Recently, Petra Coach hosted a Coaches’ Corner – a 1-hour session of live Q&A with Certified Petra Coaches. This webinar featured coaches Chip Gallent, Ryan Markel and Mark Comiso.

The content is invaluable to leaders during this unprecedented time.

You can find the full recording here.

To augment the recording, below is a brief recap of questions and answers from the session.

Q: What is the #1 thing in business that has surprised you the most in the past 6 weeks?

A:

  • People shutting their doors because they don’t want to fight
  • The things that companies have accomplished in this time, and the speed at which they are pivoting and achieving success
  • The bonding that has come out of this

Q: How do you balance work life time with home time when working from home?

A: You have to figure out “how to go home” at the end of the day – leave your work space and honor your home time. Also something as simple as changing your outfit from “work time” to “home time.” That physical change makes a huge difference.

Q: As we start to come out of this, what new challenges will we start to face?

A: It’s most important to listen first and understand other people’s perspectives – we are all in different phases. There will still be bumps along the road. We’ll be in a steady state for a while, and then things will change again.

Balancing productivity will be a challenge. Some may not want to return to the office for a certain amount of time and we need to figure out how to balance that.

Q: What are some things companies should do to boost morale once we come back?

A: Be real with your team. Be mindful of each person. Everyone has been through a tough time, and we’re all in this together. Further that bond that was made during the tough times. Allow time and space to laugh together and/or cry together.

Q: If you’ve pivoted your services to fit this time, what is the best plan of action to come back to your traditional offers?

A: Think about the appropriate way to stage the return. Be strategic about it, you don’t need to do it all at once. This is a chance to look at your business and see if there are aspects that shouldn’t return. Slowly re-introduce your services and see what works best. You may not need some aspects that you used to have.

Also, ask the client what they want! What is it that you offer that they want to pay for? This will help guide you toward which services are most valued and need to stay.

Q: What’s one strategic area that will not be overlooked going forward?

A:

Preparedness & planning

  • Increased insurance
  • Disaster preparedness planning

Doubling the “T” in the SWOT analysis

  • Looking at Threats, as well as Trends, more

Q: What are some successful pivot examples?

A:

Example 1: Since schools have been shut down, a catering company for schools and daycares is now providing frozen packaged meals to the homes of their customers.

Example 2: A company that provides interior plants & maintenance is now providing office disinfectant solution. They are changing out the solution in their sprayers to now kill the virus in office buildings.

Example 3: We (Petra Coach) used to do in-person plannings with companies around scaling their business. Now we are helping teams through crisis management using virtual platforms, helping as many people get through this as we can.

Example 4: Alcohol companies using the raw materials that they have to create hand sanitizer.

Q: What are the best practices to position your company for PPP forgiveness?

A: Use it what it is for: 75% needs to be used to payroll & 25% to cover rent or mortgages – supporting things you would need.

Set up a new bank account for the PPP money so you can show what you used it for.

Capture your expenses during COVID 19 (any extra things you have had to spend money on). This could be helpful for the future if there is any forgiveness for those items.