Avoid a Culture Crash During COVID-19
I want to take a few minutes to share with you something that makes me very proud. Ever since COVID-19 started, there’s been a lot of uncertainty in the marketplace. People are not sure what’s happening and what’s going on. There’s a lot of confusion and panic going on. At 8:30 every morning, my two business partners Gregg and Jim, set out precisely what we are going to do. We discuss our goals for the day, what we intend to achieve, and how we can make adjustments to be able to be nimble. We remain focused even with the pandemic and panic. We know we need to lead with confidence and stay away from chaos.
I’m proud of our team at CBD Hemp Experts. During these challenging times, our team stepped up, and I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that we all came together. We said, “We are not going to let this beat us!”. We said, “Let’s move forward, DO things that are going to be different! Let’s be innovative and do what we can to build a thriving business during this time.”
We said “Lets move FORWARD, and DO things that are going to be different!
One of the exciting things to me is that as a team, we already used Zoom (it’s a part of our daily business operation), so we decided to hold a team Zoom every single day weekday at 11 am. During that Zoom call, we have straightforward, candid conversations about what’s happening in the marketplace. It’s a time for people to open up and talk about their fears, concerns, successes, victories, etc. Funny, because we all connect in the most human ways. For example, most of us ended up having what we call “COVID-19 hair”, and we all were in pajamas, kids running around, and spouses eavesdropping and making cameos. It’s a little chaotic, but we were able to reveal our true selves and started to get to know each other and like each other.
Spin2Win really boosted morale and gave everyone a reason to gather on a daily basis
Then we took it up another level. We said, “let’s make this fun!”. We had an idea to start a “spin2win” with the team. Spin2win is a wheel where all the sales team members who made a sale the previous day would get their name on a wheel with cash prizes on it anywhere from $25 to $1000. It was just fascinating to watch just how much excitement the wheel brought. Everyone started to cheer for one another, and it gave a little bit of a rush too. Overall, it was just a good time, and I feel this is something our company did right. Getting together every day, engaging, laughing, and right before the Zoom ended, we give a sales tip or trick, and a different person on our team each day closes out the call with some words of inspiration and how they were feeling about what’s going on.
In my opinion, having a team member close the call was our secret weapon. It was amazing because people opened up and we got to learn a lot about our team members. It wasn’t just the people at the top of the sales Leaderboard saying, “here’s what you need to do, and this is what you need to be motivated by”. The team themselves came together and shared how they were feeling. It turned into a powerful, emotional moment for our company.
The team came together and it turned into a powerful, emotional moment for our company.
After the 11 o’clock call, I get on an 11:30 am standing appointment with my assistant, Stephanie. We go down a checklist of all the things that need to get done for the day, something that we were behind on, things that we need to stay on top of, things that we need to focus on, and she keeps me in check for the things I procrastinate. Staying focused and having accountability during the COVID-19 panic has been vital.
On Thursday nights at 9:00 pm Eastern time, we get the whole team back together again. During this time, we give company updates, a “State of the Union” about the company, and we give recognition to the people that deserve to be praised. We also talk about the changes we plan on making and let everyone know what we are going to do to make sure that we are winning- despite what is going on around us. To make it fun, one night, we had a Thursday Night Team Happy Hour. We got on with the idea it would last 30 minutes, and it lasted almost two hours. People were having so much fun, sharing stories, telling on themselves, learning about each other. It was a great time!
An essential tool is the six inches between both your ears right now!
Constant communication and connection building culture keep us alive as a company, and I think that that’s the real lesson here. Constant communication. We didn’t put our heads in the sand. We didn’t say “oh poor us”. We told our team, “An essential tool is the six inches between both your ears right now! Your mindset is critical to how we proceed every day.
So, in summary, we stayed connected with:
- A daily 8:30 am meeting with my business partners
- An 11 o’clock team meeting with a spin2win
- An 11:30 am personal assistant meeting (which helped me organize and be more available for the team the remainder of the day)
- A Thursday night team meeting (with an occasional FUN meeting environment).
We have built an incredible culture with people who are very committed and focused. During this pandemic, our company has grown. We have released new products, launched a different division for our company, and are doing a lot of things to make us better. We have been able to tighten up some things that we had put to the side in the past.
I’m very excited about this next chapter of our company and where we’re going.
I would love to hear feedback from you. What are you doing during this time? How are you keeping it together with your team? Let’s learn from one another!
Success is a choice!
