Lockdown 2.0 - are you sure where your business stands?

A second lockdown emergency situation is a scenario we still have to seriously consider. If it will happen, or not, is at the moment up for scrutiny of the more optimistic or fatalist opinion makers. But, in terms of ′knowing the waters we navigate′, lockdown 2.0 is still a plausible scenario that may awake with us tomorrow. Are you deciding and acting as if you were in the "eye of the hurricane", or as if the hurricane has already passed by?

Assuming that, in the first lockdown, you had the "excuse" that it came from "nowhere" and you were somewhat caught in the middle of a storm with your beach paraphernalia on; with the possibility of the emergence of a second event, your business can not be such an easy target.

Of course we need to boost the confidence that everything will go just fine and we are all clear to go back to "business as usual" under certain safety and hygiene cautions. But, no matter where you think you are, at this point you should be able to answer to some abstract questions, under lessons learnt from lockdown 1.0:

• Have you got all your main stakeholders engaged in formalized communication channels in order to communicate and to share a message of resilience and open for business?

Communication is key. In difficult times, the way how a business communicates can show weakness (struggling under an unexpected reality) or fortitude (thrive even in adverse conditions). For a bright future sake, you need to show that your business is a stronghold and nothing will make it be destroyed. By providing confidence to your customers (and stakeholders in general) you are providing a strong image of you as their ally in warfare. We stand. We will be here forever. This emergency situation helps to see who can we count on. Customers and suppliers need you. As is the saying: If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together; no matter where you think your business stands... it's not time to go fast.

• Have you got the minimal operational scenario determined? People? Processes? Infrastructure?

Look at your value chain. See what is the minimum for a sustainable output. It may not even be possible but, even that, requires a strong decision, supported in a clairvoyant situational awareness. Are also usually under this analysis that innovation and disruptive actions may be seen as the solutions for unsolvable problems. Prepare the Transformation plateau from the Optimal solution, to the minimum and vice versa. With such procedures mapped you get a better response time, which grants advantage. Agile? Any methodology fits, depends on how much you know in advance of your business and context. Situational awareness - get it, extensively and intensively! 

• Which third parties can help your business continuity and increase the minimal viable products/ services of your business, maintaining its sustainability?

We are not alone. Most opportunities come from joining efforts in difficult times. Balancing risk. Promoting competitive advantages in having third parties on board may be the best decision for your business. If your business is physical oriented, get a partner with an e-commerce platform. If your business is online, get redundancy and other channels to promote the products. Seize the difficult times to achieve better deals and get opportunities that, let us face it, you didn′t do before, because you were too comfortable with the numbers.

• Have you got a special unit (even a team of 1) to serve as an interface for grants or other financial instruments that are made available under these exception situations?

By now, becomes clear that special funding instruments are made available, either national or European, when the lockdown arrives. We can argue that, by that time, your business will try to find its eligibility for such financial aids. But, stop considering them simply as a bandage. Start considering them as investment opportunities which, more than a help to survive, are instruments that will help you to thrive your business. Making it 2.0 too.

If such answers are dealt, or being dealt upon, you and your business are better prepared to help the economy and our society, by being a stronghold for it. 

Original Picture from: https://unsplash.com/photos/qRZ-jRE1YHI