Baker Labs continues our series of video interviews to tackle the challenges facing medical practices during COVID-19. In each episode, Gavin Baker, President and Owner of Baker Labs, discusses marketing, new trends, and maintaining business continuity with key business leaders in the healthcare industry.
In this episode, Gavin concludes his conversation with Paul Sponcia, CEO of The IT Company, about how COVID-19 is forcing people to rethink the way work is done. They’ve already discussed the challenges facing medical businesses like telemedicine and the ways work may change forever. To wrap up, they ask what medical businesses can do to reframe their thinking to be more positive.
Paul believes that the key is to be active rather than reactive. Leaders must not only start building a plan about how they will get through COVID-19, but build a plan that will allow them to thrive once this crisis is over. His advice is extremely practical while also having the potential to be impactful for years to come.
You can watch the interview below to learn more about what Gavin and Paul think about the future of work in light of COVID-19, or scroll down to read some of the important highlights from their conversation.
Watch the entire interview:
Important Highlights:
- Hotwashes, aka After Action Reviews (AARs):
- AARs are reviews where businesses take data from the lessons they’ve learned and apply it to their long-term plan.
- AARs are usually implemented after a challenging situation when a business didn’t perform well. In these situations, it’s important to ask what was learned, what needs to be changed, and what recommendations the leadership team has.
- Most businesses already do AARs after an emergency. This puts pressure and shame on whoever made the mistake. Paul recommends doing them weekly so they become a regular part of your business’s culture.
- AARs allow you to shift your current plan to meet future situations.
- Failure is a normal part of work:
- The military does AARs after everything they do, making failure a natural state of work.
- Implementing regular AARs requires vulnerability and checking your own ego at the door.
- Some final tips from Paul:
- Talk to your IT/security team about what reevaluating you’ve done in this emergency. Home computers are not nearly as secure as the ones you use at work and this will impact your security as well as your clients’.
- Act like you’re working from the office even though you’re working from home.
- Situations like what we’re currently dealing with naturally increases the potential for leadership in others since managers aren’t there to lead like they once did.
- Some final tips from Gavin:
- There aren’t any sports or other competitions for people’s attention right now. Everyone is on social media and that’s where you need to put your focus when it comes to digital marketing.
- Has there ever been any point in history where your competitors have stopped moving forward? Now is that time and it’s your opportunity to move forward.
For more information on how Paul and The IT Company can help you and your company thrive, you can reach out to Paul through LinkedIn or email.
Now, more than ever, it’s crucial to maintain your business’s presence to ensure continuity and growth through digital marketing. For more information on how you can optimize your marketing during these uncertain times, you can claim a free marketing assessment. Baker Labs is here to create a new vision for your business’ future.
If there’s a topic you would like to see covered in this interview series, or a guest you would like to see featured, please send all suggestions to Gavin Baker at gavin@bakerlabs.co.
