The teams, companies and organizations who are thriving right now are all doing these three things:

1. They discover new opportunities, particularly trusting their front lines.
2. They change quickly, drastically streamlining their processes of development and implementation.
3. They act decisively, with extreme determination, allowing autonomy in stepping beyond what they’ve done in the past.

Here is what YOUR GROUP needs to be doing right now:

1. Discover opportunity through frontline innovation: Your teams, sales people, service providers, frontline associates see what is happening in real time. They see the daily needs of your customers and clients. So… why not trust them? Why not encourage their input, their connections with the full needs of the customer, not just what they’ve always done? Why not grant them the authority and autonomy to serve beyond what they’ve done before? Instead of a formulaic drone response, why not dig deeper, expand your offering, care for the full needs of your customers?

Solution: Arm team members with the “What IF?” Mindset. What IF… your teams expand from “service providers” to “problem solvers?” What if instead of doing what you do, your teams do whatever needs to be done? What if you used a given product or service in a new way? What if you could solve the entire problem, not just the one you've always solved, how would you do it?

2. Change quickly. This requires first a mindset change, which leads to a change in actions. Regard people who are uncomfortable with change as being uncomfortable with success, but humanize the change by talking openly about their fears regarding change, balanced by the great results which come from it.

Solution: Arm team members with the mindset to “create change" or "lead change" instead of just managing or embracing it. The questions What IF and What NOW??? work amazingly here. Create a sense of openness and urgency to change.

3. Act decisively. Decide and act. Determine your next course of action, your "change," allow some due diligence, but cut through your bureaucratic crap, lose the fear-based thinking and get on with it. Yeah, you need to be a bit less cautious. Not stupid, but bold.

Solution: Imbue your teams with the “Succeed Anyway” mindset. We’ve never done it? Succeed anyway. We don’t have enough money? Succeed anyway. It’s an untested solution? Succeed anyway. This is what is working right now. From Walmart and Amazon to Orkin to credit unions to your local churches and schools, those who are successfully navigating a post-pandemic world have the mindset to 1. Discover opportunities; 2. Change quickly; and 3. Act decisively.