COVID event: How to accelerate fast out of the turn

On Friday, the programmeprogram hosted its first lockdown webinar, How to accelerate fast out of the turn – the 2Y3X methodology. Co-founder Felix Velarde was joined by a panel of fantastic, expert speakers to discuss strategic planning for business leaders to consider while growing through this challenging time. We also had attendees join from all over the world.

Here are some of our highlights from a fantastic virtual event.

Lessons on leadership from Nathan Anibaba

Well known for his unmissable Agency Dealmasters weekly podcast, Nathan interviews some of the most successful leaders in B2B marketing & sales. We were lucky enough to hear some of the top lessons Nathan’s gathered from 76 marketing leaders, including how best to approach staff management – more prevalent in these times than ever – and the importance of using core values to guide decision making. How do the best leaders revolutionize, regardless of how difficult times may be? We highly recommend catching up on his podcast to find out!

“A crisis”, Nathan says, “is a terrible thing to waste. The current situation is an awful, awful thing. But those of us who are able to use the opportunity and to do good with the privilege, should definitely do so.”

The leadership playbook by Sarah Vick

Sarah has spent two decades managing and growing digital agencies (mainly as CEO, non-exec or chair). She’s weathered several challenging times with businesses she’s worked with, and had some excellent advice for attendees on daily strategy which, applied ‘rapidly and repeatedly’ can strengthen businesses.

Worth noting is that “building a rapid response team is the single most important thing for leaders to do”, and to be ruthless when it comes to recruitment. Extremely relatable also, was the discussion of trying not to fall into a trap of trying to solve all issues. In a time when we’re all scrambling to see what we can control, knowing what we should really focus on is a very helpful thing.

Owen Valentine Pringle on rebuilding and reinventing with purpose

Owen has over 20 years of experience working in culture, media and NGO sectors and has led many digital departments. He is currently working with ActionAid on their digital response, and had many insights to share on how to tactically move through these times.

Owen spoke on the importance of differentiating what your business offers, identifying fundamental differences through clear proposition. Observing the way so many companies have responded to the crisis, particularly through advertising, in almost identical ways, confirmed the need for companies to take different approaches to stand out.

He believes that we have a “remarkable ability as humans to get on track”, and he has “faith in our ability to check ourselves before we wreck ourselves.” The biggest catastrophes can absolutely create opportunities, it’s just a matter of whether business leaders are able to strategize and source necessary support to find them.

Felix Velarde on the 2Y3X methodologies and crisis management

Co-founder of The programmeprogram and heavyweight agency chairman, Felix Velarde emphasised that we are in a time of critical importance, and that through using efficient planning tools, resilient businesses can exit this time being not only stronger but having strategies in place to achieve further future success.

Felix explained the practical tools the team at 2Y3X are using with clients to help them to scale and reach targets. He reminded attendees of the importance of framing what you want to happen each year, where you want the company to be, and splitting goals into understandable and followable pathways.

The key takeaway was that we can and should apply management techniques not only during a crisis but in the future, when ‘normal’ trading times return. We should approach these techniques as a form of maintenance, rather than waiting until an emergency demands that we pay closer attention.