It has been difficult to predict what the first quarter of the new year would bring for business owners, employees, and investors. COVID-19 has lingered, evolved, and has remained unpredictable over the past three years with minimal signs of letting up. The pandemic combined with supply chain issues and restrictions, The Great Resignation, and labor shortages higher prices across the board seem inevitable. The pandemic has accelerated several technology trends including health care innovation, sustainability, digital transformation, and remote/flexible work environments that drove many businesses into the digital era.

However, the most important question is – How is YOUR business performing so far – steady, growing, or stagnant? Organizations and business owners have learned during these challenging and pivotal times that to accelerate your business performance, an organization needs to understand the business’s current performance and future potential. Management guru Peter Drucker is often quoted as having said, “You can’t manage what you can’t measure.” and our iSeek Solutions team couldn’t agree more.

iSeek helps improve and accelerate your business by analyzing your year-to-date performance. We peel back the layers and review the health of your organization. Assessing health and performance early often will boost your business’ performance, resilience in such unprecedented times, and long-term growth.

Our free iBPA© – Business Performance Assessment provides an in-depth assessment of an organization’s addressable spend, organization alignment, and human capital. We discover cost savings, uncover revenue potential, increase operational effectiveness, and align vision, mission, and goals to enable winning outcomes.

Our iBHC© – Business Health Check diagnostic tool is used in associating and comparing your business purpose and desired objectives to actual outcomes.

As mentioned in our blog Early Detection may Save Your Life… and Your Business! a business health check, like a physical health exam, should be conducted regularly, no less than annually. A health check ensures the business is tracking towards its goals. It delivers insight into the overall performance of your business, uncovers opportunities for improvements, measures employee health and the end-user experience, and assesses the organization’s culture, engagement, and alignment. It’s an opportunity to make course corrections, mitigate or exploit risks or market changes or take advantage of new and innovative solutions.

Don’t wait until the next quarter or when your organization is sinking, make sure your business’ performance is on the right track as the first quarter of 2022 comes to a close.

“Return to normalcy” was United States presidential candidate Warren G. Harding’s campaign slogan for the election of 1920. He was considered a long shot at best, but turned the corner just weeks before the nominating convention when he said these words in a speech in Boston in May 1920:

“America’s present need is not heroics, but healing; not nostrums, but normalcy; not revolution, but restoration.”

The country was emerging from the devastation of World War I, which claimed 117,000 U.S. lives, and the Spanish flu pandemic, which claimed the lives of another 675,000 Americans (and an estimated 50 million around the globe).

As for Warren G. Harding, his was a case study in being careful what you wish for. A return to normalcy for him meant scandals and ill health. The 29th president caught the flu — not the Spanish flu, but a descendant — just two years into his term and never recovered. He died at 57 in August 1923.

Fast forward to March 2022. We’re all exhausted from the impacts and challenges of COVID pandemic. And we frequently say that we want to “return to normal.” But do we really? Ask yourself these questions from the Times News, February 24, 2022, Print Edition:

Do we really want to return to normal in politics where politicians are more concerned with getting reelected than doing what is best for the country (which is its people) regardless of the political consequences?

Do we really want to return to normal work where people (are required to) commute every morning from home to office and commute back every night from office to home?

Do we really want to return to a normal healthcare system where many people do not have adequate health care, and where too many have no health care?

Do we really want to return to normal where we give up what we have discovered that is useful, that makes our lives easier?

• Like Zoom, which allows us to participate in events whenever we cannot be there physically, as when visiting distant relatives, traveling on business, or enjoying a vacation.
• Like ordering food from our favorite restaurants and grocery stores through their apps and then picking it up at a time convenient for us, or having it delivered to our homes.
• Like the option of remote learning when weather or personal circumstances prohibit our children from physically being in school.

The pandemic shed light on issues that were either typically sidestepped or accepted with little resistance. Like mental health, wealth inequality, underpaid work, racial injustice and equity, and lack of diversity. Will returning to normal life mean sweeping these hard conversations back under the rug?

Truthfully, it’s way past time we stop using the term “return to normal” because we cannot. We can only live in today’s normal and work to make the societal changes necessary so that tomorrow’s normal is what we want it to be.

