Change, Risk, Innovation, and Opportunity: A Way to Approach the Pandemic

Nelson Soken, Ph.D, Chief Innovation Strategist

During this time, I find myself spending countless hours absorbing information about the pandemic from both a health and an economic standpoint. At times, I am emotionally drained and anxious like many of us; however, at some point, my optimistic spirit emerges and my focus moves toward a positive future, filled with opportunity.

In our Intelligent Risk-Taking, Strategic Thinking, and Managing Innovation workshops, we introduce the concept of the change formula adapted from Gleicher’s research for change (Dannemiller, K. D., and Jacobs, R. W. (1992). “Changing the Way Organizations Change: A Revolution of Common Sense.” The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 28(4), 480-498.)

The formula is as follows D x V x S > R ->C where:

The left side of the equation is:

D = Dissatisfaction with the status quo
V = Vision of a preferable future
S = Support for and assistance in making the change

And the right side of the equation is:

R = Risk (perceived) of the loss of tangible or intangible resources (money, opportunity, “face,” etc.)
C = Change

Thus, If D, V, and S are not present in some form, the intended change will not occur; to support and drive change in people and organizations, the strength or impact of D, V, or S must be increased, or R needs to be reduced.

Interestingly, this formula describes the typical organizational situation we face during the current COVID-19 pandemic. We have been forced into a dramatic situation where an external force (a virus) has dictated that we make dramatic health, social, and economic changes within a matter of weeks.

To respond to the current circumstances, it is critical for us to use the power of creativity and innovation. This situation requires us to “color outside the lines” in order to manage our businesses. Examples of such creativity are described in a Washington Post article by Rachel Siegel, “Cheeseburger,” (April 11, 2020) where restaurants are tapping into their supply chain contacts to do whatever it takes to generate revenue, continue operations and provide value. Some restaurants are going beyond curbside take-out orders and providing other “essentials” that customers need, such as produce, meats, and other food staples; even selling or providing toilet paper as an incentive for customer orders. In a Forbes magazine article by Jason Wingard entitled “Pandemic Pivots: These 3 Companies are Making it Work”, Wingard describes how companies have pivoted in different ways: designers making face masks, distilleries making hand sanitizer, a taco restaurant creating an “emergency kit” which includes supplies to make 40 tacos plus a free roll of toilet paper. This is innovation in a time of crisis and aligns with the old saying, “necessity is the mother of invention.” So, what does the future look like and how will we navigate it, starting right now?

The article continues on our blog.

Virtual Learning Update

We are up and running, having converted many classroom sessions into fully virtual learning experiences. We had already begun designing for virtual experiences in earnest a year ago and we have been receiving very positive feedback from our clients across multiple industries! Of course, while our facilitators look forward to working with groups face-to-face in the future, we are all enjoying the virtual connections we are making with course participants. And we find that the participants are grateful for the interaction with their peers, and making meaningful learning connections. Our virtual designs have preserved the experiential nature of our classroom sessions focusing on engagement with peers, intensive skill practice with feedback, and immediate application. We look forward to helping organizations add remote learning options to their curricula and know this experience will help us all continue to grow and develop.

