3 Ways: Taking Control Of Your Business During COVID-19

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During this uncertain time, there are a great deal of things out of our control. Despite this, there is also a lot we can do to influence the business outcomes that we achieve, reduce the impact of this uncertain time and take the driver's seat in our businesses. This blog shares 3 actionable takeaways from the panel: Succeeding At What You Can Control During COVID-19 that you can utilise and apply to your business or team.  

Watch the panel discussion here:Business Planning During COVID-19:  How To Succeed At What You Can Control or continue reading for our top 3 takeaways.

On the panel, we were joined by Dean Breyley from EOS Worldwide, Andy Johnson from London School Online and Andrea Livesey from StreetGames. Each of our panellists had unique insights from throughout the training industry and beyond into the actions we can take now to approach our ‘new normal’.  

This blog explores 3 ways that you can support your training business in a time of uncertainty:  

  1. Review and adjust your goals 🥅
  2. Maximise your resources and knowledge 🧠
  3. Take a clarity break 👁🗨 

You can watch the full panel discussion here or read on to discover 3 ways that you can take control and manage your business more effectively during COVID-19.  

 1. Review and adjust your goals  

For most businesses, organisational planning would typically occur on either a quarterly or annual basis, however these have become weekly, or fortnightly. Our panellists shared with us, their new ways of planning and how this has impacted the goals they set at the beginning of 2020.  

Andrea shared that at StreetGames it was a case of all their previous planning going out of the window and starting again on a fresh sheet:

“It’s almost become a fortnightly plan now so we’re putting in regular reviews to keep up with the changing situation in terms of both the restrictions and the information that we’re receiving”.  

Dean noted some similarities with the clients that he works with:

“We’re used to a 90 day strategic pulse and inside of that a weekly tactical pulse and we’re just seeing it shorten. 

One thing I’m hearing a lot at the moment is this talk of horizons and how far out can you actually see to plan and the horizon has drastically lowered. “  

At accessplanit, we took a step back from our usual quarterly goal setting and instead prioritised a number of monthly projects that we knew would be needed now but may no longer be relevant in a quarter’s time. This allowed us to react quickly, prepare ourselves to the ongoing changes and be a great business for our staff and our customers.

2. Maximise your resources and knowledge  

Andy Johnson is a Director at London School Online which is part of a wider business: The London School of English. The London School of English deliver predominantly classroom based courses whereas London School Online (as the name suggests) deliver mainly online programs. This knowledge from the London School Online team enabled the rest of the business to transition faster 

“Across our training centres in the UK in March we had around 300 students who were doing onsite, intensive courses with us. We have 3 training centres and of course they all closed their doors.

We had to quickly alter our complete courses structure so instead of having 30 hours intensive instruction online we had to be creative because the idea of mirroring what happens in face-to-face classroom doesn’t really work”. 

“It’s been very fluid and we’re anticipating that this is going to be our normal for the rest of the year”.  

Related reading: Practical Advice From Andy Johnson For Online Training Delivery 

At accessplanit, one of the ways this has looked for us, has been redirecting people to the tasks of most importance and undertaking roles that they wouldn’t in ordinary circumstancesThis allowed us to meet the needs of our customers while not adding any additional costs (which is extremely crucial during this time). Luckily, we have a team of very talented people with a range of transferable skills! 

Related reading: Managing Motivation And Wellbeing For Your Staff During A Crisis

3. Take clarity break  

Dean Breyley from EOS Worldwide’s helps businesses from all different industries to achieve their visions. To do this he uses a number of tools which complete the EOS Toolbox. We asked him to share the one tool he would suggest all leaders, managers and individuals should be using during this time.  

“There’s one tool that gets overlooked most often by most teams that’s really important now which is called the clarity break.

This is about taking time for you to actually stop and just think because everybody is so busy right now and there’s so much demand on our time and everybody isn’t necessarily being as resourceful as they possibly could be.” 

“If they just took a moment to reflect, think and plan, you get so much out of having a structured think about what is the best, most effective thing I could be doing with my time right now or what is the one thing I can do to make a difference for the business”.  

Related reading: Commit to Clarity Breaks 

Want more great advice and content for your training business?  

Our Everest 2020 Virtual Summit featured: 

 🗣 18 speakers 

🕗 5+ hours of great content 

 30+ questions answered live 

👨 ‍5 panel sessions with industry experts 

 4 downloadable slide decks 

Get access to our exclusive Everest Virtual Summit resources created for training industry professionals for FREE herecorona virus and the training industry webinar

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