Daily Connections Recap - 4/20/2020 - Even Better Normal

As we enter a period of renewal and change, Your Clear Next Step is committed to helping our customers make their businesses and workdays even better. We will be here to walk beside you, to listen, to connect, and to aid in your search for clarity. In doing so, we are offering a free, daily Zoom call, called Daily Connections, at 1:15pm (CDT) every weekday from 3/19/2020-5/1/2020.

These calls are a chance for us to share tips and discussion about relevant topics (working remotely, maintaining consistency in uncertain times, building relationships across geography, staying motivated, staying connected, etc) and network with each other to provide help and support during this time of change.

Thank you to everyone who was able to join us today! The next call will be Tuesday, April 21th at 1:15pm (CDT). Click here to join.

On today's call...

Sinikka talked about our even better normal for now and after.

We’ve got an opportunity now, to review these past four weeks and figure out how we want to go forward.  The situation has changed, and “surviving” the crisis, or “just getting through until this is over” isn’t going to cut it anymore.  As we stop and figure out what the next 4 weeks look like, here are some tools we might try. 

1. Retrospective of the past 4 weeks 
   1. What went well 
   2. What would I do differently if I could go back 
   3. What did I learn? 
   4. What still puzzles me? 
2. Business owners and leaders – look at these four dimensions of business 
   1. Products and services – what we sell or the services we provide 
   2. Customers – the people we serve 
   3. Vendors and partners – the people who help us deliver 
   4. Employees & internal team – who we are internally 
3. Three aspects of getting work done 
   1. People 
   2. Process 
   3. Technology/Tools 
4. Six dimensions of wellness 
   1. Emotional 
   2. Occupational 
   3. Physical 
   4. Social 
   5. Intellectual 
   6. Spiritual 

• I think this is a great time to think about this. Don't wait until this is all over to look back or reflect because you’ll forget. I also think a lot of people might do the retrospective, but they don't take the next step to consider what they’ll do about it.  
• “five frogs are sitting on a log. One decides to jump off. How many are left? The answer – all five frogs are still on the log because deciding and doing are different"  
• We can be good about goal setting, but it really important to look back as well. It can be tough to look forward effectively, if you have looked back at where you’ve been.  
• Sometimes we ask “what can we do going forward” but we don’t ask ourselves the “whys” behind why we want to change.  
• One of the reasons I really love the four retrospective questions is that it gives us the opportunity to celebrate and think about all the things that did go well.  
• I also really love the four questions because it challenges us to think beyond what was good and what was bad.  
• The “what still puzzles us questions” can be a good challenge to try and figure out something new while we are still in this new normal 
  • I think if we really, truly want to answer that question there is a level of humility we need to have to be open to think that there is still something we don’t know.  

• Our knowledge of technology - I think when we come out of this my team is going to be able make much better use of their technology 
• My husband and I have been able to re-create our routine Friday night happy hour really well.  
• In the business ramping up communication seems to have really helped to keep people on the same page.   
• My family was able to find a good routine for socially distancing ourselves. 
• I was intentionally limiting TV which has allowed me to think outside the box of who I could connect and communicate with, or get outside, or engage with whatever emotion I was feeling, instead of numb it with the TV.  

• If I had to do something different, I would have paused a little longer before reacting to some of the public fears so quickly.  We had to back track on a couple of processes once the smoke cleared a bit.   
• I wish I would have communicated a bit more in my business 

• New technologies 
• Grocery shopping 2-weeks at a time is much easier than I would have expected 

• What effect does this really have on my industry – both short term (as things are still shut down) and long term (as life starts to open back up again).