Dr John Dobak recently wrote an article for Forbes outlining the common challenges businesses faced during the pandemic, and how they can drive future success in such a time.
Due to our transformative approach in what we do, similar in ways to DermTech’s disruptive approach to their business, we were interested to read what challenges businesses that share the same mindset faced over the last 18 months.
As we all know, the world of business changed overnight. Those that were slow to adapt failed, but those that reacted, learned, and re-imagined what they do. They were the ones that survived, and they ultimately thrived. Issues such as employee safety, supply chain distribution and revenue loss were common across all businesses. However, the best businesses were those that evolved and overcame these problems.
Learning new processes, being open to change, reconnecting with teams virtually, these were all new strategies that had to be implemented. All of this had to be balanced on top of the core goal of the business, to make a profit.
Resilience
In Dr John Dobak’s article, one clear message resonates; strength is gained through adversity. This is the greatest benefit that the Pandemic has had on businesses. Businesses that were quick to evolve embody a culture of resilience. This resilient mindset is arguably what made them successful businesses in the first place. Learning how to adapt and grow stronger as an organization, in the face of immense adversity, is one of the most important lessons for a business.
That is why here at InPD, our reaction was not panic, but how could we adapt? How could we continue to deliver our courses, but by operating safely?
We also wanted to be able to deliver a high quality service. We did so by requesting all of our staff to work from home, and we began delivering our training courses virtually. The general feedback we receive from our reimagined service is that our clients find the courses to be just as engaging and just as beneficial, compared to a more conventional face to face course. This was how we adapted.
Agility
In the Forbes article, Dr John Dobak explains another key lesson businesses gained from the pandemic; becoming agile. Many businesses were not quick enough to react to the changing world. If a business shifts its focus from fear and uncertainty to risk taking and reward, it is in a perfect position to overcome the challenges that the pandemic presented.
As Dr John Dobak stated, ‘planning is important, but it must be balanced with action. The best planning in the world cannot prepare you for a pandemic’.
Sometimes, the difference between the businesses that thrived and the businesses that failed was the ability to act quickly, sometimes with very little planning. For example, the sales team at InPD quickly adapted to working from home. It was a completely new approach to working, and new processes had to be adopted. However, they overcame the challenges and continued to create leads for the business.
We also reformatted our service. Face to face training courses were suddenly in breach of government guidelines, so essentially we were shut down. To react, we innovated our service. We completely reformatted our training courses to be based virtually, and we began marketing campaigns and lead generation to promote these new courses.
Seize the Opportunity
The pandemic may have created a host of challenges for businesses, but they also created opportunities. For example, for Dr John Dobak’s business, it allowed them to shift their business services to focus on remote delivery.
They had always seen this opportunity coming, but it was a long term goal. The pandemic allowed them to turn it into a short term goal, and as a result they created a profitable service. Instead of focusing purely on the negatives, they used it as an opportunity to evolve and to future-proof their business.
As we have mentioned above, good businesses embrace change and they adapt. They use challenging times as an opportunity to grow, and here at InPD, that is exactly what we have done.
To book one of our training courses, just visit our courses page, click on the relevant course from our outstanding selection, and click on ‘book your place’ to begin the process. By doing so now, you will receive a 15% discount. Alternatively, you can send us an email to enquiries@inpd.co.uk, message us by filling in the form on our contact page or call us on 0161 826 3139. You’re welcome to contact us with any questions you have about any of our training courses.
