5 Steps to Business Recovery - Starting Now
If you lead a business, your mind is likely focused on survival and minimizing your losses, both economic and people-related. There’s another key element to put front and center though — a timely and effective recovery. Take it from one who has led emergency efforts in large organizations: plan now for life on the other side. If you do, you’ll come out better, and in a better market position. Count on it.
The good news is that this work is also part of the healing process, to begin to put in motion steps to return to normal operations. Depending on your business type, there are different ways to plan your business recovery, however we recommend considering a phased return, especially in health emergencies. That allows you to ramp up production and revenues as you have a more consistent workforce presence. Also, if there are waves of illness over time, you will still have the core workforce to proceed effectively. Other than that broad recommendation in view of this situation, here are five key steps to guide your project plan for a business recovery:
1. Adjust your mindset. Look in the mirror, and find the positives around you. Attitude is key to a successful recovery, and that starts from within. What are the new discoveries that you and your team learned through the crisis? How did it help you to advance skills, knowledge or new services? What of those learnings and changes should be continued, or built upon? It’s easy to see the challenges, yet if we look, there are likely a lot of positives too. Positive energy and focus is energizing and engaging. Lead with positivity, and watch the recovery truly begin. Balance every challenge with a positive outcome.
2. Evaluate your current state. As a leader, you need to set the direction for the company’s future, in full reality of your current position. Survey the damage, and take an honest view of a phased recovery in terms of revenues, market impact and resources. If you have had some workers work out of their home, and it’s working for you and them, can that continue? If you have had to shut down entirely, what are the product or service lines that are strongest, and most in demand, that you should scale back into operations first? Are you marketing now to be top of mind once the recovery is clear? We recommend doing a risk evaluation/assessment of your business and talent strategy, customer relationships, infrastructure/needs, operations & financials. You may also need to evaluate a long-term capital or facility plan. Be clear, honest and confident. If you need a tool to help you objectively evaluate your organization, we can help.
Business Recovery Assessment Tool
3. Update the long term strategy. This may seem counterintuitive, however taking a longer-term view first helps to manage the short-term recovery more effectively. Did you have a business strategy before the crisis? What were the key items that you committed to do? Where are those priority items now? It’s absolutely OK for strategic priorities and objectives to shift. Often they remain, however, there are some interim actions needed to get back on track. Those items need to be added to the implementation action plan, and likely some timeframes need to shift. Engage other key leaders and stakeholders in offering feedback to the plan and changes needed. Broader input helps to reduce blind spots, and gain buy-in, especially if additional steps are needed. Once the long-term plan is set and considers all of the additional learnings and strengths through the crisis, it’s time to move to action.
4. Identify short-term priorities. Identify the top three things for stage 1 recovery, up to 25% of your business operations. These often fall into a few themes:
Structure/Infrastructure - what physical changes need to be restored?
Financial - what accounts payable and accounts receivable need attention, either to support your brand reputation, or cash flow?
People - what changes have you experienced in your workforce and talent needs? Where are the biggest gaps that you need to fill first?
Customer care - how are you planning to engage your current, former, and new customers? Have you updated your marketing strategy?
Operations - have you identified ways to increase efficiencies through the crisis? Can you standardize those modified processes?
Recognize that you can’t do everything at once. Balance is key to recovery. Create specific priority actions with the goal of achieving 25% of your former monthly operating revenue within 30 days. From there, target a phased increase each month until you’re back on track.
5. Be visible and show your cultural values. In the midst of a recovery, your team needs to see you, and hear from you often. Even though you have 500 items on your to-do list, the most important one is to connect with your team and your customers. No one else can do that for you, and everyone is watching. If you listen, engage, problem-solve, and reflect trust and transparency in action, your team will rally like never before. They want you to partner with them. Do it. This truly is a great opportunity to strengthen and align your culture like never before. You’ve just been through a horrendous challenge, and everyone is thankful to be on the path to a mend. You’re leading it, and they need to have confidence and trust that you’ve set the right direction. If you’re present, you can answer questions timely, show respect and gratitude, and learn more about what your customers want and need from your products and services. That builds relationships, and dramatically increases your chance of success with your business recovery strategy!
There are many other relevant best practices for business recovery in specific industry sectors. We serve as trusted advisers to guide the process with you, for the best results. Making mistakes in a recovery process can cost you the future. Make wise choices, and call us to get it right the first time!
Your Success is Our Success
Dawn Garcia is Principal and Founder of Pursuit of Excellence LLC, an independent business management consulting firm specializing in service-based businesses; delivering leadership, business and talent strategy, and execution expertise. Experience the Excellence Driven® System and The Predictive Index® for your business, and achieve the results you need! Every business needs help at some point; great business leaders actually get help when needed, realizing greater returns.
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