The biggest lesson businesses can learn from the pandemic isn’t what you think it is.
COVID 19, aka Coronavirus, is the most significant success of 2020. Disastrous, yes, but an absolute hit. Not because it unleashed a deadly pandemic that took the world by surprise or forced the markets to shut down, or turned the system on its head. It’s a hit because it really hit home. The virus affected every single person across the world. Even those who hadn’t contracted it. Some lost jobs, others lost loved ones, and all of us lost our freedom to some degree.
Yes, it is tragic, and these are terrible times. But, can we all stop complaining for a minute and think? How did the Coronavirus, a microscopic organism, reach billions of people in a matter of months? You may not arrive at the answer immediately, but when you ponder a bit, you’ll see it’s pretty obvious.
It started with one.
For any virus, survival is the only goal. It aims small, so it can grow big. Always. For businesses struggling to survive in the pandemic world, there is no lesson more significant than this.
Think like the virus. Think small.
Here are three ways businesses can think and act small to realize concrete success.
Get rid of the big and the rigid.
No, bigger is not always better. As businesses minimize effort and maximize output, they tend to employ standardized boilerplates that are only equipped to churn out a one-size-fits-all approach. Large corporations are incredibly guilty of this. However, such an approach can adversely affect opportunities for innovation and impede consumer responsiveness. Rendering the business completely unprepared for unprecedented challenges like a raging pandemic. Trade that standardized template for a more compact and flexible model. One that adapts to people and their ideas, not the other way around.
Focus on the individual, for real.
Without individuals, there will be no organizations. Be it in the form of employees or consumers, it is people who ensure businesses stay open. While there’s a lot of talk about fostering an environment that rewards individual creativity and initiative, few corporations have taken the effort to make it an everyday reality. If a company doesn’t encourage free thinking within its walls, its external brand image also mirrors this. Making the brand divorced from the consumer’s reality. Real connections are the need of the hour. And, they can only be forged through a personalized approach.
Go digitally compact for significant impact.
The digital space has the power to create wonders. But it can also be very flashy and distracting. Navigating through the plethora of online tools can be confusing and overwhelming, especially for businesses trying to drive their digital presence when they are forced to scale down their offline existence. However, no other space or platform amplifies the profound impact of thinking small like the digital space. Micro-segmenting the consumer base combined with insightful data allows businesses to localize communication in unimaginably creative ways. The meaningful online conversations brands have with their consumers can go a long way in building trust and love, especially at a time of social distancing.
To sum it up, the world’s no longer about grand gestures or larger-than-life experiences. It’s about talking less and listening more. It’s about the tiny moments and the warm smiles. It’s about really being there for one another. And, businesses that understand this think small.
“Success isn’t overnight. It’s when every day you get a little better than the day before. It all adds up.” – Dwayne Johnson
Practice some of these techniques in life and let me know how it helped you. Feel free to connect with me and share your experiences.