Tips on How to Survive and Thrive in a Crisis
When a crisis occurs there is an immediate focus placed on business survival. However, it is also important to plan and adjust for an alternative way for the business to continue its operations under the new circumstances.
The Institute of Advisors and MAUS Business Systems have published the Survive and Thrive in a Crisis Workbook to assist business owners with their decision-making process when a crisis occurs.
In addition, the workbook provides some handy tips for business owners and their employees on how to survive and thrive in a crisis from business resilience and personal resilience perspectives.
The 142-page workbook provides some guidance on how to develop business strategies while taking into consideration the new working environment after a major crisis or catastrophe.
It is a useful resource that provides some insights as to how organisations may need to adopt new ways to operate their business. In order to survive and thrive businesses have to continuously adjust to the impact of a major crisis such as the 'new normal' era post-COVID-19 environment.
The workbook provides a 24-step crisis management plan which covers a range of topics from what can be done immediately by the business such as reducing some expenses as well as the different ways how organisations could potentially adopt and change their business strategies.
Who needs the Survive and Thrive in a Crisis Workbook?
If you are asking the following questions and want some answers about how to deal with the situation, the workbook could provide you some guidance.
1. How is the business coping as a result of the disaster?
2. How is the business owner coping from the major catastrophe or incident?
3. How are the employees coping?
4. How is the structure of the leadership team coping?
The disaster can significantly impact the effectiveness of everyone in the business if some of the questions outlined above are not addressed properly.
What does the 24-step crisis management action plan involve?
The workbook goes through the business resilience section to assess how is the business coping by taking into consideration the following questions.
1. What are the current cash levels in the business?
2. What is the impact of the disaster on the business?
3. What immediate actions have the business taken?
Reviewing the impact of the crisis is important to assess the business operations and decide what actionable steps to focus on going forward.
It is important to understand if the crisis has impacted the company to such an extent that the business is burning too much cash which may reduce the survival chance of the organisation. Once the current situation has been properly assessed, expense reduction type strategies could be implemented.
It is beneficial to conduct some What-If modeling such as reducing expenses, wages, general overhead, and so on. It is helpful to assess how much this type of expense reduction strategies could positively strengthen the company's overall business performance. It provides a way to monitor how quickly the organisation can progress with its crisis recovery plan.
What are the different ways the business can get more cash?
Some of the ways to get cash into the business are as follows.
1. Creditors.
Cash can be generated through creditors such as finding a cheaper supplier to reduce some expenses and by negotiating a more favourable payment term.
2. Debtors.
Cash can be increased through debtors such as implementing a process to receive customer payments in a timelier manner and sending payment reminders more promptly as soon as the invoice is overdue.
3. Inventory.
Cash can be generated through selling the inventory perhaps at a discounted rate instead of carrying a huge volume of unsold stock. A huge volume of unsold stock could tie up a significant amount of cash. For example, having to rent a large warehouse or rent a storage space in order to store a substantial volume of inventory that cannot be sold immediately.
4. Other sources of cash.
Cash can be generated by approaching external parties such as financiers, banks, or investors for other sources of cash, applying for a business loan, and so on.
5. Government support.
If a disaster has affected a lot of organisations, there may be some government support available or government stimulus packages that the business owners can apply for.
6. Business model review.
Consider looking at other opportunities in the market so the business could potentially change what it is currently doing. Review the company's current business model, its business plan strategies, and consider the different aspects of the business.
The review can be done by taking into consideration everything that happened in the organisation to assess if the company needs to change its business model in order to survive.
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How are the business owner and employees coping?
To properly assess the company's situation and review the business model effectively, the business owner has to be coping with stress. It is also important to ensure that the employees are coping with stress since they make a significant contribution in driving the organisation forward.
Any suggestions and brainstorming activities can severely affect the organisation if the business owner is not positive about improving the current situation and if the employees are not positive with the organisation's crisis recovery plan.
Stress Coping Techniques
It is important to review some stress coping techniques. As part of assessing the various stress coping techniques, it is important to consider embracing the change, taking charge of the situation, maintaining positive thinking, considering making changes to achieve a better work-life balance and implementing an action plan to monitor the business recovery plan progressively.
In some instances where the crisis has tremendously affected the organisation to such an extent that the company cannot handle it on their own, then it is important that the business owners consider seeking some external help.
Seeking external help such as through a support network consisting of family, friends or a professional advisor could make a significant difference to assist in managing and coping with stress more effectively.
Conclusion
In conclusion, this article provides an overview of the 24-step crisis management plan. However, the workbook goes through in much greater detail about the process and strategies that business owners and their employees can follow and implement in their organisation immediately.
Want More Free Resources?
For free Business Essential Guides with tips and free checklist templates including Survive and Thrive In A Crisis 142-Page Workbook, click here.
For free Business Health Check reports in a range of areas and some questionnaires only take 7 minutes to complete, click here.
For free calculators that could assist you to stay on top of your business if you want some quick help, click here.
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Research Sources and Acknowledgements
Institute of Advisors
MAUS Software
Disclaimer
This article is not intended for use as a source of legal, business, accounting, or financial advice. All readers are advised to seek the services of competent professionals in legal, business, accounting, and finance fields. This article contains general information only.
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