Take your pick on a descriptor for today’s world we’re living in. “Unprecedented,” “Overwhelming,” “The new normal,” or a plethora of others that have been overused and overemphasized. We are all certainly facing challenges and situations that are new to us and may not be the easiest through which to navigate. Old ways of solving problems in work and in our personal lives may not lead to a desired solution now, and it is important that business leaders can adapt and consider innovation and creativity to help face new challenges. When considering multiple paths to a desired solution, the late poet Robert Frost would tell you it can pay off to take the one less traveled.
The challenges and issues that businesses will face moving forward may seem insurmountable, but inventiveness and innovation will be the guiding light through any obstacle. Let’s break this down as an example. Say, for instance, that a company needs to get from Point A (a problem) to Point B (the solution) quickly and efficiently in the post-COVID 19 world. Point A could be any number of challenges: low sales, poor customer service, or high employee turnover. Point B could be any number of valid solutions to these problems: sales conversion tools, customer service training, or a more efficient recruiting/onboarding process. Before the global pandemic, decision makers may have taken a tried and true method to find a solution to their problem. They took the path that was most comfortable and less risky, but also potentially less innovative and cutting-edge. Now, in the ‘new normal’ (forgive me for that), in order to thrive decision makers will need to pioneer new methods and processes that may be less common but are agile, efficient and creative.
Taking the less traveled road to a solution may come with risks. There will always be a healthy amount of potential downside when trying out new ways to overcome a problem. When weighing different options, it is important to work with partners that can help guide you down that path of uncertainty. At RepuCare, we help clients tackle issues that arise in the recruiting process and ensure that they are attracting the best candidates on the market. Our dedicated recruiting team spends time engaging with candidates to make sure they are a good fit for any organization- something that many internal hiring teams don’t have time to do under normal circumstances, let alone during a crisis. We take time to build relationships with our candidates, which is the foundation for our high retention rates and low employee turnover. Many companies may have a talent acquisition process that they’ve used for years, but the landscape and the talent market has drastically changed over the past few months. Now is the time to adapt and look for solutions that integrate innovation, empathy and quality into the equation.
At the end of the day, we are all navigating through a difficult time. Some businesses will survive, while others will not. For those that do survive, it will be important to be strategic and creative in finding new ways to solve old problems. Great leaders will look outside the status quo and take new paths that others are unwilling to take- and as Frost quoted over a century ago, they may find that it makes all the difference.