Author: SueAnn Naso

Leading Transformational Change

Reflections from our CEO

 

In January, we held our State of the Company meeting where we celebrated all that we accomplished in 2022 and communicated our 1-year plan for 2023.  A big part of the meeting is reflecting back on all that we accomplished in 2022 and WOW, what a year it was.  We not only surpassed where we were pre-pandemic, but it was also a record revenue year for SSE. What a proud moment to see it all come together during 2022. I attribute our success to our leaders and team members and their openness to transform what we do, how we do it, and push themselves to continually do better.

 

 

Change is never easy, even when its positive change.  The definition of change is to make something different, alter, or modify.  Replace something with something else. It often involves modifying behaviors that we’ve become extremely comfortable with and taking on new behaviors that may feel a bit uncomfortable.  Over the years I have learned to embrace the uncomfortable and have found that when I do that, I tend to learn and grow the most as a person.

 

 

Change has been at the center of our work universe for three years and, as I reflect back, wow has it been transformational. It all started in October of 2019 when I purchased Staffing Solutions from our founder when she retired. I was surrounded by an amazing group of coworkers who enthusiastically joined my vision to take the company to the next level.  In January 2020 we defined our Culture and established what we call our Fundamentals of Success.  These 27 behaviors clearly describe who we are, what we stand for, and how we expect each other to represent the company.  Little did we know at the time this foundation would carry us through some of the most drastic changes I’ve ever experienced.

 

 

When the world came to screeching halt in March of 2020 and we were forced to work remotely 100%, I felt like we were instantly thrown into survival mode.  The rules were changing rapidly, we had to figure out who was an essential business and where our temporaries/contractors could continue to report to work. We worked with other clients to figure out how to have them work remotely, something that historically had never been done except for a very small number of workers, typically found in specialty areas like the IT space.  Our internal team was worried about their jobs.  Our clients put hiring on hold while they too were trying to figure everything out.  Through it all we kept everyone focused on living our culture and embracing our fundamentals of success.  As I reflect back, there are two of our fundamentals that stand out to me.

First: Be adaptable.

Respond to changing business needs and client priorities with an open mind and flexibility.  Don’t let frustration or disappointment get in the way of getting the job done.  It would have been easy for us to get distracted and lose our focus on what was important, our people and our clients, if we weren’t constantly focused on adapting on a daily and sometimes hourly basis. 

 

Second: Communicate with specific clarity.

Provide a clear and concise message to eliminate room for misunderstanding.  We did a LOT of communicating. We were updating our internal staff at least weekly by email on the evolving situation. We held Zoom meeting for virtual discussions and questions/answer sessions. We communicated daily via Teams as immediate issues transpired.  We sent on-going updates to our contractors and clients.  We even organized virtual group client meeting to help everyone learn from each other since the situation was something none of us had ever dealt with. I truly believe we survived and then thrived through this challenging time by focusing on our culture and commitment to our Fundamentals of Success. 

If you’d like to learn more about how we transformed our culture and how you may do the same at your organization,

I would be happy to share more information. Feel free to reach out to me any time.

 

This was just the first step in our transformational change.  Stay tuned for our next article that will pick up on our

journey in January 2021 as we start recovering from the pandemic and the economic downturn.

 

Sincerely,

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