When the coronavirus pandemic hit the economy in March, CEOs of small- and medium-sized businesses were thrown into the deep end. All of a sudden, they had to deal with employees working from home, security issues and, in general, the rapid acceleration of digital trends.
By now, many have likely realized that when the coronavirus eventually subsides, the business world they knew is going to look very different. It’s certainly a lot to process.
Luckily, a Rhode Island technology consulting firm thinks it can help these businesses bear the burden and plan for the difficult road ahead.
Trilix, which offers advisory and coaching, business intelligence and technology solutions, recently launched the Trilix Executive Academy to help support CEOs as they prepare to face the new world.
While the academy is a paid program, Tim Hebert, CEO and founder of Trilix, said that after seeing all the devastating ways the coronavirus impacted small- and medium-sized businesses, the company really wanted to offer solutions to help these companies move forward.
“How are they going to be more successful and how can they turn the corner and pivot?” Hebert told Rhode Island Inno. “We fundamentally believe a lot of the things they did to get to where they are will not work going forward. They are going to have to make shifts and changes to their business model, to their strategies and to the way they work with their clients.”
As companies look to the future, the Trilix Executive Academy will help their CEOs make a plan by offering one-on-one coaching sessions, monthly goal-setting and tracking, a 360-degree execution assessment and a strategic plan development.
The program will also provide CEOs with a market forces and competitive analysis, a growth imperative workshop, a leading teams and building culture course and a strategic theory course.
Dave Ramsden, creator of the Trilix Executive Academy, said that although many founders have strong skill sets and knowledge in their specific subject matter, many are still lacking in elements like team building, creating culture and strategic theory.
“They can scale to a certain point, but if they really want to create a good exit strategy they really need to move to a point where they themselves and their leadership teams can progress into higher stages of entrepreneurial development,” he said.
The addition of the executive academy to Trilix’s offerings is a natural progression of the business.
Hebert launched Trilix in 2017 after selling his first business, Atrion, to Carousel Industries the previous year. The business started by focusing on technology but has since expanded into data analytics and management consulting, and it is now seeing lots of interest in advisory services.
Herbert said he thinks lots of companies both small and large were caught flat-footed by the coronavirus, and really weren’t even ready to make the transition to working from home.
He sees CEOs and CIOs rethinking their whole business continuity strategy to figure out how they will connect with clients and the entire organization when they can’t physically walk into an office.
“Ideally, folks are taking some time to sharpen their saws, so they can hit this next year running and make up for some of what they lost in 2020,” said Ramsden. “I think that some of the skills that we’re looking to help these organizations build through the executive academy are just that type of saw-sharpening that will help them execute more effectively.”