• Our virtual offerings of Exercising Influence continue:
  • We wrapped up Exercising Influence: A Virtual Learning Journey with a European Medical Affairs group and the reviews were terrific. The learning journey was hosted on Adobe Connect at the client’s request, a transition for us as we usually use Zoom. However, both platforms allow for breakout rooms, a key requisite for our experiential designs. It ran as an intensive program held over 1.5 days preceded by an introductory pre-webinar and will be followed by 1:1 follow-up coaching sessions. Participants especially appreciated the virtual breakout sessions for practice.
  • The Exercising Influence webinar was fully implemented in French with the microlearning modules and digital workbooks translated. Our partners in Grenoble, Equoranda, reported that the sessions worked well; the learners were very engaged and appreciated the opportunity and the format. As we debriefed the session together, they shared new ideas for exercises that we have subsequently implemented—we are learning from one another!
  • Exercising Influence: A Virtual Learning Journey was held via Zoom at a large university client for a second time and the engagement was very strong. We will be converting their future upcoming sessions to virtual ones and creating new virtual programs for them, drawing from some of our other content.
• We completed our pilot of the Strategic Thinking webinar with a large medical device and healthcare company this week. The nature of the content was a natural for a virtual experience and participants made significant progress with their fieldwork assignments, applying various tools to their business challenges. Participants commented at the end of the workshop on the importance of having a structured framework and processes to employ, the helpfulness of collaborating with others to gain additional insights, the benefit of thinking through and testing assumptions, and the need to craft a compelling strategic vision. 
• Inspirational Leadership is having its virtual debut on Monday, May 11 with one of our government clients.  This course is proving to be very relevant in these challenging times. We will keep you posted and watch for our article on leadership next week.
• Work has begun on converting Leading World-Class Teams, Mastery of Change, and Managing Innovation into Virtual Learning Journeys for a number of our clients.

Let us know how we can help you…Feel free to reach out to Lauren Powers, lpowers@barnesconti.com to discuss your needs. We want to hear from you even if only to just to toss around a few ideas!

Barnes & Conti Virtual Food Truck: Empañadas

Lauren Powers, SVP Business Development

This is the all-time favorite for the Powers family. Lauren says, “We fill our empañadas with ground poultry. We make them for all kind of special occasions. They are also great to have in the refrigerator—ready to go for holiday time. Enjoy and feel free to take liberties with the recipe. Once you get the knack, you’ll be exploring all kinds of empañada fillings such as spinach, cheese and artichoke.”

Ingredients:

• 2 large onions diced
• 1-2 cloves minced garlic
• 1-2 tbsp canola oil
• 1 large red pepper diced
• 1 can white corn drained
• 1 tomato diced
• 1 1/2 tsp oregano
• 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
• 1 lb ground chicken or turkey (with dark meat) seasoned with garlic salt
• 2-3 tbsp white wine
• 2-3 Tbsp of chopped fresh cilantro
• 1/4 lb cheddar and/or Monterey jack cheese
• 2 1/2 packages of Goya frozen empañada discos (easy to find online)

Method:

1. Saute onion in oil. When translucent, add minced garlic and red pepper and saute until peppers are soft.
2. Add corn, oregano, and red pepper flakes. Saute for a couple of minutes and remove the mixture from the pan.
3. Cook seasoned poultry in 1-2 tbsp of oil. When browned, add wine, and tomato, and additional salt to taste.
4. Cook for a few minutes to reduce liquid.
5. Add to vegetable mixture you’d set aside and put in some chopped cilantro; let cool in refrigerator.
6. When mixture is cool, add cheese.
7. Use defrosted discos when ready to assemble.
8. Set up 4 disco shells and place about 1/4 cup of filling in center of shells. Brush edges with cold water and fold over and crimp edges using fork. Continue this process until all the filling and shells has been used. It will yield about 25 depending on how filled you make them.
9. Place on a cooking sheet that has been sprayed with vegetable oil.
10. Place in preheated oven of 400 degrees and bake until nicely golden brown on top and bottom, maybe about 20 minutes.

Lauren says, that you can bake and then freeze these for later use. They are best served warm.

Recipe: Kim Barnes’ Simple and Authentic Guacamole

Kim has traveled to Mexico quite a bit to work with our partners. Some years ago she brought back this simple and delicious way of making guacamole.

Ingredients:

• Ripe avocados
• Pinch of salt
• Finely minced garlic
• Fresh squeezed lime juice

Method:

1. Peel and pit the avocados, mash to desired consistency.
2. Add the salt and mix in the other ingredients, to taste.

One large avocado should serve 2-4 people. Guacamole is terrific not just with chips, but as a condiment with all sorts of Mexican dishes.

The recipes are available on our website as part of the Virtual Food Truck.

Please send us some of your favorite recipes you’ve made during these last few weeks. We will add them to our Virtual Food Truck for all to enjoy.

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