One of the most disruptive results of a pandemic like the one we are currently trying to navigate our way through is the lack of recent precedent relative to how we should behave in these uncharted times.
Short-term, businesses are trying to keep their heads above water and not incur unnecessary debt. Some are faced with decisions around partial or total closure of their establishments; possibly having to lay off valuable, trained employees; ever-changing and sometimes confusing government regulations; and a wide range of fears relative to trying to make the best decisions for the physical, mental and emotional health of themselves and others in this new normal.
Most industries are now acknowledging that things will remain turbulent and uncertain at least throughout the remainder of 2020, with some types of businesses perhaps never returning to “the way they were.”
However, we are also seeing some corporate CEO’s who are seizing the moment in terms of making major pivots that may have been in the back of their minds for years, but were not necessary for their survival and were therefore put on the back burner to think about and execute “later.”
We have seen the following examples of that with some of the businesses with which we are associated:
There are some industries, of course, which are facing greater challenges and disruptions than others, with healthcare being a prime example. Our work in that sector has shown that the following actions are critical survival strategies for healthcare businesses:
In summary, it is critical to spend the majority of your energy on those activities that will keep your business healthy and around for the long term, even if you may not have considered some of them as viable strategies in a pre-COVID world.