I sit on the board of a wonderful nonprofit called Causewave Community Partners. Causewave is a nonprofit for nonprofits, whose mission is to help other nonprofits meet their mission.
At the recent Zoom board meeting, we were talking about what the nonprofit industry is experiencing and while very different from my daily work, there are many parallels to what we in the for-profit space are going through.
It was during this discussion that I heard some of the most enlightening comments. Another board member was talking about her nonprofit and how she was glad to be getting back to work. She hasn’t been off of work, in fact it is quite the opposite. She talked about the initial swell of work, the planning, the huge todo list of “cancel this, reschedule that, apply for this, submit this form” etc. All of which came fast and without warning.
Get Back
What she meant by “now I can get back to work” was that we were all thrown into new realities. For many, it was a new environment that we need to figure out how to survive in. Now that the swell is over, we have to take a step back, observe and take action.
Business leaders no matter what the industry or what size all have a version of this swell of work, planning, and activities. I know that we have been in our own version of this. I am not sure if I was just ready to hear these words “time to get back to work” or if I needed to hear them but when the board meeting ended I felt a spark and a sense of clarity I have not felt in some time.
So how do we get there and what can we expect to see next?
Taking a look at more holistically on how to view all of this, Salesforce has done some great work on how to classify where you are and what you should be doing.
- Stabilize – Mitigate Short-term risks and stabilize operation.
- Reopen – Plan and orchestrate how to return to work.
- Growth – Accelerate the change in order to grow in the next normal
While we are all at a different phase of stabilizing, reopen or grow many of us are trying to figure out what the new normal looks like. As we look at where we are, how do we frame what we should be doing in each phase?
Perhaps it only comes down to 3 points of view:
- How you make a decision
- How you work
- How you engage your customers and partners
While everyone is on their own journey around all of this, remember that system alignment is going to be an important part of getting back to work and will aid in how you make decisions and how you engage your customers and partners.
We will have more coming out around all of this in the coming days and weeks. Be sure to check in and if you need help aligning your Salesforce instance with your new normal, let us know.
These times are unpredictable but we have to keep our heads up and get back to the work we do best.
