Making the most of a less than ideal situation
By Rebecca
[O]ur team put in a great deal of effort to add value to our organization and we have learned a lot along the way.
After the initial shock of our trip to Brazil being canceled, our worlds were turned upside down again with the announcement that school would be remote for the rest of the semester. We have had to adjust (along with the rest of the world) to a new normal of staying home and connecting on Zoom and Google Hangouts. These tools have proven to be invaluable for us to stay connected with our client in Brazil, while we finish up our final recommendations.
At first, I was nervous for us to present our initial findings over the computer. I was worried the hard work we put into the project wouldn’t translate well over Google Hangouts. However, these worries quickly disappeared when we spoke to our client. He was extremely accommodating to all of the quick changes and appreciative of the effort we had put into the project. After sharing our initial finding, it feels as though the recommendations we made are a real value add to the organization. We wanted to make the presentation a collaborative effort, rather than just presenting at our client. We told our client to feel empowered to ask us questions throughout the presentation, since at the end of the day, our work was for his benefit. He gave us detailed constructive feedback for each organization we researched for potential acquisition or partnership. He felt that we did a strong job of getting a baseline understanding of each organization, but recommended to deepen our research and dig deep below the surface to truly understand each organization. The feedback he gave us enabled us to construct a final report that we are proud of, that gives meaningful details on why each organization may be a good fit for our client to work with.
One concern I have, given that our project is focused on M&A strategy and inorganic growth, is what this means in the current situation with Coronavirus. Will M&A or partnership even be possible now? Will the companies we researched for this project even still exist when this is all said and done? These questions will remain unanswered until the crisis passes. And while I am grappling with this issue, I know at the end of the day, our team put in a great deal of effort to add value to our organization and we have learned a lot along the way. Regardless of the outcome from the Coronavirus, this project has been a value add to all involved.