While Covid and the lock downs have been challenging for business, there have been some benefits as well. In our business, we used to travel a great deal. There is a cost to the travel in expenses and in time. I had a client I worked with in the past where it took me a day to travel to them. I’d fly in, rent a car, and drive to their location. After spending the night, we would hold a 2–3-hour meeting, and then I’d drive back to the airport and fly home. We spent 2 days of working time for a short meeting, which added to our fees, on top of the cost of airline tickets, rental cars, and hotels. It was the way we had always done things.
It took a major disruption to change the way we all thought. We worked with the same client early last year and we completed another major project. The difference was instead of traveling to their location, we met via video conference. We held more meetings, but without the travel. With most of us working from our home office, it was much more efficient.
Video conferences have their benefits as does in person meetings. We now use the in-person meetings more strategically. We meet to kick off projects and to wrap projects. In between, we use one hour video conferences. We are seeing companies become extremely flexible in how they meet and how they negotiate the hybrid models of work from home/work in the office. It’s impressive.
Personally, I feel much more productive. I enjoy waking up early in my own bed and having coffee with my wife and dog. (My dog isn’t there for the coffee, just the loving…) We start our morning talking about the day and what we are grateful for. Then I spend my day working on helping our clients and finding additional clients.
Without disruption there isn’t an opportunity to evolve and improve. I’m grateful for that part of the situation we find ourselves in.
#alwaysbelookingforstars #LevelFiveCoaching @LevelFiveCoaching