Corona Virus: Leading through Change

The impact of coronavirus crisis on businesses is devastating. But amidst the ruin abound many opportunities. By April 2020, the effect of COVID-19 had created global apprehension by claiming hundreds of thousands of lives. The pandemic has also triggered powerful second-order effects. Statistics show that only 52 out of 54 African countries (Lesotho and Comoros) are Covid19 free. Although important for safeguarding public health, the government instituted travel bans and quarantine requirements have isolated people from their relatives and friends. According to Shape, people are lonelier than ever as they can not find comfort in physical companionships, communities or places of worship.

As COVID-19 begins to strangle manufacturing companies and supply chains, the toll on the economy and citizens has been unbearable. Record high unemployment, volatile stocks and low oil prices have served to cripple economies that were already struggling pre-COVID. When economic uncertainties like this the Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) depend on the government to roll-out stimulus packages but these packages are limited and most times hampered by bureaucracy, sadly most companies reduce operations costs and staff strength to mitigate the new realities. and people providing non-essential services have been forced to accept the realities of ‘No Work; No Pay’, the Furlough rule. Departments of big corporates have trimmed down their staff to match outputs. Companies are looking to only retain essential staff necessary for their skeletal operations.

These are not unprecedented times; there have been many cases where changes or unexpected incidents have put many companies out of business while strengthening others. The invention of the internet put many companies out of business — the ones who could not pivot for the internet age but rather doubled down on antiquated business models. Why Nokia failed is a relatable case where the best-selling phone brand in 1998 lost 90% of its valuation and was saved by acquisition in 2003.

When Starbucks moved into neighbourhoods, they reinvented coffee delivery by introducing a mail-order catalogue; the company was serving mail-order customers in every state and operating 33 stores. By then, the company’s reputation had grown steadily by word of mouth. A lot of neighbourhood coffee shops closed not because of Starbucks, but because they refused to change the way they did business, they still had an old ripped-up couch when Starbucks had a better product-delivery model. Also, private taxi associations saw a fast decline, not because of Uber and other ride-hailing services, but because they refused to change; this is not unprecedented.

COVID-19 is new, sudden and more shocking but not unprecedented in the business world. The question is not 'How do we do what we are doing', but rather, 'How will we do what we are doing in an ever-changing world?'.

Opportunities for Leaders

Companies that have embedded technology in their processes and operational scalability would come out of this stronger because they are prepared. If these same companies that have been prudent in operational costs, as opposed to excessive overheads, they will have a higher chance of pulling through these dynamic times. 

Leaders who have spent all their money saved nothing and lacked operational planning are in Survival mode, rather than Reinvention mode; a phase where they are better suited to identify opportunities for growth, rather than struggle to survive.

Do not allow the Uber and Starbucks posing as competition in your sector put you out of business; reinvent yourself, this is not unprecedented, this has happened many, many, times in business; the only difference is this is much more sudden. The opportunity is 'What will we be?' not 'How do we preserve what we have'; that is an infinite mindset. 

Opportunities for Employees

Dynamic employees must cultivate the Leadership Mentality, which starts with personal reinvention and a different approach to their jobs. They must ask themselves: 'how can I contribute in a new way?', 'What value can I offer for the business to scale through?' 

Companies, in an effort to manage resources, have a high tendency to reduce non-essential staff; now is the time to learn skills and resources to provide value that will make you indispensable. You should contribute to the reinvention 'What could we be? How will we operate and provide our products and services to people in a different way.' Here is an aggregate of skills organisations are currently hiring for, and resources on how to learn them.

Sadly, it will be all lies if the process of keeping jobs is in the hands of employees but in reality, it's much bigger, the market is taking a hit, companies are failing and getting cash-strapped. You can’t stop learning because of factors that might be against you. The opportunities available after the COVID-19 epidemic are enormous as new jobs and movements will be created. If you have disruptive ideas place your bet on it, if you can redefine your skills try it out. In the end, your energy fuels your hustle.

Opportunities for Businesses

?Fareed Zakaria, a foreign relations expert during his world briefing said: “The problem we face is broad and global,” but unfortunately, the responses are increasingly narrow and parochial. With oil prices crashing even before the COVID-19 hit, Unstable oil-producing countries like Libya, Nigeria, Iran, Iraq, and Venezuela could face harsher economic downturns.

According to the African report, the CBN economic package is too tiny to matter; the Nigerian economy is on course for a recession in Q3 2020, while a bigger challenge lies in the negative posture of the USA from its record job losses. All these factors are shaping up for a global world recession starting in the second quarter and continuing through the first quarter of 2021.

1. Make risk management part of strategic planning, rethink global strategies to be more resilient. There will be more low-probability/high impact events--disease outbreaks, severe weather events, earthquakes, and social unrest. By making risk management part of strategic planning, companies can routinely simulate how such events—as well as other variables--could disrupt their businesses and use those insights to design their operations and resource distribution that will stand up to the realities of global business today.
2. Technology as an enabler has been seen as a game-changer in either creating more jobs or wiping out the manual pool of resources, before the COVID-19 epidemic. Business ideas are better positioned when they leverage technology to scale. The opportunities for businesses are borne out of the reality though infrastructural deficiency is still a root challenge for business survival. Organisations must reinvent their processes and see technology as a core factor in a business framework, it's almost impossible to take away this fact: If technology cannot drive your business growth; there is no chance of its survival in our reality.
3. Companies backed by technology are in reinvention mode, while the companies with a finite mindset are in survival mode. Regardless of how much money they have, it is the mindset; 'How are we going to get through this' VS 'How are we going to change to get through this?'

Lastly, it is vital that leaders not only demonstrate empathy but open themselves to empathy from others and remain attentive to their own well-being. As stress, fatigue, and uncertainty build up during a crisis, leaders might find that their abilities to process information, to remain levelheaded, and to exercise good judgment diminish. They will stand a better chance of countering organisational declines if they encourage colleagues to express their concerns—and heed the warnings they are given. Investing time in their well-being will enable leaders to sustain their effectiveness over the weeks and months that a crisis can entail.