Permission to pivot
© Pete Longworth
In a period of uncertainty and change, it’s normal to ask questions like, “How will this affect our original plan and goals?” and, “What are we supposed to do now?” It’s normal to feel anxious, overwhelmed, uncertain. Over the last few weeks, I have felt all of these feelings, and so has my team.
While there’s a great deal that’s out of our control, there’s also a lot that we can control. What if we could look at this time as a great opportunity? What if we could give ourselves permission to try new things, to pivot, to more confidently take risks? Sure, some of our ideas may fail, but when has the world been more forgiving? Now is the time to try it all. What do we have to lose?
I want to share a story with you about a time we innovated as a company.
Three years ago, the Chief of Student Maid told me she wanted to move from Gainesville, Florida, where our HQ is, all the way to Portland, Oregon. She had told me in her very first interview that she hoped to one day make this move to be close to her family, but I guess I was naive and thought that it wouldn’t actually happen. But now, it was happening. The person leading my entire company didn’t want to live where my company was located. While the situation certainly wasn’t comparable to a pandemic, I remember asking myself the same questions I’m asking myself now: “How will this affect our original plan and goals?” and, “What are we supposed to do now?”
I had two choices: Find a new Chief of Student Maid, or think outside the box and find a way to make this work without Student Maid’s leader physically present. I didn’t like the first choice, so I went all in on the second.
My team and I had long tossed around this idea of having our students lead the company. As a cleaning company that focuses heavily on leadership development, we dreamed of giving our students the chance to actually run our business but had never put any energy toward it. What if this was the time to actually try that big, crazy idea? What was the worst that could happen? If it didn’t work, we’d try another.
Fast forward three years. We’re now in our third year of giving students the chance to lead three main parts of our business: operations, recruitment, and training. We call it the Ambassador Program. It’s essentially a year-long, paid internship program that teaches the critical functions of running a business. Our students keep budgets and track finances, train people and monitor quality, connect with clients, and handle our customer service. When you walk into our office, you will see our Ambassadors. You’ll also see our Chief of Student Maid on a screen, coaching them from her home in Portland.
Three years ago, I would’ve never guessed that we’d be where we are now. And I know that three years from now, I’ll be thinking the same thing.
“Now” is hard and uncertain, and I don’t want to discount that. But it’s also amazing. It’s amazing because we don’t have any choice but to innovate. We finally get to unleash the crazy, big ideas and come up with even grander ones. We get to try and learn and fail. We have permission to pivot, and these pivots can change the whole trajectory of our work and organizations if we let them.
Hope this gets you thinking and pivoting,
Kristen
(PS: Speaking of pivots, my team created this guide to help you be more effective as you learn to work and lead remotely. Our leadership team went fully remote shortly after our Chief of Student Maid moved, and we’ve learned what to do and what not to do over the years. If you’d like to download it, click here. It’s a “pay-what-you-want” model. It’s okay if you pay $0. Every dollar goes to supporting our team members during this time. Hope it helps you!)
