Opinions expressed by entrepreneurs’ colleagues are their very own.
When I think about great founders and entrepreneurs, they have an inclination to obsession with problems, not only solutions. Why? It’s easy: when you are obsessed with the solution, you finally determine the priorities of the flawed things; But if you focus on the problem, you always assess where you may influence the biggest influence – each for your clients and your company. Great entrepreneurs are always asking themselves: “Knowing what I know today, what is the most important problem to solve and how to solve it?”
This was particularly called in January, when the fires devastated Los Angeles, where my company, KingdomIt has the headquarters. Realm has all the time focused on building one destination for home owners to move in their largest home decisions. Historically, this occupied complex renovations and home compilations, similar to the important reconstruction of the kitchen or adding ADU. But when the fires broke out, the entire districts were destroyed, and the householders suddenly remained in the face of fantastic challenges – and we had to act quickly to support their needs.
We saw similar technology firms, similar to Zoom Diveme Gears during the Covid-19 pandemic, when the world was looking for latest ways-right from day to day-to communicate with each other. Pandemic allowed people to see Zoom in a latest light: what was once only a tool for firms was now in the homes of most individuals, on their phones and used in schools, helping them stay in contact, without demanding from anyone who could be technical. This change of Zoom offer allowed the crisis to solve, while strengthening the brand visibility and long -term significance.
Like the zoom adapted to the urgent need, remaining faithful to its important strong powers, we had to assess again how Realm can best support home owners after fires. Our experience has taught us helpful lessons on identifying the latest needs of shoppers, engaging our team in passing and quick adaptation while ensuring long -term sustainable development.
Regardless of the problem you solve, the conclusions drawn below can, hopefully, will help your corporation strategy next time you have to quickly concentrate your brand.
Identification of emerging needs and adaptation to the basic strengths of the brand
When the fires began on January 7, it forced me to go back to step back and ask three questions:
- What are we extremely good at? For us, this answer remained the same-helping home owners in navigation of high-priced, emotional and long-term home projects.
- Where are we extremely good at this? In addition to being our headquarters, Los Angeles has all the time been our largest market.
- Who are we extremely good in helping? This is the answer that has modified from day to day. Instead of focusing on the renovations of home owners, the most urgent need was now from homeowners who have just lost their homes and their whole life turned the other way up.
In difficult times, it is crucial to remain a problem – not a solution – focused. Return to these key questions helped us to stay on the right track, but it is also necessary to pay attention to what you are not good at. Knowledge of your limitations will make it easier to avoid taking over challenges that you just are not well prepared.
We adapted the brand’s strengths to the urgent needs of home owners, similar to navigation in the insurance process, understanding of permits for reconstruction and finding proven contractors when fraud might be common after natural disasters. By changing our priorities to support the affected home owners, we not only dealt with the most burning challenges, but also showed our ability to quickly mobilize resources and strengthen our mission directed by the community. Similarly, Airbnb also jumped into motion after fires that displaced hundreds of individuals, expanding their open houses to offer free temporary apartments for evacuation of fires and the first respondents.
How to engage your team and customers during the passage
When we understood the changing needs and our strengths, we had to make sure that our team and customers were leveled. With our team it required three key steps:
- Tone setting: Explain that motion is required, not optional. Your team must understand that the company does not consider something, but this is happening, and you will come up with it together. Speed and agility are critical, so be in advance about the rate of changes required from all team members.
- Explanation why: Enter detailed reasons and make sure that they all the time focus on the impact of shoppers and, secondly, creating business value. They are often closely connected – helping customers in a significant way often causes a value for the company.
- Sure, what you do not do: With an extreme example, similar to fires, it was obvious that our team can easily overwhelm. It was necessary to explain what we were doing NO act. It may appear to be there is no priority and focusing on what is right in front of you.
By adapting urgency with clear reasoning, you support the team’s commitment and smooth performance. The brightness with clients is equally crucial. Customers must make certain that you are suitable for this latest focus. Even if you have not solved the exact challenge before, you may emphasize the appropriate specialist knowledge and experience that make your company prepare for entering. For example, when I talked to the owners of homes about the fire, I emphasized how our experience conducting hundreds of householders through other large home projects provided us well so that they may rebuild their homes.
In crisis, individuals who have influence might be skeptical and are apprehensive about using. That is why it is very necessary to be transparent in your intentions. Communication openly and truthfully about why you care and how your success is related, will build trust and strengthen your commitment to real help.
How to adapt quickly, but balanced
During navigation, the speed is vital. One of the things we frequently speak in our company is that you just have to think about changes and increasing growth during days and hours, not weeks and months, so this is crucial for Timbox of your education and results. Adaptation to the crisis will require risk and experiment in areas where not before. If you do it without clearly understanding what success is and how long it will take, you may end with open initiatives that decelerate all the pieces. Instead, set a vivid timeframe – how are you able to test the idea inside 24 hours, not two weeks? Accept that some precision will be devoted to speed.
When the change occurs quickly, it will possibly cause confusion and chaos, so it is vital to determine clear property. Make sure the team members know exactly what they are responsible for and that they feel authorized to overcome obstacles.
The possibility of adaptation is not only reacting to changes – it is about the proactive identification of the right problems to solve and collect a vivid, urgent and concentrated vision. By remaining faithful to your company’s strong powers, engaging the team and customers with transparency and balance of speed with sustainable development, you may transform challenges into possibilities, while maintaining the company’s immunity and deeply related to those you support.