Companies in 2023: GYST
By Brett Trusko, Skytop Contributor / January 22nd, 2023
Brett Trusko is a speaker, writer, consultant and educator. He has appeared at hundreds of conferences, radio and TV as well as written extensively and helped fortune 500 companies as well as local and national governments prepare for an innovation oriented future.
What’s Next
This week, I was supposed to be speaking at a conference, but it was rescheduled. I wasn’t surprised. For one thing, we just got over what was essentially two weeks off for the holidays. This probably means that people are trying to catch up. Alternatively, it could be that some people are heeding my advice to just GYST.
What is GYST you ask? Well, it comes from the most recent question my clients have been asking regarding the “next big thing” in business.
In November, as people started to believe that COVID-19 had subsided enough to return to offices, travel and get back into the world, my phone began to ring with a common question.
The calls always went something like this, “Well, we seem to have lived through this pandemic and are curious as to what you think might be the next big thing. We did double loop learning, Lean, TQM, Six Sigma and until the pandemic, we were really into innovation”.
Considering most of my clients are forward thinking executives who are quick to adopt change, I was surprised that so many immediately and actively accepted my advice.
Divided and More…
What also makes this interesting is that this is a bit of an anomaly, with most of them needing me to come back to deliver the same message repeatedly. Most of the time, they must see the trends starting to take place before they believe the forecasts. Granted that sometimes they see things immediately, but in the grand scheme of things, I spend time with a lot of skeptical executives.
So, what is the advice that people are so readily accepting and why should you do the same?
During the last election cycle, it occurred to me that the U.S. will have a divided government for the next couple of years. It is highly unlikely that any substantial laws will pass; whether that be immigration reform or federal legalization of cannabis, little will happen. Given transitions, it is going to be more like two and a half years before anything substantive comes out of government.
To some, this is a disaster since there are important issues to address, but to others, it’s a chance to freeze federal laws and programs so they can focus on rebuilding their businesses post the pandemic.
This offers a rare opportunity to GYST.
Workforce Changes
Another trend comes from the significant shakeup of the work force over the last couple of years.
People started to work from home: they relocated to the suburbs and rural locations and have shaken up the workforce. The fact that many companies are requiring their employees to return to the office, and that so many are quiet quitting, is a testimony to a changing workforce. This needs to be dealt with by negotiation and not an edict from on high. Yes, many executives might be demanding their employees come back to the office, but there is significant pushback.
So, GYST and take some time to take a deep breath and redesign how employees work.
Innovation Freeze Thaw
Some may necessarily be required to come back to the office, but without re-evaluating jobs, most employees see executives who demand productive employees return to the office as a pure power play.
Innovation has been the hot thing for the last 15 years. However, innovation departments have been dissolved or seriously cut during COVID-19. Dozens of innovation professionals have had departments decimated if not completely closed. The common thread on why this happened was always the same. That is, “we were so busy managing so many ideas before COVID, but when things got bad, the luxury of an innovation group no longer was a necessity. Our innovation function is gone, and I don’t know what to focus on next.”
What’s the solution?
Create a solid innovation pipeline and show value in innovation. This means going back to the basics. A blank check to innovate is no longer satisfactory.
Supply chains contribute to the high inflation we have seen over the last year. Manufacturing and suppliers operating on a just-in-time basis globally appears to have been exactly the wrong thing during a pandemic.
Since I was a partner at a major consulting firm advising clients to send manufacturing overseas while helping them develop just-in-time supply chains, I can admit that we never anticipated something like COVID-19 and did not develop contingency plans. Some of us were concerned about focusing too much single locations (Apple manufacturing in China), but the profits that come from manufacturing in low-cost countries drove stock value, so why not?
Well, it’s time we stop for a minute, evaluate our supply chain.
Once in a Lifetime Opportunity
I could give you dozens of examples of why your company should use COVID-19 as an excuse to take a deep breath, a deep dive, and rebuild your business.
A small recession is likely in the next 12 to 24 months. So, perhaps the cover of a bad economy is a great opportunity to get back to what people used to call the “blocking and tackling” that needs to be done in your business. If you made it through COVID-19 you may be feeling like you can just pick up where you left off.
Many companies will do just that, but they may find that they don’t feel like they are on firm ground for much longer than those who take advantage of this potentially once in a lifetime chance to rebuild better than ever by simply taking a little time to get your shit together.