We’ve all said it before. “It’s not you, it’s me.”
You think you need to move on, grow or expand your horizons. So you take the leap and move on to a faster car, a different partner, a new city or flash new job. But it’s not long before the cracks start to appear again.
The same problems track us down and the drama resumes. Because it was true, you were the problem.
It’s the same in business. There is so much business opportunity during this phase of COVID recovery. But unless the foundational work has been done properly to address your operational and cultural issues, opportunity will knock but go unanswered because the same old problems are holding you back.
We reviewed more than thirty organisations to look at the speed and accuracy of corporate response to COVID-19 and the impact of that response on organisational health.
From the outset of our COVID Insights series, we’ve said the following statements can be attributed to optimised organisations who have demonstrated consistent results when practicing their organisational responses.
Optimised organisations:
- Fought to establish, receive and send approved information – they had the means and the willingness to act.
- Encouraged collaboration and empowered decision making.
- Understood the impact of communications, the power of messaging and the importance of receiving as much as the providing of information.
- Identified stakeholders early and communicated with them immediately and at required intervals, including local community members and local employees.
- Spent significant time in training and practicing emergency and crisis management responses which was clearly evident when it came time to respond to the COVID 19 crisis.
In our seventh COVID insights, we review the ability of organisations to seize business opportunities in the COVID recovery phase.
Optimised
The serious international supply line issues identified by the pandemic also provided significant opportunities for optimised organisations. Personal Protective Equipment and sanitiser are prime examples.
Shepparton-based Med-Con were making two million masks a year and all of a sudden, with added machines, are now making as many as 50 million. We’ve also previously discussed the distilling companies diversifying to antiseptic hand sanitisers during high initial demand while traditional businesses were significantly disrupted.
Several larger organisations were able to hire extra staff, due to an increased requirement for cleaning and other related staff, as well as extra staff for logistics support, warehouse and distribution management.
These organisations have confidence in their position, constantly reviewing their opportunities and strategy. They are externally focused and have a strong risk appetite.
Optimised organisations continued to operate through the initial crisis and grow their operations at the same time. This expanded their workforce and enhanced their reputation. They are positive about investing in their business to improve productivity, reduce costs or to expand their offerings in readiness for a post-COVID world.
Optimised manufacturing businesses in Australia are well placed to take advantage of more than a billion dollars the Government has just announced they will put towards strengthening supply lines for essential goods and helping manufacturers upscale their businesses.
Proactive
These organisations were able to leverage their stability by exploiting weaker competitors and receiving favourable terms to identify new cash flow opportunities. This led to higher profitability, stock price bumps as well as newer and lower risk/cost venture opportunities.
However, many proactive organisations have not done enough culturally and strategically to position themselves to effectively capitalise on the opportunities presented to them. They understand their luck is likely to dry up so they’re currently investing in necessary cultural and operational improvements.
Reactive
In the initial crisis, reactive organisations focused solely on their survival and maintaining current business commitments. Some are still operating, some are not.
Because reactive organisations were focusing on keeping their head above water, they missed opportunities to grow market share, enter new markets and build stronger relationships with their customers. They were satisfied having survived the initial response and are now at risk in the current decaying economic climate.
Their workforces simply haven’t been given the tools for success in a COVID world, particularly in terms of supporting them to effectively work from home. It shows in declining productivity and a haphazard approach in addressing potential new leads or markets.
Regardless of where your business is at, now is the time to be honest with yourself and make the changes required to capitalise on your future.
COVID response been up to scratch? Contact us to discuss your organisation.
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