Jeremy Streten, Director at SMS Law gives insightful tips on what to focus on amidst the COVID-19 pandemic as well as key areas to focus on once the pandemic is over.
Do you feel like all your plans for 2020 have been thrown out the window? Are you concerned about what is going to happen with your law firm coming out of the Corona Crisis? The term Corona Crisis is used to describe the events of 2020 where whole industries have been shut down and the economy brought to a standstill as a result of COVID-19. At the time of writing this article we are in the middle of the Crisis and no-one knows exactly what will happen and how it will end. The one certainty is that it will end, and we will come through the Crisis. I want to help you to work through the Crisis and understand what you need to do as we come out of the crisis.
What do you need to focus on?
I work with a variety of lawyers, law firm owners and business people and have seen firsthand the change and problems caused by the Corona Crisis. In any crisis, and in fact in life, there are three things that you should focus your energy on.
Firstly you can focus on where you spend your time. Working out what the best use of your time is valuable at all times and especially during a crisis.
Secondly you need to focus on putting in positive and quality information into your mind. Avoiding watching mainstream media and shock value news and replacing it with books and podcasts will help to focus your energy in the right areas.
Thirdly and finally, nurturing your network. The unique part about the Corona Crisis is that everyone, in the entire world, is in it together. You should use this time and opportunity to work with your network and help them through any issues or challenges that they are facing.
Stages of Change
Once you focus on the right areas you then need to ask yourself how to deal with the stages of change. Change is inevitable and we have been through a lot already during this crisis. Moving through the stages of change are important to make sure that you understand that change has occurred and that the only way through that change is to move through the various stages, shock, denial, anger, depression, acceptance and integration.
I have mapped these out in much greater detail how the stages of change have been dealt with by business owners during the Corona Crisis. I have done this as a free bonus chapter of my book “The Business Legal Lifecycle” called Chapter 14 – Its Lonely at the Top – Dealing with Crisis. In that chapter I map out the progress of business owners and offer a way out that lawyers can assist their clients to move through and come out stronger on the other side.
You can download a copy of Chapter 14 from my website.
Jeremy Streten is a lawyer and the author of the amazon best seller “The Business Legal Lifecycle,” which is designed to help business owners understand what they are doing in their business from a legal perspective and give them a plan for the future. Connect with Jeremy via email or LinkedIn
