PIVOT
Problems can often be solved by looking for “bright spots.” This strategy involves finding what is working and doing more of it. During the COVID pandemic, fast and successful “pivots” by innovative businesses have been the most interesting “bright spots”. While much of the world has been “caught behind the 8 ball,” and slow to respond, some businesses moved quickly and adjusted to the new reality.
What is a pivot?
A pivot can be defined as a turn or a twist. It can also be more specifically defined as a change in your actions so that they are different than they were before. What makes a pivot different from other changes is that the turn occurs from a center point. A dance “pivot turn” involves stepping but then changing direction while keeping the ball of your foot firmly in place.
Today I want to share some bright spot business pivots and what I have learned from watching them.
“This is not the time for fine dining”
Canlis is one of the best-known fancy restaurants in Seattle. It has been around for 69 years. As part of Seattle’s epicenter, the owners could see the downturn coming. Brainstorming with their staff, they decided and announced a switch to drive through burgers, drive through bagels, and home delivery. This was done and ready to implement BEFORE the Governor’s announcement, March 16th, that all restaurants and bars would be closed. The fast planning and announcement on social media meant that their home meal delivery service was quickly scheduled out. They have been able to keep their staff, and continue to serve the city with amazing food, just in a different way.
“Would you come to Yoga online?”
The Yoga studio I love was not a big user of technology before the crisis. But with 4 locations and employees to support, they switched to livestream classes quickly. They were upfront that they would need to try a couple formats and offered the first weeks of classes free. They figured out the technology, and when I “attended” last Saturday morning, there were 115 other paying participants, 4 times as many as I would normally see for an in-person class.
“It takes a village”
Veterinary schools have been forced to make numerous changes in order to have students learn remotely. While initially, it looked like just 1st – 3rd students would need to do classes from home, it quickly became apparent that social distancing could only be achieved if 4th year students were also learning from home.
It is a huge challenge to continue to see cases in the hospital, supervise interns and residents, and also provide strong interactive online learning for 4th year vet students at home. A group of professors at University of Florida realized that this would be more doable if they worked collaboratively and “crowdsourced” development of interactive materials. VICE (Veterinary Isolated Clinical Education) rounds was born. The effort now includes close to 50 interactive teaching videos and worksheets contributed by faculty from 20 different private practices and universities. (Are you a faculty interested in participating – click here)
So what does it take to pivot effectively?
Five thoughts on the effective pivot
1) Pivots happen from a central point and work best when your center is your “why.”
These groups all made graceful pivots in new directions by being really clear that their overall mission wasn’t changing. For Canlis, that was serving the city with great food while caring for their staff. For 8 Limbs, that was providing much needed community and yoga during a time of stress. For VICE, it was the necessity of providing quality vet student training while realizing that going it alone was harder and less effective than working together.
2) Read and listen widely.
Knowing that a crisis is coming involves being informed. Reading the news, especially internationally is crucial in being prepared. Looking for change needs to involve looking outside your industry. In many cases, solutions to problems come from outside your normal network.
3) Your employees are an amazing resource.
The people who respond best in a crisis are those that listen to and understand their staff’s concerns. In addition, they work to motivate that concern into action and brainstorming. Most of the best ideas and plans that were hatched in my former hospitals were from my staff. I’m a good implementer but less good at innovative ideas.
4) Take risks.
It is OK to start something, realize it needs tweaking, change it a little, and try again. One of the things we can learn from technology is the constant testing and update process works better than releasing only perfect products. You sometimes just don’t know what the issues will be until you try it in the real world. It is OK to try version 1.0, modify, and then release 2.0.
5) Cultivate situational awareness.
Situational awareness is being aware of one’s surroundings and identifying potential threats and dangers. In a crisis like this, the threats are going to change and evolve so pivots may need to occur multiple times. The ability to be aware of changes early, to adapt quickly, and to have your team work with you to implement will be the key to survival.
How can your practice pivot to survive and thrive in the new reality? I recommend a brainstorm and pivot session with your team. It might work best to open the discussion with this classic video scene from Friends.
