BUSINESS AS USUAL? KEEPING CONTINUITY DURING A PERIOD OF CHANGE

Lime Green Consulting HQ has now relocated from London to Bristol, which is the inspiration for this blog. If you're based in Bristol or the South West, we'd absolutely love to hear from you. We're also continuing to work with organisations in London and across the country.

This week, after months of planning, my partner Sally and I finally took the plunge and moved to Bristol.

Like many people, we were looking to buy our first house but facing the reality of London house prices. We knew that saying goodbye to North London after ten years would mean more space and a better quality of life. However, uprooting not just our home but our social lives and my growing business has been challenging and, at times, daunting.

Moving house is stressful at the best of times, especially when you’re relocating to a new city. On top of the usual challenges, we’ve got two very anxious young cats and unwittingly scheduled our move at the same time as a prolonged heatwave!

Unpacking boxes and painting walls as the thermometer hit 31 degrees wasn’t a pleasant experience – especially when we had to keep doors and windows closed to prevent our cats making a break for freedom. Even the local Tesco (our one local supermarket) couldn’t cope with the heat as their fridges broke down - so not only did we run out of basic supplies, we couldn't even celebrate with a calming alcoholic drink either.

So how can you ensure 'business as usual' when you're surrounded by mayhem? Plenty of small businesses - including charities - face the same challenge during a major upheaval such as office move, a change of leadership, or even a key staff member facing something big in their personal lives.

Some found the move more daunting than others...

Having now (just about) survived the move, I wanted to share a few tips on ensuring continuity during these stressful times, including some I've learned the hard way:

1. Be realistic about your time

Like me, I'm sure you're guilty of sometimes stretching the definition of a 'working day' in order to achieve as much as possible. But when you've got something major going on outside of work, protecting your time is more important than ever.

For our big move, I was determined to do something I'm usually pretty bad at - take enough time off to do everything else properly. When you're planning things weeks in advance, it's easy to fall into the trap of wishful thinking: "I'm sure things won't be that bad when it's time to move - after all, how much more difficult could one extra meeting / deadline / piece of work make things?

I tried to avoid falling into this trap by carefully scheduling client work weeks and even months in advance, consciously preserving a full five days off. At the time this felt like way longer than I'd need, but I've been grateful for every minute of it. As a result, I've been able to unpack things properly, deal with the inevitable teething problems of a new home, and explore the local area a bit.

I'm writing this blog in a sunny garden on my final afternoon off, rather than in the evening after rushing a piece of work that I wish I hadn't taken on. To protect my time, I've had to be firm with myself and others, but that's much better than promising the world and disappointing people later.

2. Keep your focus

When life is pulling you in multiple directions, you don't just lack time, but quality time to reflect and think. So it's essential to decide your priorities in advance, and remain focused on them.

A few weeks before the move, I wrote a list of all the priority tasks we needed to accomplish in June and July at all costs. So when I was able to briefly open my laptop between unpacking and painting, I already knew what I needed to focus on. No need for creative thinking!

Keeping your focus involves difficult decisions - I was recently asked to speak at a really interesting event in Bristol which would've been a first opportunity to meet some local organisations, but I reluctantly had to turn it down because it clashed with our move and I had clear priorities already.

Last year, we worked with a social enterprise whose founding CEO was leaving after 10 years. They had an overall direction, but their staff were anxious about preserving their focus and values during the upheaval. We helped them to evaluate their position and develop a one-page list of crystal clear 'interim' priorities, which gave them so much reassurance during the handover period.

3. Think positive and give yourself something to look forward to

Moving to Bristol has involved a lot of disruption and we've also had to say goodbye to a lot of people and places, which is never easy.

I've tried to keep positive by focusing on all the things I'm gaining in return, including a garden (unheard of in London!) and a spacious home office after years of working out of a tiny flat in London. Designing this office - including buying new furniture and painting the walls (lime green of course!) - has been a little treat that has made everything else seem more bearable.

Taking care of the top priority in our new home

Reminding your staff (and beneficiaries) about the positives of a big transition can reduce anxiety and maximise productivity. Every big change brings opportunity as well as uncertainty, even when it's unplanned. I love this story about Ben Medansky, who used a devastating fire in his studio to launch a new range of ceramics and find the time to reflect on and rejuvenate his business.

4. Count on others

'Business as usual' is only possible when things run smoothly. This means working closely with colleagues, but also not being afraid to ask for help from everyone else in your life.

Sally and I have had to work as a team to overcome the challenges of our own move. When we exchanged contracts on our house, I was in the midst of an intense month of work, so Sally took on the unenviable task of endless dealings with solicitors and mortgage brokers. In return, I've taken extra time off work for the move itself, so Sally could get back to some urgent work more quickly.

We've had help from so many people including our brilliant friends Sam and Jess, who even let our removal men into the house when we took a wrong turn on the motorway and arrived an hour late!

5. Have a bit of patience

While our initial move went smoothly, it wasn't long before we encountered problems - a washing machine that didn't work, a fuse that keeps tripping, and a particularly long afternoon in Ikea.

When we initially made it to Bristol and started unpacking quickly, I felt that the worst part was behind us and everything was working out perfectly. So when things started going wrong, I struggled to stay patient and deal with it.

​Any big move or transition period involves ups and downs. Paradoxically, ensuring business continuity involves accepting that nothing will go completely to plan, and that disruption will linger for longer than you'd like. This helps you to stay calm and keep things ticking along in the meantime. Getting frustrated rarely does any good, so it's better to take a deep breath and just get on with it.

If you've recently survived a big transition period in your work and have your own tips, or if you're based in the South West and would like to find out more about what we do, please come say hi.