There are many factors that drive a business forward, and to some extent it is all about executing your strategy at the right time and place. But during this time of uncertainty and economic crisis, the only right timing is now.
It’s crucial for every business to be ready to go full steam ahead once a crisis passes, but some businesses never get that far. During a crisis, we not only have to prepare ourselves for the future, we must also keep the business going at its weakest time.
At the heart of every organisation are its people. But in each individual, mindset is the foundation. Mindset is what helps determine whether the organisation can grow further and more sustainably or whether it is headed toward impending doom. Instilling a strong, agile and resilient mindset in each individual in our organisation matters. Here’s why.
Everything begins with the self. When we want to change the situation around us, we cannot expect it to change while we sit still. It might work for the short term but in the future, things will go back to their usual ways. It’s not sustainable.
This ultimately spreads out through the entire organisation. If we wait and expect the situation to change, we cannot expect to sustain business growth. Additionally, if all we change is our behaviour, we cannot expect that to be sustainable in the long term. Our mindset matters in driving our people and eventually driving the organisation forward.
However, an important thing to keep in mind is that mindset isn’t a formula for success; rather, it’s a foundation to ensure your business growth can be sustained. As a business leader, your mindset matters in motivating your people to help drive your business forward. It all begins with the self.
An agile and resilient mindset, though tough to establish, is not impossible. It does, however, require that we constantly practise it in our daily work to ensure we can strengthen it. Where do we begin?
First, begin by practising self-awareness. This may be a tough starting point because we go through our daily lives almost on auto-pilot. It takes extra effort to become aware of ourselves and the things we do.
The tip to this is to self-reflect each day on how you felt and reacted during certain situations. This matters because in any situation, different types of mindsets will feel and react differently. If we want to drive our people and drive our business forward, we need the mindset that will allow us to overcome setbacks faster and move on to the next course of action.
In theory, this sounds easy, but it takes a lot of willpower. First and foremost, you have to step back and observe your reactions to people and events around you. Second, you have to make the necessary shifts to ensure a more effective work and life balance. In everything we do, practising mindset allows us to become more aware of ourselves and how to manage situations.
This brings us to the second point — practise the shift in mindset. Once you’re aware of your own self and your mindset, you’ll understand the shifts you’ll need to make. For example, if certain situations are stressing you out more than usual, you might go back and ask yourself what prompted this. This way, you’ll understand where the necessary adjustments are required and you’ll also be aware of how you should react the next time around.
Third, involve the entire organisation through motivation and company culture. While mindset requires self-practise, it is important to involve the organisation for a couple of reasons. First, it helps people to motivate one another to keep at it. Second, it starts to become an integral and everyday part of the company culture.
Mindset shifts doesn’t necessarily mean you have to do everything on your own. On the contrary, it is about a more about being able to work together in harmony to effectively push the business forward. This means that that when practising an agile and resilient mindset, we must work with one another by giving and receiving feedback.
Finally, integrate mindset development into the core business strategy. While it’s important to pay attention to day-to-day operations and short-term goals, we need to integrate mindset into the long-term core of the business. Mindset might be a very personal part of the individual but it is also crucial in driving and motivating them, which ultimately drives the business.
While businesses have processes, policies, systems, and all those regulations that keep things running effectively, people are what drive it even further. And to sustainably drive your business forward, your people need an agile and resilient mindset to brave every challenge and rise above the competition.
Arinya Talerngsri is Chief Capability Officer and Managing Director at SEAC - Southeast Asia’s Lifelong Learning Center. She can be reached by email at arinya_t@seasiacenter.com or https://www.linkedin.com/in/arinya-talerngsri-53b81aa. Explore and experience our lifelong learning ecosystem today at https://www.yournextu.com
