The last four weeks have been hard. We’d all like to know what’s going to happen next. We miss friends and family, we miss walking into a supermarket without first queuing, and we miss general “normality”; without questioning if our actions are breaking restrictions.
Hopefully, the Government will reveal its proposed exit strategy from the Covid-19 pandemic very soon, and this will undoubtedly provide some sort of certainty to both individuals and businesses throughout the country.
Knowing the way out will also compel businesses to consider their own path, and how they plan to move as seamlessly as possible from “un-business” to the new business as usual.
Emerging from enforced hibernation will almost certainly throw up some considerable challenges for companies large and small. It is highly unlikely that we will simply pick up where we left off, going back to exactly what we were doing before lockdown. In fact, we may never return to working in the same the way that we did before. Too much has happened.
Once restriction measures begin to lift, we are not going to be able to merely reopen offices and return to work. Like switching on a boiler after a long summer or like firing up your car after a period in the garage, a degree of preparation will be required in order to avoid frustrating failures.
Operationally, businesses must consider how long it takes to put systems back in place, how and when to reintroduce furloughed staff, which projects can be back up and running quickly, and which will need more lead time.
They will also need to consider how their supply chains might be impacted as their suppliers adjust to their own return. It must also be considered that just these steps – no matter how long it took to switch off – may take weeks rather than days to remedy (and that doesn’t count the planning to agree those points).
It is critical that boards start to make good decisions and quickly. Finessing the steps your business needs to take to get on the road to recovery, and focusing on new working practices that you want to take forward when returning to normal, should be the order of the day, and leaders need to move quickly and efficiently towards a robust recovery plan.
Yes, it will be important to get the business ramped up after restrictions are lifted, but it is equally vital not to lose sight of the support your employees have shown throughout this pandemic. It will be your people who enable you to kickstart business again, and trade out of this situation, and a new and refreshed focus on these self-same people and culture will play a critical part in all exit strategies.
It is likely that government guidance and social distancing restrictions will continue in some form for a while to come, and certain sectors or age groups may return to work or play earlier than others. When mainstream organisations are permitted to reopen, there could well be restrictions on how we work.
For example, we may not be permitted to have staff working in close proximity, and we may have to be creative with our methods of accommodating social distancing. There is also a possibility that organisations will not be permitted to reopen until staff are properly equipped with personal protective equipment (PPE); this could be a corporate responsibility, not an individual one. Another consideration to add to your planning – particularly in how you can responsibly source the equipment.
But through this, we must maintain the community spirit that has come alive during this very trying time. We can continue that as we emerge from this period – lean on this community as you need it and ask for support if you need to decide on that path. For once, no individual has the right answer; let’s work together to get back to business as usual.
Malcolm Cannon is national director of the Institute of Directors (IoD) Scotland
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