Have you ever undertaken a task that suddenly becomes overwhelming to you? Did you momentarily feel the urge to quit? Was the impulse to quit quickly replaced by a greater urge to keep going and finish what you started?

That something in you that refuses to allow you to be a quitter, regardless of the adversity and the length of time it takes to complete a task, can be referred to as determination or willpower, also known as GRIT.

How gritty are you? How determined are you to be successful or how badly do you want your business to succeed? Are you willing to do everything required to cross the finish line, reach your goals, and achieve your highest potential?

As we have continued to persevere through the COVID-19 pandemic the past 3 years, it’s safe to say we all possess a certain level of grit and endurance.

Angela Lee Duckworth, psychologist, author, and the world’s leading expert on ‘grit’, took an interest in grit and began studying it while teaching math to her seventh graders. Through her observations of her students, she realized IQ was not the only factor separating successful students from those who struggled, and that grit—holding steadfast to a goal through time—was highly predictive of success. (“You’re no genius”: Her father’s shutdowns made Angela Duckworth a world expert on grit.)

“Grit is passion and perseverance for very long-term goals. Grit is having stamina. Grit is sticking with your future, day in, day out, not just for the week, not just for the month, but for years, and working really hard to make that future a reality. Grit is living life like it’s a marathon, not a sprint.” – Angela Duckworth.

In her research, Duckworth analyzes short and long-term effects of grit on people’s performance in school, at work, and in personal relationships. She wrote and published her research in Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance, a New York Times bestseller documenting how grit predicts long-term success in nearly every realm of life. Duckworth also explained her theory in her informative and viral TED Talk.

According to Forbes there are 5 Characteristics of Grit — How Many Do You Have?

1. Courage: Your ability to manage fear of failure is imperative and a predicator of success.
2. Conscientiousness: Achievement Oriented vs. Dependable:  Conscientiousness in this context means, careful and painstaking; meticulous. In a study, educator L.M. Hough distinguished achievement from the dependability aspects of conscientiousness. He discovered that achievement orientated traits predicted job proficiency and educational success far better than dependability. A self-controlled person who may never step out of line may fail to reach the same heights as their more impulsive friends. Therefore, it is important to commit to go for the gold rather than just show up for practice.
3. Long-Term Goals and Endurance: Follow Through: The context and framework in which to find the meaning and value of your long-term efforts helps cultivate drive, sustainability, passion, courage, stamina…grit.
4. Resilience: Optimism, Confidence, and Creativity: Optimism + Confidence + Creativity = Resilience = Hardiness = (+/-) Grit. So, while a key component of grit is resilience, resilience is the powering mechanism that draws your head up, moves you forward, and helps you persevere despite whatever obstacles you face along the way. In other words, gritty people believe, “everything will be alright in the end, and if it is not alright, it is not the end.”
5. Excellence vs. Perfection: In general, gritty people don’t seek perfection, but instead strive for excellence. Excellence allows for disappointment and prioritizes progress over perfection.

If you are still unsure if you possess this unique personality trait, answer 10 quick questions from Duckworth’s Grit Scale to receive a score that reflects how passionate and persevering – gritty you see yourself to be.

After receiving your Grit Scale score that reflects your level of determination, contact us at iSeek Solutions. We’d love to hear from you! Grit is a consistent attitude about seeking, striving, discovering, and never yielding. Wherever you land on the Grit Scale allow it to be a starting point and a catalyst for you to develop and foster your grittiness.

iSeek Solutions is happy to assist you and/or your business/organization with the process of seeking, striving, discovering, and never yielding. Let’s connect and collaborate!

Contact us directly at info@iseeksolutionsinc.com, visit our website, subscribe to our blog or follow us on LinkedIn.

The year 2021, much like 2020, is another for the history books. Future historians will tell stories of tumultuous times. We’ve all heard the dire statistics and felt the pangs, some more than others. And though it seems cliche to admit, there is still a silver lining. Perhaps, American writer Laura Ingalls Wilder said it best, “There is good in everything, if only we look for it”.

Consider COVID’s positive impact on workplace culture. In a survey conducted by Erica Pimentel, a PhD candidate, workers suggest that what it means to behave “professionally” has changed, and that the pandemic has made clear the necessity of being able to bring one’s authentic self to work.

