
- Do a cashflow forecast ASAP — and then do this daily, as events evolve
- Apply for the government grant
- Look at what costs you can cut back on but be careful not to cut so much back that you’re unable to execute and operate as you need to when you need to
- Forget the normal 90-day plan — instead, have a real-time weekly plan… and be prepared for it to become a daily one.
- This is really important: use these next four weeks for the future good of your business. This is a really disruptive time for all businesses, however you’ll have more time in the next four weeks to work on your business than ever before so make it count. What improvements and innovations can you come up with?
- To keep family harmony, communicate with every member on how you plan to work with at home — perhaps, if the door is shut, I am unavailable as I am working. You need to maintain a routine so communicate with your family what that looks like to reduce stress and demands on your time. Come up with a schedule — and incorporate, say, a daily walk with your family, lunch outside, a finish time of 5pm etc
CUSTOMERS
- Communicate to your customers how you will be working for the next month — ie not at all, no change except working from home, more slowly than usual etc. Share the channels they can use to communicate with you ie online meeting hubs.
- Make a plan: how are you still going to look after customers at this time? What does your new customer care plan look like?
EMPLOYEES
- Email all staff with guidelines on what Level 4 requires — remember that not everyone would have seen the announcement or recognise what it means for them. Share a brief outline on the government’s requirements and what that means for your business.
- Be honest with your staff and let them know where you need extra effort, so they can focus on the right things. They’ll want you to get through this as much as you do.
- Figure out what your bare minimums/essentials in terms of work output are for the coming 4 weeks and how you can make this happen — communicate this to your staff.
- If your team is able to continue to work remotely, outline what you expect from them in terms of work and output. Agree with them on what they need to work on for the coming month from home, keeping in mind that they may have distractions of children at home.
Set a constant communication rhythm with online meetings every day, perhaps in the morning to set up the day ahead. - You could look to set a schedule, with some measurements, to keep your team motivated and accountable.
- If you have staff with time on their hands, what value-adding projects can they do over this 4-week period that will make your business stronger when you go back? ie upskilling, e-learning, tidying up databases, finetuning backend processes
SUPPLIERS
- Talk to your main suppliers and business contacts, including your landlord and bank manager, to see how they can help you through this challenging period
We’ve created a Business Changing Guide for Leaders Checklist which is available as a free download — just click HERE to receive our comprehensive list of more than 110 items to work on to give you the things to work on to have a fighting chance of coming through this.
Leave a Reply