Responsive Business with Renée Safrata
Listen to this episode on Apple Podcasts or Spotify
I’m always curious what comes up for people when they hear the word responsive. I’ve known people in the past who used the words responsive and reactive interchangeably, yet I’ve always been very intentional with when and where I use each term.
I think of a reaction as our initial thought or feeling to a situation. No matter what the thought or feeling, it is completely valid and is designed to give us important information about what’s happening around us, however, it’s completely out of our control. As many folks like to say, it’s our lizard brain’s first take on a situation. In contrast, a response is everything that happens from that moment forward. We get to choose our response and are therefore responsible (see what I did there 😉) for what we say, do, or even feel from that point on.
This distinction is very important for me because it gives all of us grace to feel what we are meant to feel, to observe what we are meant to observe, and to process the important data points associated with those moments – while still giving us the opportunity to own our part in what happens going forward. And while responsibility in that way can be scary, it can also be incredibly empowering.
I see evidence every day that the faster we can separate our reaction from our response, the more effective we are as leaders, team members, parents, friends, partners… you name it! And yet, one of the hardest things we do is take responsibility for everything that comes after our initial reaction.
Much like each of us as individuals can be reactive or responsive, so too can businesses (no matter their size). When we see companies being reactive, we tend to criticize them and talk about how we would do things differently if we were in charge. However, we rarely notice when a company is responsive because the steps, thoughtfulness, and intentionality that have gone into the end result (the one that we see) are virtually invisible to us, as outsiders.
Renée Safrata, CEO of Vivo Team, is sharing some of her secrets to running a responsive business on the podcast this week.
Despite all the challenges associated with the past few years, Renée and Vivo Team have managed to come out the other side stronger than ever – due, in large part, to the leadership team being transparent, consistent, and communicative. And, as a result, they have created a business and culture that is based on being responsive, not reactive.
In our conversation, Renée shares not only her experience as a leader through crisis and change, but also a number of the insights and tools she tested with her own team, and why they made such a difference. In particular, Vivo Team’s Five Point Plan and the 6 Power Tools are incredibly important to pay attention to and adapt for yourself.
We’d love to hear what you think about this and/or what your biggest takeaways are from this episode so listen in and let us know.
Also, don’t forget to grab your SWAG Bag from Vivo Team (the link is down below)!
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As Founder and CEO, Renée Safrata oversees Vivo Team’s full-spectrum learning experience and develops leaders and teams through live, online training, coaching, and people analytics. For more about Renée, Vivo Team, and/or to grab your SWAG Bag, visit vivoteam.com.
You can also connect with Renée and the Team on all social networks by searching Vivo Team Development.