The survey also suggests that work from home, at least part-time, is here to stay, and will likely have a lasting impact on how work is conducted. While some research suggests that remote work can be isolating, it also makes the competing priorities that workers are juggling very visible. This has the potential to unite workers with the feeling that they are in this struggle of balancing work and personal responsibilities together.

Working from home provides a bird’s eye view into the personal lives of our colleagues, clients and even our bosses. With every Zoom call, we find ourselves being allowed into the private spaces of our co-workers in unprecedented ways.

Whether it’s kids or pets that are popping up onscreen, remote work has caused a relaxation in the traditional rules of professional presentation and resulted in a virtual workplace that is not only more flexible, but also more humane.

Additionally, research suggests that rather than detracting from how one is perceived professionally, these glimpses into co-workers’ personal lives can improve workplace interactions.

Seeing a colleague’s cat or meeting their child on-screen provides a sense of community that people used to get at work and are now desperately craving. These on-camera interactions allow workers to reconnect or get to know one another in a new way.

They also enable employees to see their colleagues as human beings with competing priorities, and they consequently become more flexible and understanding as work and personal lives overlap. This may mean being more tolerant of a missed deadline or more understanding of an unconventional work schedule.

Tom Spiggle, a Forbes contributor, says, “Perhaps a greater acceptance of remote work will be the new normal for many jobs. This in turn could enhance the work-life balance and make it easier for individuals to raise a family while also achieving their professional aspirations.”

That would indeed be a silver lining!

During the last year and a half, participation is down – participation in work events, in churches, in workplaces, in sports arenas, in event planning, and generally in life itself. Corporate America is offering sign-on bonuses at an alarming rate to attract those who currently aren’t participating in the market or severance pay for people who have been asked to no longer participate (who have been fired/downsized due to negative impacts from the COVID pandemic, mergers, etc).

When it comes to participation at work or at home, there are different mindsets based on different temperaments. Those who are outgoing and tend to participate in everything have most likely had a very difficult time while things have been limited or closed down, while those who tend to be introverts are even discovering their limit of loneliness.  Many people are looking to change their levels of participation and I would like to suggest that we find a level of balance and harmony as we do.

Zooming out from the current circumstances, there are generally two types of people – those who rarely, if ever, participate in anything… and then those who participate in absolutely everything. Very few people truly find the harmony of living a life on purpose, participating in things that matter, and not over-committing to things that are not in their sphere of influence or purpose.

Over the years, I’ve run into many unmotivated people who don’t care to participate in much of anything. Normally this person gives plenty of personal reasons why they’re not participating: I don’t have time… I don’t have the money… I have other priorities… No one I know is doing it… Someone will make fun of me… I may not succeed… I don’t have the talent… I honestly don’t care about this cause… I haven’t had my coffee yet…

To the people themselves, these are legitimate reasons to not participate. To those of us on the outside, they seem like excuses. But when it comes to the heart of the matter, does it really matter? Whether a reason or an excuse, the result is the same – non-participation. Orrin Woodward says, “For anyone who chooses not to participate in life, make sure you choose a really good excuse for yourself… because unless you change, you’ll be stuck with that excuse for life.” People who rarely participate in things seem, according to statistics, to also struggle with depression, loneliness, and an overall dissatisfaction with life. I would propose that although it’s easy to blame another person for some of these feelings, could it possibly be caused partially by a lack of participating in things that matter internally to you?

Then there’s the other side of the coin – people who participate in everything, no matter the cause. From my experience, there are two sub-categories here: people that genuinely love people and causes, and people who have a hard time saying “No”. In the first case, I would caution against becoming a “jack of all trades, master of none”, where one might overcommit to starting anything but rarely, if ever, finishing anything. Not only can that harm your reputation but over time, it can become overwhelming and can lead to burnout.

The second sub-group of people – my people – either don’t like saying “No” because they don’t want to let people down or haven’t quite learned the discipline of focus. Either way, the inability to say “No” can easily drain your joy because you don’t have the time to do what you truly love. We all have passions in our hearts that we would enjoy doing more of if we had enough time and/or money. The harsh truth is that if we are so busy doing what matters to others, we won’t have enough time to do what matters to us. We must learn to say “No” to the good, so we can have time and energy to say “Yes” to the best things.

