Capturing the Momentum of the Economic Recovery: Accelerate Your Growth in the Second Half of 2021

If you are a business leader, you are likely still experiencing the lingering effects and stress of the global pandemic. You might be facing supply shortages, a reduced pipeline, and staffing shortages, as well as lingering doubts from the challenges you have endured from the last year. This being said, you also likely know that the economy is recovering – spending is increasing, unemployment is dropping, and by the end of the year, the gross domestic product is even projected to reach, at least temporarily, the path that was projected for it had the pandemic never happened.

 Now, as a leader of your company, you might be in a rather challenging position. For over a year, you had to firefight – dealing with an unpredictable market in a time of international uncertainty, while also taking care of the people you employ and in your community. Now, to scale your business and capitalize on the economic recovery, you must switch mentalities – from surviving to thriving. While this might sound challenging, we have three tips on actions you can take to put yourself in the right headspace for growth in the second half of 2021.

Align to a Mission

First, to get out of your head, we recommend that you focus on something that is bigger than yourself.  At PFD, we are deeply passionate about the profound importance of having a vision and mission for your life and company, how they can clarify your thinking, and get you out of daily firefighting. By creating or reconnecting with a mission and vision for your company and your life, you can become inspired again – aligning toward where you would like to be long-term, and taking steps to get there. This can be an effective way to fight against burnout and reignite passion. If you would like to learn more about creating an effective vision and purpose for your company, check out the blog post here.

Get the Right People

Getting the right people into your organization can be the greatest opportunity and the greatest challenge that you face. On one hand, with unemployment decreasing, the market is getting more competitive to find great talent, but on the other, having the right people in the right roles will be transformational for your organization. Often, to get the right people, you have to be creative. To create a creative sourcing plan, take fifteen minutes to consider the questions below to identify potential sources of talent that fit your company culture:

1. Who do you need to talk to at your local Universities or Community Colleges?

2. Are there nonprofits aligned with your mission whose board you need to be on?

3. Are there major community events that you need to chair or be on the planning committee for?

4. Are there other well-run organizations whose leaders you need to partner with?

5. Who are the five most influential people in your industry that you should talk to?

6. Who are the five most influential people in your community that you should talk to?

7. Who do you need to buy lunch?

Focus on what you can control

Finally, while there is a lot about our businesses that are not directly in our control, like supply chains and sales pipelines, we suggest that you focus on what you can control. It is a simple concept - easier said than done. We have found that there are two things senior teams can do that will set you up for growth in the latter half of 2021.

1. Cultivate Operational Excellence

   If your pipeline is slow at the moment, perhaps you can use this season where you are less busy to cultivate operational excellence in your organization. Perhaps this means you roll out a new project management software, or any other software you have been avoiding putting into your organization because of the length of time it will take to install. Perhaps you update employee manuals, get the team into an online dashboard, or cultivate a coaching rhythm that allows you to coach your team candidly and consistently for success. Whatever the case, use this time to intentionally work on your operations so that you and your team have the capacity for growth later in the year.

2. Conduct Senior Leader Planning Sessions

   Having the right people in the right roles on your team is critical for success. These are the people, if they are A Players, that will come up with creative solutions for challenges and help reignite passion among your other senior team members. Having the right people in these key roles, and actively communicating with these people via senior leader planning sessions, will take pressure off you as the CEO and lead to better outcomes overall.

With the economic recovery already happening, right now is when we need to invest time and energy to transforming our mindset and business to scale. If you would like to inquire about senior planning sessions, please contact us here.

2020 Was Brutal. We Can Undoubtedly Make 2021 Better.

Admiral James Stockdale -
U.S. Navy File Photo, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

As written in the Jim Collins' book Good to Great, The Stockdale Paradox refers to Admiral James Stockdale, who was a prisoner-of-war during the Vietnam war. Being highest-in command at the Hanoi Hilton POW camp, Stockdale held the responsibility of creating conditions to increase the survival rate of his men, while also enduring horrible torture and no certainty if he would make it out alive.

It was in these conditions that Stockdale created a very simple formula (the Paradox) to triumph in the most challenging and uncertain of circumstances: 

Acknowledge and confront in every way the brutal facts of your situation and hold onto the unwavering faith that you will prevail in the end.

 As business leaders, we know that 2020 has been tough. As we reflect on the end of this year, we are fully aware that this year has brought challenges unlike anything we have ever seen before. Before this year, we had never used the term “social distancing”, nor had Zoom ever been so popular. We have heard the words uncertainty and unprecedented more times than we could count.  We celebrated birthdays and holidays virtually, we did “drive by” graduation ceremonies, and we became used to working from home or in masks. We watched with bated breath as we saw the racial turmoil unfold, and our hearts sunk as we saw the economy suffer because we knew that meant the loss of jobs and livelihoods for people who really needed it. This year has been undoubtedly difficult, and we would have good reason to perseverate on the challenges this year has brought forth. If we were to take the advice of Admiral Stockdale, we should not only the brutal facts of 2020, but also go forth into 2021 with hopeful optimism that we will prevail through these circumstances.

In short, we ask you to persevere in your vision.

We know that this is no small ask. To succeed in this time doesn’t just take the spirit of perseverance, it takes a well-founded strategy and steadfast execution. Further, it takes seeing the vast opportunities in a market that only seems to have readily visible challenges. There is reason to hope, for a better 2021, and we will need to be able to set ourselves up well to be able to capitalize on some opportunities. After the last pandemic in 1919, the United States saw the roaring 20s, with abundant wealth and a prosperous economy. Experts suggest that 2021 will see a similar economic boom, even if it will take time to get there, with the economy getting worse before it gets better.

So, what’s the secret to capitalizing on all of the opportunities that 2021 has to offer?

Creating a rock-solid annual plan with your senior leadership team.

The end of the year is this extraordinary time to be able to look towards a better future. The annual planning process is crucial to making that future a reality. This process becomes to really step back and look at the market in a meaningful way. Further, we can use this time to reengage with our customers to understand how their needs are changing and evolving. With our leadership teams, we should be asking great questions of each other, having productive and honest conversations - thoroughly hashing out our strategy. Through these conversations we can come to understand where the white space is for our businesses, and we can end up on a much better, simpler path that we can effectively execute. Our teams understand fully the brutal facts of 2020. It is our job to, with unwavering faith, create a strategy and execution plan that will allow us to prevail in 2021.

At PFD, we’ve been really blessed to have a fantastic methodology and effective virtual tools to be able to facilitate annual planning sessions. If you would like to know more about our process to scale businesses or book an annual planning session for you and your entire senior team, please fill out the form below.