk_1: 24:40
into filled on that, too, because a lot of our clients are in manufacturing and a lot of examples were giving her more on a professional level to being able that ability to work from home. And sometimes in those cases, they don't have that ability cause everything's happening on the factory floor. So being mindful of what those workers have, uh, we're doing that work. And how are we taking care of sanitation? How are we keeping the machines running? How are we creating this? The distance stuff that way talked about the social distancing. How do you protect them and keep him safe? Why, you keep the machines running in, and we also have clients tour in which is a second language at best. so making sure you're mindful of how you're communicating to those those folks who maybe don't speak English And also then how do you gonna communicate with them In a way where it isn't just emailed? It's the most effective way. So you have to think through some creative ways to how to do that in the scheduling and in keeping them feel safe to and making sure that the work still getting done as much as you can. So the other things
spk_0: 25:41
that I think about when you, you you stop and say Okay, some steps to take now and in the days ahead is, uh, this is a little bit of, Ah, a recap of some of the things we've been talking about, but it's really about leadership has to be out in front, you know, it's paramount in in change management. If Christie and I walk into situation into a project, doesn't have leadership support, it's visible and supportive of the project team, and the sponsors aren't engaged. We actually recommend don't doing it because it's not gonna be a priority for those other folks and to who you're dependent on getting this done. You're just gonna set up your I T team or somebody to fail because they're not gonna get to support they need. So as much as it, it matters in those kinds of context, it really matters now is that leaders need to be out in front. You might think about creating a crisis solutions team or whatever names appropriate for you that's comprised of leaders but also pulling your subject matter experts. They have a lot to say. They know what's going on. You have a lot of great ideas, is a great chance, uh, to increase that level of engagement at those people and you'll see where the cream starts to rise. See, most people, given the opportunity to participate and be part of the solution, can really help get you through this difficult time. And you might find some real heroes coming out of this, too, for the long term. Um, make sure you understand that preferred center of the information Beyonce Senior leadership, which you alluded to earlier giving those tools and talking points f ake use information just like we do in a project to those front line supervisors and how that information's getting out. As Christine mentioned the 5 to 7 times are there different venues to do that being flyers, postings in common areas, talking points or stand up meetings, those kinds of things. And you know, you work through this, think about some goals and clear path forward on what you want to get done. And it's certainly in these times it's probably more short term in medium term goals. And, frankly, they prey on a lot. But because some some cases you might be in survival mode. But it's really how do we pivot in turn and set some goals is to what we want to do, and what that's going to do is help. Not only the organization's got that leadership team come together to, so it's kind of the bullet versus shotgun approach. And so let's have a couple of bullets that are going the right direction versus everybody. Just running if and trying to figure out something in a panic mode and run around in circles and you create a spaghetti string. So it's really important to take that time and where it's hard to focus and mentally be engaged to take that step back and do that and then also solicit input from employees and customers. Big part of what we do is in our practices. Um, focus groups, surveys what have you And to start the project around readiness, Engagement. Um, just to be a great chance to actually get that input for him, um, employees, maybe even do some small focus groups and solicit that and put about what people are feeling and understand where their points of view are. What what do they want to know? More of what they were. Their fears and aspirations and hopes coming out of this is what your customers and what they're going through. What can How could you help them better? And then, you know, certainly without it goes without saying is that you need to be flexible. He's changing dynamics, so it, you know, if not daily, sometimes hourly, and certainly within every week there's something else that's going on. But is we get through this deeper and deeper. We're going to start to see where that future path might go and help us extend our thinking beyond just tomorrow.
