“Change is inevitable; growth is optional.” John C. Maxwell said this years ago, and it still reflects the times. It is timeless with many applications: relationships, business practices, and more. When hard times affect business, the usual phrase is to “bounce back.” Bouncing forward, however, captures growth.
Articles on this topic vary in focus, but they tend to revolve around one idea: resilience. Merriam-Webster offers two definitions; the second is “an ability to recover from or adjust easily to misfortune or change.” In the Times Colonist, Trevor Hancock wrote: “This is where a different understanding of resilience might be helpful: Not bouncing back to the past way of doing things, but bouncing forward to a new way of doing things, out of the situation that is causing the stresses and into a new, better alternative future.”
To my knowledge, businesses have never been affected negatively on such a global scale before. Many businesses have shown resilience by reacting and adapting well. Those that can have moved their workforce to home offices. Technology is being used to improve communication more than ever. Governments are offering financial support to keep doors open and fund changes. And, unfortunately, some doors have closed—temporarily and permanently. Proactive operational change has required businesses that remain to adapt to survive; but, as John C. Maxwell said, will they choose to grow?
“If you keep doing what you have been doing, you are going to keep getting what you have been getting.”
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Is resilience or resistance your motto?
You have already shown resilience with your past and current successes. Today’s challenges do not have to stop growth. Continuing to bounce forward into the new normal will develop resilience. What choice are you going to make today?
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