It can be easy to become discouraged trying to navigate the fallout from the current COVID-19 situation; our people are scared for their livelihoods and their families, our work is at risk, and suddenly our businesses need to operate in a completely new way to survive. We are finding ourselves in an unprecedented crisis.
Now, more than ever, we need to ground ourselves in where we’ve come from and what we believe in. For us at Beyond Green, this means going back to the original metaphor that has kept our founder and director going for years: the parallels between running a business and mountaineering.
1. Bring the right tools for the job
If you want to scale a mountain safely, you need to have the right equipment in your bag to manage what nature throws at you. In this current crisis, this means re-evaluating what you need to keep the business running day-to-day. Now that we are past the first week after the lock-down, it’s time to sit down and look at how your improvised solutions are working for you. You will probably already have tools in your repertoire that are great for the job. Re-evaluate if it is worth investing in new ones, whether that be online project management tools, a different video conferencing platform, or a streamlined way to manage and store your documents remotely. You won’t need all the tools immediately – we are barely past the first waypoint up the mountain of this crisis – but you’ll want to know when to plan for them. Don’t forget to have a look at current support options – Business Gateway keeps an up-to-date list of funding support and grant options here, for example.
2. Set a course of action
You know what your tools are and how to keep going for the immediate future? Now you’ll need to define how you want to use those tools. There is a lot of uncertainty right now; we won’t know what to expect until we’re in it, so the plans we can make aren’t based on the day-to-day. They are based on business strategy, and the core values of the company. They are your compass, helping to point you into the best direction when you need it the most, keeping you on track even through the thickest fog.
3. Have a check-in buddy
In mountaineering, a check-in buddy is someone who contacts you after an agreed time to make sure you have made it home safely. In business, there are two types of check-in buddies; on a strategic level, having someone to discuss business challenges with will help remove some of the pressure of trying to come up with solutions by yourself. Checking in with your team regularly can help everyone feel more grounded. It also gives you space to understand what they (and you) need to continue working in our new normal, and allows you to change course when needed.
It is also worth considering mental health support if you have not previously accessed any; Mind is a good starting place for this.
4. Manage your energy
We are in this for the long run. This means that one of the most important decisions you can make is to adjust your expectations; focus on how to keep going, not on how to get as much done as quickly as possible. It isn’t realistic to aim to deliver the same volume of work right now or to expect your job to function as before, especially since all sectors are affected and your workload will shift daily. Instead, focus on how you can keep your own energy and motivation up and on re-setting your expectations as often as you need to.
5. Celebrate successes
Finally and perhaps most importantly, we need to remember to celebrate our successes as much as possible. Maybe this looks like a weekly highlights meeting, maybe it’s about reminding ourselves of what we’ve achieved every day – whatever works for you to help you notice the progress amidst the worries. This is the moment where you take a breath, look back and see how far up the mountain you have already made it. We can’t predict what is going to happen, but we can pay attention to the work we are doing today and support each other on this path through the crisis.