Leading Through Coronavirus Blog 5

Keep Reaching Out to People

We’re now in the fifth week of the Staffing & Recruiting Leaders Mastermind Group.  There’s a continuous flow of new people who wish to participate in the group to connect with others like themselves and share helpful information.  

Most people are focused on connecting with clients and prospects so that their relationships are strong when the recovery begins.    The average emotional state for the group in the past week was a 6.5 on a 10-point scale. People’s numbers ranged from 1-10. This is probably caused by differences in downturn impact and in the way people view and respond to the effects.

Despite Covid-19, most people in the group are still making placements, though at a reduced volume.  It’s encouraging to know that there are hiring needs and placements to be made. It’s not futile to reach out and communicate with clients, candidates, and prospects. Most people agree that it’s best to reach out to connect via phone to communicate sincere concern clients rather than to simply ask about job openings due to today’s unusual circumstances. It’s not enough to just send emails. If clients believe that you care about them, they’re more likely to mention their desire for your assistance in filling jobs now and the future. 

Wise leaders are continuing to stay in contact with their teams who are now remote to reassure them and have tasks for them to do so they keep moving forward and avoid a negative spiral. People will tend to add a negative interpretation to a lack of communication, so it’s worthwhile to stay in close contact with your teams.

The group invested significant time discussing the Payroll Protection Program (PPP) was discussed extensively.  Some people have been approved and others are waiting on approval. The PPP is a resource that most people hope to utilize for both internal employees and 1099’s as well as temps they have on client sites.

Breakout Discussions and takeaways
We broke out into groups of three in video breakout rooms to allow people to discuss the most critical challenge they are facing now and what changes they need to make to adapt.  Group participants were able to gain clarity on steps that will help them with others who truly understand the challenges they face. This information from the breakout groups was summarized and communicated to the entire group. People felt that this helped them gain many perspectives, which increased their awareness and provided usable insights.  Most participants shared specific takeaways they will use to take positive steps next week to improve their business results. Here’s three of them:

• A great question to ask clients is, “what do you plan to do to recover?”
• Continue to reach out via phone to connect with people rather than assume there’s no new business
• Continue to take positive actions even though you may not feel up to it

I’m honored to facilitate the “Leading Through Coronavirus Virtual Mastermind Group” for a growing community of staffing and recruiting industry leaders.   This group is open to other staffing industry leaders who’d like to both give and receive help. It occurs every Tuesday from 12-1pm EDT while we’re dealing with the coronavirus disruption. Just click on https://zoom.us/j/3571033654.  

There’s no invitation or sign-up. Put it on your calendar as a recurring item to hop on and participate.  This is a group of experienced people who have a great deal of collective wisdom and are glad to help each other with relevant advice, recruitment strategy, and encouragement. We hope to see you next Tuesday!