COVID-19 – The ultimate test of your company’s resilience
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About the writer Dhanushka Kulathilaka is the recipient of numerous awards for significant contributions in the field of business and education. He is the Director, Education and Administration at Oxford College of Business, a business consultant, facilitator and coach with international background in leadership and personal development.
The global spread of COVID-19 is a humanitarian crisis, first and foremost. But it’s added yet another layer of disruption to the growing list of unexpected challenges facing leaders and impacting business performance. Fundamentally, the pandemic is a test of your company’s resilience. Responding requires a structured approach to crisis management, headed by a team coordinating everything from internal and external communication to risk assessment, management and mitigation. The problem? It’s tough to be methodical when everything is changing by the day.
That’s why it’s crucial to have a map for navigating uncertainty and complexity.
Here are a few areas which enterprises can address to assist business continuity now, build resilience for what’s next, and help reframe your future for what comes beyond the pandemic.
When considering these issues, it is recommend that organizations and leaders always start with the people-related issues before you move onto other areas, which can be addressed in any order:
Apply a people-first mindset
The very first priority of an organization during a pandemic should be the safety and well-being of its workforce. Employees are unable to focus on work responsibilities when their well-being and that of their family are in peril. Hence, the critical question firms must address at the onset of a pandemic event is whether their employees are safe, followed by whether they are available to perform critical functions. It is important for companies to be able to monitor the situation, provide a safe workplace and offer their employees the support that they need.
Examples of employee support may include providing access to internal and external resources services and recognition for employees who take on work for other areas, communicating timely updates to raise awareness and establishing employee standard of care services where possible to provide support to sick personnel or those that are caring for sick household members.
To enable timely two-way communication and employee tracking and to disseminate critical information, companies must validate that emergency notification systems are in place and tested on a routine basis. Alternative communication channels such as social media may be used, especially if the telecommunication network capacity is strained. In addition, companies should deliver pandemic-related training to enhance employee preparedness and alleviate any concerns.
Engage with customers
Companies must continue to communicate with customers through multiple channels, reinforce that customer interests are a priority and provide information to alleviate their concerns. Customers may have specific questions around a company’s supply chain, especially if resources are located in impacted areas, and also may have questions around how those resources may pose any potential risks to them for future use of the company’s products and services.
A clearly drafted frequently-asked-questions document published and disseminated through multiple channels, including the company’s website and social media, can prove to be a useful tool to proactively address customer concerns. Additionally, companies may consider reaching out to affected customers to check in on their safety and offer assistance, where appropriate.
Develop a robust communication strategy (including social media)
Effective communications during any crisis are crucial to maintaining customer trust, restoring employee morale and confidence, and retaining market stability. While companies have a communications strategy and designated points of contact to engage with internal and external stakeholders, often times the messaging is inconsistent and untimely. For companies that have both retail and corporate customers, consistent messaging is key. All channels must reconcile (e.g., social media, customer call centres, public relations releases).
Additionally, events like a pandemic can add another layer of complexity due to circulation of false news and narratives on social media. To provide cohesive and timely enterprise messaging, companies must establish a robust communications strategy that clearly lays out process and protocols to engage with a wide set of stakeholders (e.g., customers, counterparties, regulators, employees, third parties, governments, media, health officials) inclusive of any legal and jurisdictional considerations.
For highly regulated industries such as financial services, health care, and power and utilities, companies should determine and comply with applicable state and local reporting requirements (e.g., disclosure of material risks and impacts), and have a process in place to notify and engage with regulators proactively across various jurisdictions. Furthermore, employees should receive training on the characteristics of a pandemic and how pandemics differ from traditional disasters. Lastly, companies should identify alternatives if corporate communications are centralized in one location.
Team with public sector;
national, state and local agencies;
and health officials
Pandemics are a public issue first and a business issue second. Hence, it is important for the public and private sector to come together to provide an adequate and comprehensive response to a pandemic event. Companies must leverage advisories, resources and health safety measures prescribed by international, national and local agencies and health officials, and refrain from distributing conflicting materials as this can lead to confusion and fear among employees.
While well intended, companies must closely coordinate on any direct efforts (e.g., providing supplies) to support communities with local agencies to avoid chaos, and to not impede any public assistance efforts underway. Communication strategy and channels to engage effectively with local and national authorities should be established. Companies may set up matching grant and other financial assistance programs to help employees and communities in financial distress during this time.
It is not the strongest of the species that survives
Furthermore COVID-19 is the ultimate measure of how sustainable organizations are and how receptive companies are to facing the ultimate challenge of sustainability.
There is no doubt that COVID-19 will dominate a greater part of 2020. The year will be centred around recessions, unemployment and economic downturn.
As we enter an era that the world has never experience before it could be safe to say that “it is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one more responsive to change.”