The arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic has created an unprecedented disruption to our lives and businesses. We are just now beginning to experience the impacts of the social and economic disruption, and there are few guides available on how to best do that. In response to this situation, Newport partners have combined their years of leadership, experience and knowledge from multiple past disruptions and the real-time issues faced by our clients to prepare a summary response guide to help you navigate your business through this disruption.
PHASE I – Assess and Stabilize
Coordinate
- Identify and organize the leadership team needed to stabilize the company.
- Establish a process to identify, prioritize, implement, and monitor critical actions:
- Understand your timeframe and the key drivers (which may still be changing) in the disruption event.
Manage Liquidity
- Identify all sources of cash and liquidity.
- Create a 13-week cash forecast, monitor it daily, and proactively address “pinch-points”.
- Develop plans to access external sources of liquidity:
- Understand your options and trade-offs
Manage Costs
- Ensure employee engagement. Identify disruptions to employees and potential impacts to safety, cost structure, and/or productivity. Develop action plans to ensure you have the right people, with the right tools, doing the right things, and with the right expectations.
- Identify disruptions to customers and their changing needs. Understand how these changes affect your ability to safely and reliably fulfill at a manageable cost, then take actions to best meet what the customer now needs.
- Identify disruptions to your supply chain and potential impacts to cost and performance, then take actions to keep your business moving based on what you know about your supply chain capabilities and options.
Communicate Frequently
- Create specific clear, concise, and consistent communication programs for:
- Board Directors
- Employees
- Customers
- Suppliers
- Other stakeholders (public, government, trade groups, etc.).
- Create a mechanism for receiving constant feedback for the leadership team.
- Validate that your communication program is effective and fix or adjust it as needed.
PHASE II – Prepare for the Recovery
Recalibrate, Plan and Execute
- Review the status of your business to identify what changed through the disruption event. What is the new normal?
- Reassess your vision and revisit your strategy.
- Develop new operating plans, metrics, and KPIs.
- Build the team you need to get to the new/revised vision.
- Execute, execute, execute!
For more insights on this important topic, connect with a Newport partner in you region. Click here.
Bill Rusitzky is a partner in the Northern California office of Newport LLC.
