Nowadays for many, the toughest leadership test is how to bring a business back in an environment where a vaccine has yet to be found and economies are still stumbling.
The 1966 Soccer World Cup marked a low point for Brazilian Soccer. Although the winner of the previous two tournaments, the team was eliminated in the first round. Many wondered if Brazil’s glory days were over. Four years later, however, Brazil won again, with such grace and style that the 1970 team is not only widely regarded as the best team ever to take the pitch but also as the most beautiful.
Making this turnaround required innovation, and specifically a new strategy that considered the creation of a unique attacking style of soccer. It required building a cohesive team, even as most of the roster changed. And it required leadership, both in management and on the field. The result: By reimagining everything and making a successful transformation, Brazil came back stronger.
The same is happing to many organizations now, there have been some bumps along the way. As businesses around the world consider they can return from the torment inflicted by the COVID-19, Brazil’s example provides a lot of food for thought.
In our last articles, we have discussed from how to do business as unusual; to how to restart in the new normal and what to stop, start, or accelerate to make work the new normal.
In this article, we will set up the new foundation that will enable companies to come back stronger, and that will help to reimagine their business model while returning to full speed. Those who step up their game will be better off and far more ready to confront the challenges and opportunities of the next normal than those who do not.
There are four strategic areas to focus on:
1. Recovering revenue.
2. Rebuilding operations.
3. Rethinking the organization.
4. Accelerating the adoption of digital solutions.
However, as the Brazilian team did, we need to work in a different way. We need to restructure the dimensions that are the foundation of our organizations and assembly them differently. Although the title of the dimension may sound familiar since they are not new; the way we execute them will have to change significantly to be successful in the new normal. It is six the dimensions we need to reassembly or begin to work on while aiming for success in the new normal:
1. Leadership.
2. Strategy.
4. Innovation.
For companies around the world, the qualities that brought Brazilian football to new heights in 1970 (Imagination, leadership, and on-the-field execution) will be paramount as they consider how to navigate the post-COVID-19 world. Business as usual will not be nearly enough, the game has changed too much. But by reimagining how to recover, operate, organize, and use technology; companies can set the foundations for enduring and sustainable success.
Wait for our next article where we will discuss how to recover revenue by applying the new normal to the six dimensions of organizational success.
