Many of us have been reevaluating our lives during lockdown, and in some cases, making some decisions about change. I have spoken to people who are quitting their jobs and going off to do that thing they have always wanted to do, others are thinking of closing their businesses and starting completely new ones, or retiring. What about you? Have you had similar thoughts?
I spoke to Till Kramer who is a business coach living in Majorca about the effects of the quarantine on our dreams and ambitions. He works with people who are fed up with having their business dominate their lives and helps them to align their business with their lifestyle to make the business more profitable and easier to live with. Till himself used to live in Germany, but felt that he needed a change in his own lifestyle and wanted to work internationally, so he moved to Majorca and is now “Walking the talk” as it were. Till uses business and personal development programmes which he designed based on his own 20 years experience in business and his clients mostly hail from England, Scandinavia and Germany. He either coaches 1:1 or online.
I spoke to Till about his thoughts of how business would appear in our post Lockdown state. “I think we are seeing a new paradigm now where business owners and entrepreneurs will find more benefit in collaboration than in competing against each other. And I think it will be a more human centred approach to work and life”, he told me.
What are the types of questions you ask people to get them thinking about how they can improve their business? I asked.
“I tend to ask them three key questions which define values:
1 What do you stand for? Do you know exactly who you are as a business owner? What are your values and how do you want to show up?
2 Who are the stakeholders in your business? Who are the most important for you? Anyone or any entity affected by your activities is a stakeholder: clients, suppliers, the local community, your employees, where your products come from, your lawyer etc, your family, anyone who is affected by your business. If you look at something like the www.consciouscapitalism.org movement you will see that everyone is included in this concept.
3 Ask yourself how can you help all the stakeholders to benefit from your activities? What can we do to help? How can you reach out and support those stakeholders?
How does he think that the coming year will be for business people?
“Everyone is looking for ways to cut costs. One of my purposes is to help people to move the ball forward ethically and profitably for them and everyone around them”.
And how can the general public support local businesses at this time?
“Shop locally, think about the purchases you might do via Amazon and see if you can find something similar online here on the island. Cross-promote with others and share information in person and online, tell people about the businesses you care about.
And for business people?
“Think about how to collaborate with someone. For example, if someone has a cafe where there is a space, hold meetings for the neighbourhood, bring people together to brainstorm ideas and look for peer support if you can. It is time for collaboration.” Till hosts virtual “Mastermind” groups of people who want to reinvent their businesses. (A “Mastermind group” is a group of people coming together with the same purpose). Tillkraemercoaching.com