Finding Opportunities (#7)

Like many of you, I’m in the midst of the third week of telework, virtual school for my daughter, and social distancing. And it’s tough to see anything beyond the immediate challenges of figuring out Zoom, trying to process all the information about the crisis, and worrying about my family and friends.

The coronavirus crisis has and will continue to disrupt the status quo. There is value in thinking about how to adapt your team or company to the new environment. Andy Grove, former Intel CEO, once said, “Bad companies are destroyed by crisis. Good companies survive them. Great companies are improved by them.” Like all crises, the coronavirus crisis will change the risk/reward balance for your team, increase your organization’s focus, encourage innovation, and reveal opportunities. So how do you find these opportunities in the crisis?

Seven questions might help you and your team start thinking about finding an opportunity and become one of the great companies formed out of the coronavirus crisis of 2020:

1) What do we do best? How do we continue to do that in the current environment?

2) What is the weakest portion of the business? Should we discard the weakest part of the business? Should we try to make it better?

3) What initiatives had we put on hold prior to March 2020? Are any of them worthwhile to pursue now? (I know this one applies to all my home projects…)

4) How are needs shifting? How can we meet those needs?

5) What should the business be doing during the crisis (it may be helpful to break this down and think about it by quarter for the rest of the year)?

6) Do we have the right people to meet the challenge? Should we cross-train our people? Should we hire people to meet the new needs?

7) Where do we want the business to be after the crisis?

Hope these questions help you and the team start thinking about finding opportunities during the coronavirus crisis. Let me know if other questions have helped reveal an opportunity to your team.