Crisis occurred and we have activated plan B. First we took care of the safety and health of our employees and then the liquidity of the company. We have leaned, reorganized or digitalized the processes, and maybe even introduced new products and services. Employees work from home, and we transferred our activities as much as possible to the Internet. We have strenghtened the contacts with our strategic partners, upgraded our marketing and we will welcome the end of the crisis in a quite good condition. Is there anything else we could do to be more successful when the crisis is over?
Yes. We can rethink about the strategic foundations of our business: mission, vision and values, and adjust them as needed.
But why would we do that if we successfully survived the crisis?
Because a lot has changed in the meantime.
Let's start on a personal level.
- Socializing is limited to a narrow family circle;
- Working from home is suddenly possible;
- Younger colleagues also play the teachers' role;
- And it is very likely that we have changed our shopping habits at least a little bit.
But that's not all. The changes are much deeper …
The crisis is always an opportunity for all of us:
- To (re)think about where we are going to, what do we want to achieve, how do we want to impact the world;
- To strengthen the bonds between us that were only superficial or almost completely lost due to the “crazy world”;
- To rethink what really matters to us.
"What really matters to us" are in fact our values, and in these days we became more aware of them, or have even changed them!
Of course, this applies not only to us (you and me) but also to our colleagues, our employees.
And the same goes for our customers, business partners, as well as the company as a whole.
And if values have changed, then the visions of individuals and groups may have changed as well.
The same goes for organizations of all kinds …
Mission, vision and values are extremely important. Not because they are nice to see and hear in marketing materials, but because they are an invisible, but extremely powerful magnet that attracts our customers, greatly enhances the loyalty of our employees and strategic partners and, last but not least, has an impact on the (better) world. Not to talk about business results at all.
But only if they are designed truly sincerely. With a sincere and powerful mission and vision, the impossible becomes possible. We can move mountains.
So, the time to rethink our policies and lay the foundations for our future work is NOW.
