By Sylvia Luneau

Timing is everything. Like many business leaders at this point in time, I am looking to support my team, locate more great opportunities, and focus on progress. As I reflect on the spring and summer of 2020, I want to share some of the strategies that have helped PsiNapse navigate the uncertainties.

1. The Focus on SUPPORT

This is an era of upheaval. We all need support to move through it. My major focus (one of many) has been on listening and adopting a more 1:1 meeting approach, as often as possible. We have all been surfing shifting waves on repeat – gloom followed by hope, energy and then sudden lethargy. The unknown of the future looms large ahead of us and creates constant uncertainty. 

If I am able to focus on support, and the achievements each day, I am (mostly) able to exist in a mode of happiness and gratitude that helps me stay motivated to do more and keeps my response positive. The people I am supporting, feel heard and valued, making them better-equipped to be productive and offer support to their colleagues. Equally important, I have been trying to listen to what I need and seek out support from loved ones and peers when I need it, myself. After all, no (wo)man is an island.

2. The Power of MARKETING

There has been an undeniable uptick in marketing campaigns across all sectors. When we began investing more in our own marketing efforts, the original goal was business related; driving profit. However, the unintended outcome of this marketing push was the needed reminder of the all-important ‘Why’ behind PsiNapse. It helped me move from the idea of my stated mission to the vision of what a true “mission accomplished” meant to me. This work is important from a business perspective but it also became critical from a sanity perspective. Marketing reminds leaders about their core values, missions, goals, and achievements. Why are we doing this? How can we be doing better? How can we be the solution right now?

3. The Idea of SCOTOMA

I have the continuing joy of being a part of Vistage, a peer mentoring organization that offers insight and advice to CEOs and business owners. At an event earlier this month (on Zoom, of course), the speaker, Greg Winston, had a great segment about psychological scotomas, essentially learned blind spots. If we see something that reminds us of what we have seen in the past, we do not necessarily see that “thing” anymore, we just move on. In this way, a scotoma can hamper change and therefore, progress. What can we do to mitigate this learned behavior? Get fresh eyes on things (and be open to suggestions)! New employees and interns see the same things in your business very differently than you do.

No one has ever experienced what we are currently living through. On many levels, we are dealing with the ‘new’. It stands to reason, then, that the best way to mitigate these changing times, is to change along with them. To adapt to the new way of things. And there is no better way to achieve this than by identifying processes and procedures that are in place simply because they always have been, and getting a fresh perspective to shake things up. If nothing else, we are then forced to explain the ‘why’ behind the process that stands. If the ‘why’ does not fit the ‘now’, maybe it is indeed time for a change!

We really are all in this together. As business leaders we have the amazing power to positively impact the lives of many. 

Let us all make waves and foster change!