“Viewpoint” is a new series of opinion posts from WorkSync that spotlight our take on the big ideas affecting today’s workforce and businesses.

Supply chain disruptions. Staffing shortages. A pandemic that may or may not finally be drawing to a close. As we near the end of 2021, organizations are still dealing with an array of challenges. And although perhaps the situation isn’t as dire as it was a year ago, at the height of the COVID-19 crisis, the landscape remains tough for businesses.

Meanwhile, smart leaders have learned that they can’t simply keep operating as usual. That’s a sure road to nowhere. Instead, they must rely on that most underrated but essential of skills: resourcefulness.

What does it really mean to be resourceful? It means learning to do more with less. Finding clever, creative solutions to problems. Being agile, adaptable, flexible. And above all, seeing every roadblock not as an insurmountable obstacle, but as a hurdle to be boldly overcome.

As a resourceful leader, you can begin by taking a clear-eyed look at the current workings of your organization. Is your business lean, mean, and efficient or bloated with unnecessary costs and cumbersome processes? Search for ways to trim the fat and prioritize what’s truly essential.

Next, turn to your people — your most precious resource. Are you maximizing your team’s time and talents? Do their roles empower them to be their best and thrive, or are they burdened with busywork and red tape? Make whatever changes are required to create an environment where your employees can fully flourish.

Finally, try to view your products and services with the fresh perspective of an outsider. Is what you’re offering still what the marketplace wants? Are you keeping up with the times? If any of your solutions are outdated, don’t be afraid to discontinue them. That’ll just give you and your team more bandwidth to develop new ones that meet the evolving demands of today’s customers.

In a moment like this, when we’re facing a scarcity of supplies and staff, not to mention an uncertain future, it might be easy to panic. But we can also choose to look at this time as a unique opportunity to be our most resourceful selves — to get rid of whatever’s wasteful in our businesses, to think imaginatively, and to bring our teams together to solve problems in ingenious, unexpected ways.

Now, that would be something to celebrate. That would be a worthwhile outcome of this difficult period. That would be resourcefulness in action.

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