Participation is wonderful, whether in the workplace or in lifestyle and events; taking part in causes we enjoy truly gives life meaning and should never be downplayed. But it’s also important that we carefully choose which causes are priorities to us and which ones are not worthy of our valuable time. Participate!

Here are just two examples where I feel participation and commitment are greatly warranted, and well worth my time.

• According to the SBA, small businesses are the lifeblood of the U.S. economy. They create 1.5 million jobs annually and account for 64% of new jobs created in the United States and drive U.S. innovation and competitiveness. This is a significant contribution; however, this overall share has declined gradually.

• A report from UAB’s Collat School of Business states, when it comes to showing your support for small businesses, it’s important to do so, not just to help them gain revenue and stay operational… you’ll gain plenty of wonderful benefits as well.

• Participate in the sustainability and growth of small businesses as they continue to serve as an engine of American innovation.

• Nonprofit organizations play a vital role in building healthy communities by providing critical services that contribute to economic stability and mobility. Often these organizations understand better than anyone else their communities’ needs and the best ways to meet them. Strong, well-resourced nonprofits that are connected to the decision-making infrastructure in their communities can catalyze growth and opportunity. It’s clear that nonprofit resources continue to be strained due to the pandemic, including the cancellation and postponement of fundraising events, a decline in donations from corporations and individuals due to market upheaval, an absence of volunteers and increased demand for services. Volunteer! Donate! Participate in the economic stability and mobility provided by nonprofits!

iSeek Solutions is a small business that routinely supports and partners with other small businesses to meet our business objectives as well as assist us in meeting the objectives of our clients. We’re truly better together. Likewise, we’re passionate about supporting the communities where we live, work, and play. Be the change you want to see. Participate!

As my husband and I revisited the topic of if we were going to allow our 4-old-daughter to attend Pre-K this year, I saw a post on social media that read, “We are not ‘post-pandemic’, we are still in a pandemic.” I stared at the post for a minute, thinking, as it served as a reminder. It also made me think about how not all families have an option to keep their children home during this time, which is one of many challenges emphasized by the pandemic.

Pandemic burnout is real, but hospital beds are filling quickly, and masks are back in high demand as COVID-19 and its variants rage on.

As we know by now, there is no returning back to normal for any person, business, or organization, so now is the time to incorporate the lessons learned over the past few months into the personal and business operating models of the future.

Regardless of the model, the road to recovery/greatness in any area is not always a straight path but requires flexibility in your approach to achieve.

During the 2020 Olympics this year, Japan’s pandemic bubble strategy relied heavily on trust and flexibility from the competing athletes and Olympic organizers to ensure a successful event and not spread the virus.

According to reports, the number of infections among people linked to the Olympics stayed significantly low in the village, compared to the number of infections outside of the bubble. Olympic organizers created the bubble isolation system that required testing at the bubble’s borders, contact-tracing, and social distancing. If the elite professional athletes wanted a chance to compete to win Olympic gold this year, they had to take the necessary precautions and adapt to the safety protocols and guidelines – remain Flexible on the journey to greatness.

In her blog Achieving Greatness, Annie Allen, CEO of iSeek Solutions mentioned Martin Luenendonk saying in his article Parallels between Entrepreneurship and Sports that there are similarities between the world of entrepreneurs and the world of athletes – parallels that can give direction to business executives who are trying to succeed on the playing field of economics.

One of the similarities between the two worlds being, that’s right, Flexibility.

Playing a game professionally requires flexibility: weather conditions, playing arenas, field position, teammates, coaching staffs are all variables that can change without warning. Being able to remain flexible is imperative for the successful athlete.

The role of an entrepreneur demands flexibility. Being able to make changes, take on additional job responsibilities or move the business in a different direction is a key characteristic of a successful entrepreneur.

As businesses continue to push and move forward on the road to recovery it is imperative to remain flexible on the journey to achieve the desired success.

Let us at iSeek Solutions help your organization achieve greatness. We are a team of highly skilled management consultants with a broad range of industry knowledge and expertise. Our guidance, methodologies, tools, and knowledge empower our clients to align, optimize, empower, and succeed in achieving their goals and objectives. We succeed when our clients succeed.

Contact us directly at info@iseeksolutionsinc.com, visit our website, subscribe to our blog or follow us on LinkedIn.