b'A NEW TOOL HELPING YOU IN THE REALM OF RETAIL SEED SALES.DOING BUSINESS IN A NEW WORLDWhat lessons can be learned for business owners in light of recent events?Heres three viewpoints.Marc ZienkiewiczYou work with businesses to adapt to chal- is a major area with significant chal-lenging circumstances. What are the mainlenges. How can you aid them in finding challenges the ag space is facing right now? resources to manage their mental health?There are four. The first is challenges inLast but not least, policy and procedure the digital realm. A lot of organizationsis an area that needs to be focused on. Teena Sauve werent or arent equipped to go digitalWhat do the next 12-18 months look like Founder and lacked resources to do so. We are nowfor your business? Not only do you have to Botree Inc. seeing an infusion of dollars to supportask yourself what happens during the re-Teena has extensiveorganizations that need to adapt. Whetheropening period were going through right experience as a strategistits through GoToMeeting or Zoom ornow, theres the possibility of a second focused heavily on health.another platform, a lot of video conferenc- wave happening. We do need to prepare With over 20 years ofing is happening. It adds to the challengeourselves for that. Do you have policies experience in the developmentand can present a steep learning curve.and procedures set up so youre better and commercialization ofHow do we create that human connectionprepared in the event of a second wave?products, her knowledgewhen we are in this virtual space? There stretches from sales toare lots of different ideas around how to marketing, consulting todo that. One of the best ways we can do leadership. it is by looking at ways of connecting withYOU HAVE TO HAVE HOPE FOR THE employees whether its virtual huddles, scheduled staff meetings done virtually,FUTURE AND FEEL OPTIMISTIC informal virtual chats, using a chat appDESPITE THE SENSATIONALISM AND like Slack. We can use this opportunity to think about customers and create thatTHE CLICKBAIT HEADLINES YOU SEE virtual connection with them, too. We can also empower salespeople by helpingEVERY DAY.them create a virtual sales space.Teena SauveThe second challenge is labour. As we look at potential labour shortages in Canada, it should really be a major focus of our organizations to look at how toWhat are some strategies youve learned to go about retaining employees during amake use of in your own day-to-day work life?difficult time. How do you keep engagedCreating a schedule for myself. Exercising with people when you have to lay themregularly. Brainstorming ideasthis can off? How do you re-engage your team asencourage those around you and get them we carry out the gradual re-opening thatengaged and excited. You have to have is happening right now? hope for the future and feel optimistic Third is good communication. Fordespite the sensationalism and the click-those fortunate enough to retain theirbait headlines you see every day. Staying employees, how do you continue to sup- positive allows us to pivot and improve port them if theyre working from homethe areas we didnt have time to invest in or facing other challenges? Mental healthprior.36GERMINATION.CAJULY 2020'