spk_2: 29:06
Yeah, definitely. Rick, you mentioned, you know, developing goals. Uh, sit down right now. The goals that you once had a month ago are probably different than the goals you might have now. So when he says, sit down and and develop those think outside the box our new normal how can those schools be effective? You know, and then we really encourage and change management. You don't just sit down and write a mission or a or goals, but that you follow up with action steps. So if you have those goals than right action steps, Thio support those goals. You know, we talk about metrics a lot. You know how those metrics and what are those now how can they be achieved But really putting those and writing on making sure that, you know, everyone is aware of those Ah, and again that new pivot and and what that looks like for you personally and even, you know, at work, we encourage you to again gather relevant fax. Move quickly. It is a time in our life where we can't sit. We can't wait for things to change because we don't have that opportunity to, um we're going to have to be willing to change on the fly. I mean, this is a perfect example of change and, um, you know, dealing with it on a very quick basis again taking care of yourself before you take others. You know, really Take ownership of what you're doing. Give it to your employees again. We suggested you sit down and write goals or, you know a potential new mission or vision for your environment. Ask your employees what they think. Talk to them. You know, we have done that here, a panorama consulting our our managing directors have come to us and said, Hey, we want your ideas. How can we transfer? How can you transform? How can we do something different than what we've been doing? Ah, so we've done that as as a team, and it's been it's been pretty amazing what we've heard and ideas that people have. Um, you know, we talk a lot about doing things on video. You know, you're spending a lot more females than you would normally because you don't have those, you know, face to face conversations. Be president that, you know, as you're having those meetings. I know it's so easy when you're working from home to be sidetracked. It is for me. I've got kids who are you know, on videos talking to their teachers the same time I'm having meetings with either my team or, you know, with a client. And it's really having to stay focused, stay motivated on and make sure that I'm accomplishing the tests personally. Eso we just really encourage youto continue to be present through all of this
spk_0: 31:49
well said, You know, that really
spk_1: 31:52
ties back to your core values is an organization to This
spk_0: 31:54
is a really great opportunity to help let those manifest themselves in real time and through you again to your actions in not just the words on the wall. So if you have things like integrity and excellence and trust and honesty, these air the time for those values to shine through and help everybody understand that responsibility, like
spk_1: 32:15
Christie mentioned about owning it, is giving people the opportunity to own part of those solutions own part of those ideas and innovations and stuff. So it really helps an organization if you grounded into core
spk_0: 32:26
values to lean on those to your advantage.
spk_1: 32:29
Three other things on some steps to keep in mind is you move forward is being mindful off who is and who should deliver messages depending on the level of severity or importance or strategic impacts. S So, for instance, if it's something about furloughs or layoffs, that certainly should come at a very high level. But then, if there's information has to trickle down to managers and how that works with their teams to make sure that those steps are included. But also, if it's celebrating Cem Cem victories and some new innovation and celebrate some of the things that we're starting to do is an organization to come out of this. Make sure you understand who's going to say that and how and when acknowledge what you and your team are doing to get through this, like we've shared a lot of anecdotal stories today on this podcast from our own lives is, you know, capture those in a bottle and share those within teams doesn't have to be across the entire organization, but it's again, let's say it's a manufacturing organization is within a functional group. Make sure there's a forum there to share. Some of those stories have become inspiration for others to do well to be well and act well and actually get them Thio to be supportive and frankly, you could bring a team closer together because you get to know people at a different level because a lot of times we leave our personal cells at the door, walk in. And this is a chance to really see people in a different light, which could be worked wonders for you long term, Um, and stay focused on the solutions team and everyone else. So if you have that crisis
spk_0: 33:59
solutions team in play, make sure that's who should see miss being focused and give them the permission to focus on that and maybe get rid of some of their day to day duties that they've used tohave or diminish some of those and really put all their energy behind what can be done here to reach out to those others who might have inputs and influence on it. But let a smaller courtroom be ableto work on those. Those areas will be most of path of the organization and make sure you also have clarified your roles and death decision process is internally. Make sure people know who who's on first what's on Second
spk_1: 34:35
and make sure that you're monitoring external information sources like the C D C. Center for Disease Control in the World Health Organization. What's happening at the macro level, but then also at your local level, be your governor or your It's a marrow royal type of the situation. Whatever. What's happening from the government side of things. Also making sure that your company standard operating procedures are well in place. Make sure you understand what your vacation, sick pay and F M L A looks like what short term disability look like, How you handling time off, um, and making sure that that's consistent throughout the organization. Maybe there's a chance here to enhance that. That's happening in a lot of organizations and how we're taking care of our people and also think through contingency plans to it. If we're gonna have any work disruption, be a short term or long term, and how we're gonna have to deal with that. And then, as we've always said all along, is to make sure we communicate that and give regular and relevant updates while also encouraging healthy hygiene and making sure your supply chain is well informed with what you're doing and how you're coping with things of in country up communications with them?
spk_2: 35:45
Definitely. I was listening to a podcast yesterday, and I really liked what this person said. They said, Listen to the story, you're telling yourself So really sit back and think about how your viewing, your current situation in what story? Because we can really get bogged down and we talk about this and change the answer. In general, when a change happens, we could get really bogged down in the negatives. But it's it's flipping that it's twisting those words. It's instead of seeing a risk, you're seeing an opportunity looking at those opportunities and again you've seen so much. We talked about it over and over, being creative. There's two new relationships that have formed. There's new families, you know, You see families outside walking together that you've never seen before. Um, it really is an opportunity to tell your story in a different light. Try because
spk_1: 36:35
I've seen more sidewalk chalk on the left two weeks and I have in my whole life. And what's part of that, too, is it is. People are going through those when you think back to the change curve is you need to also make sure it's okay for them to event, though, and go through that remorse in that grieving process before they can move out. So within every risk, Uh, and there is certainly an opportunity, and that's what you want to focus on. But don't be. Don't hold back. Have your people hold back on being able to share their their fears that are going with this and that grief, because it's much like if you lose a loved one and hopefully anybody listening. This hasn't had to go through that with this current pandemic,
spk_0: 37:12
but it's how you cope with that to be able to move forward. So it's giving that form. But don't let it linger there. So you acknowledge it. You would give him the venue. But now okay, great. But now what do we got to do? Because the sun's going to still come up tomorrow?
spk_2: 37:27
Definitely. And Rick and I d'oh focus groups, and it really has been a way for us to learn about the company on a very intimate level on. And so what we do in one of our breakouts is as we look at risks and opportunities, you know, obviously it's typically project based, but you could do this in a culture you can do it in in a very open environment. But we asked people to identify current risks that they see. You can sit down and you can say, Here's the Here's the following risks that we see right now, But then you have to His Rick just said, Focus on those opportunities that come from those risks. And usually what we find in these focus groups is we have, you know, a page of risks that we have three pages of opportunities on. It really gives you on idea of how things could really look and how successful things could be. You know, resistance is normal. It's natural. It's gonna happen. You see that a lot. You see, you know, here in Colorado are now required. Um, recommended that we wear masks and you see, people are still not wearing masks. Um, you know, spend people that have been vocal about that and complaining, uh, you know, how come you don't have your mask? We really have to be careful how we are managing the resistance of things that we don't necessarily agree with identifying that figuring out where that root causes on been working through that resistance ourselves.
spk_0: 38:50
Well, the analogy, too, That is out here in Colorado. We like to ski a lot. You know, for decades, nobody wore a helmet. Wasn't cool. They were Elmo, you were dorks. So now all of a sudden, it's like you look around and you you're looking at the idiots who don't wear a helmet. So that took a lot of time to make that transition. What we're doing now with this covert 19 is it on steroids? So, like you said with the face mask he went to Well, we don't really need to. You in the CDC is like, maybe not and all of a sudden, but even in Asia, they were. So what was up, Nelson? Boom. You got You gotta wear months overnight. People were learning how to make them themselves. But now you're starting to notice those who aren't wearing them as opposed to those who wore wearing. I'm just like the ski helmets.
spk_2: 39:30
Yeah, absolutely. We really encourage you to during this time has talked to your talk to your customers. Talk to your suppliers. We tend to forget about them in all of this, but they're also being impacted in this situation. Talk to them, See if there's something you could be doing different again Getting creative. How can you help them make their lives easier? We're hearing a lot of supplier issues, you know you can't find toilet paper. So now you know when you find toilet paper online, you're calling your friend and saying, Hey, toilet papers on Amazon. Grab it quick again. Just reaching out on a personal level and a work level of where we, you know, what do we need and how can we get it and collaborate together? Really, it is paying attention to each other. We can't say anything more about communicate, communicate, communicate. It is so important during this time.
spk_0: 40:23
Yeah, And then, you know, we're trying
spk_1: 40:24
to wrap this up for you today, but you know there is. We start toe put a bow on. Some of these steps to take is most importantly, I think about the distractions that might be in place and how you can remove those and reset your priorities is needed. Be as proactive as you can because it's certainly in this situation. There's a little bit of reactivity that's happening because everything's coming out of so fast. But as much as you could be proactive, it's highly advisable to get out in front of things. And there are things in your control that you could be proactive about around communications, your own business. Things like that be poised. I know that's kind of a different word that we don't always use, but it's really about how you come across and people are gonna be looking to you and your front line managers just how they're reacting to this and people will respond in kind. Be honest, as we said, Be trustworthy and, if at all possible, focus on success metrics how we're gonna come out of this. And that could be success. Metric of use, retention of employees, retention of customers. It could be retention of revenue or the success mentioned. However, soon we're going to recover on our revenue and how soon they'll hire people back on how. How are we gonna define that new normal from a metric standpoint, so wherever you can, it's that whole. If you can measure it, you can improve. It is to make sure we understand if you, as much as you can apply some of those two. When you're setting up those goals,
spk_2: 41:47
we know that we have given you a lot of information. Eso What we want to do is just kind of end by saying, How can we help you now? Uh, you know, within paying around consulting we can come in and we can help you in a lot of different ways. Way. Ever do anything out of the box? It is never standard. There are. Yes, we might have templates that we use, but we always tailored towards your needs so we can help you come in and we can facilitate. We can help coach your leaders through this time. We can help you to find, you know, your new goals. Strategy sessions. Uh, you know, can we help you build your crisis solutions tamer or however you want to name it? We could come in and we love doing stakeholder engagement. That is, one of our most favorite things to do is how can we get your stakeholders involved, You know, focus on your business leaders. You know, leadership is so critical to your business, we can come in and we could do surveys to see where things are out we can come in and weaken D'oh ah sessions, you know, virtually online. Obviously, we can't do it in person currently, but we can do all of that on line for you and just really help you figure out where you're at and where you're enough. Next steps could be
spk_0: 43:09
that's right, and coming off of those those efforts, Christie was saying on the focus groups, that could be for what I'm once it can be three young ones. It can be small groups to really give Those people are private, confidential place to talk about what's going on and capture some of those things, both from a risk and opportunity, she said. We usually get more opportunities, but there's a a culture of them, a fear that they might be having or their own grieve that a lot of times we come in as 1/3 party and really help extract that stuff by giving him the confidentiality that they might be seeking to do that. So our offerings were all available in part or all the cart oh are in full things that come out of a lot of that. Learning will help us learn about a communication strategy, the types of materials you might need, talking points. It might be something where we reach out to your customers. Your supply chain T get their feedback on your behalf on some of this stuff is just because your resource is air challenged to So isn't that you couldn't do it yourself, but a lot of times, because, especially now you just don't have enough arms and legs to go around so we can come in and help you out on a short term basis and help provide valuable information. We can also help doing coaching sessions for functional teams and management as well as subject matter experts on a lot of the things we talked about today, and we can also help facilitate change impact sessions. So if there's things going to be happening as you start to emerge from this and what second mean is an organization or from a functional standpoint, we can help that process as well. So lots of opportunity there that would love to help you at all possible. Thank you for joining us. For more information on how panorama can help your organization, please visit www dot panorama dash consulting dot com or call us at 17205151377