COVID-19, Business Recovery Strategy

A business recovery strategy from the impact of COVID-19 around the world

A few months after it was first announced, the COVID 19 cloud has infected thousands of people and worried governments around the world. It has also disrupted business and sent organizations scrambling for cover as they search for a cure from this extraordinary attack. The world is beginning to realize that the damage caused by the flu is not going away in a hurry. The confusion is palpable as big and small business owners anticipate a new economic era in which no one has pat answers for recovery. Business will have to grope, crawl and wriggle out of the backhander dished out by nature with unmitigated wrath. Sadly, many businesses will just pack up, go home and wait for things to unfold. However, successful business minds will be thinking hard to develop a return to work formula. To help us build a business case to recover from the influenza outbreak; we must soberly describe the event the world is going through.

A sudden disorienting environmental experience, causing long term disruption and shut down of operations beyond the power and control of an enterprise. A completely unplanned, unknown, unexpected and unexperienced economic lockdown. An event that takes an entrepreneur back to the drawing board to ask, “what exactly are we doing here?”.

The following eight steps are not a panacea, but neither are they a placebo. Every recovering business will go through a regeneration process incorporating elements of the following steps.

1.       Acknowledge Disruption

Take a deep breath and let it sink in. Articulate and communicate the extent of the new reality as far as you understand it. Consult with others in your field to confirm that you have not misread the broad industry signs, trends and core issues. Work with the facts and data. Avoid alarmist opinions and baseless views of unfolding circumstances. Since the situation is “unfolding”, it may be wise to observe it for a while to determine trends and direction.

2.       Stop

Count your losses. Asses the collateral damage and consider the possibility of aftershocks. Establish your resource bases and ring fence your strategic reserves. Draw up a business case outlining your current situation in terms of immediate impact, short term initiatives and proposed medium term action. If you present this to your board, let them know that the circumstances remain fluid and that proposals may change as matters unfold. However, liabilities, risks and commitments must be evaluated and communicated to stakeholders as soon as is practical to mitigate against mounting liability, confusion and failure to meet contractual commitments.Step two is essentially a business response proposal.

3.       Engage Survival Measures

A business is a “going concern” and must therefore engage measures to ensure it survives the long term. Decisions will need to be made to keep your business alive as long as possible. These critical measures may be financial, operational, managerial or human resource decisions that preserve your strategic ability and capacity to continue in business. These immediate decisions are essentially survival measures and may be revised with timelines and implemented in phases as the environment evolves.

4.       Reflect on the Future

A great deal of time and resources can be wasted trying to resolve things you can do nothing about. Focus your energies on the “new normal” as opposed to hoping that things will go back to business as usual. The environment moved on and the future arrived before we were ready, we cannot go back, we need to work out how to move forward. This requires some clear-headed thinking and may mean corporate transformation, realignment of operations and the design of new business plans. Top of the agenda will be an answer to the question, “how do we want to define ourselves in the emergent future?”. How do we position ourselves for success in the new environment? What are the new realities, expectations and most of all opportunities that litter the landscape at ground zero? What else do we have the capacity to do?

5.       Develop a Critical Path

Develop a strategy canvas mapping out a critical path out of the chaos into order. Identify prioritized steps to guide the business to a relevant future. Remember the environment has undergone a paradigm shift. It has moved past a strategic inflection point that has created new realities (permanencies) of a new era. Old permanencies have dissolved. This strategy canvas could be anything from a six-month action plan to a several-year transition strategy depending on the size and complexity of your business.

6.       Facilitate Deep Conversations

Address the culture, tradition and organization software that enables the business to run and align it to the new reality. Openly address the implications of the facts on the table. Let the people converse and deal with their own fears and realities regarding the future in an accommodating atmosphere. But draw their attention to the limitations of the present and lay the groundwork for a new institutional culture. Let the people moan, but enable them to move through the groan zone to production mode. Identify obstacles that will halt desired change and discuss innovative ways to overcome them. In as far as is practical, exercise inclusivity to obtain buy-in to the proposed way forward.

7.       Disengage Dead Weight

Identify old technology that will take you no further - get rid of it! Consider redundant methodology and off load excessive luggage. Be very clear about what must stop, what we must no longer do and what we must start and continue to do. Start retooling, relearning, rethinking and re-kitting the organization to take advantage of new opportunities and equip it to deal with anticipated challenges ahead.

8.       Restart your Engines

“Ladies and gentlemen, restart your engines!” A pilot gets into the cockpit with flight plan A and preferably B and C. They know where they are taking the plane and the people. Pilots never start up everything at once nor do they do it in a haphazard manner. Every function is checked and rechecked before moving out of the hangar. There will be no tine to test equipment functionality in the air. A pilot starts the engines one by one before taxiing to the runway, obtaining clearance from the tower, executing take-off protocols, clearing the runway, climbing to cruise altitude and engaging the comfort of autopilot far above the clouds. Finally, don’t forget to pray your way all through.

©Allan Bukusi, March 2020

Consultant profile

Allan, is a management consultant and author of the book How to Lead Corporate Transformation. He can be reached at allanbukusi@mdi.co.ke

 
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THE SEARCH FOR NATIONAL LEADERSHIP IN KENYA HAS BEGUN

With the shortlisting of candidates for Principal Secretaries, the search for national leadership has begun in earnest.

Transformation is a national agenda in Kenya. However, though most people have a general idea of what transformation is, not enough people know how to go about it. More people need to understand the concept to avoid being fooled and frustrated by institutional window-dressing and the recycling of conventional CEOs. Transformation is much more than change, a new coat of paint or even new leadership. Transformation is a process of renewal that facilitates the long-term survival, sustainability and success of an organization. Transformation is hardly an academic exercise, but the process does have eight laws.

1.      Be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

Scientists tell us that the human body totally renews itself every seven to ten years. This amazing fact equips the body to not only survive but also adapt itself to the changing environment. Some people will recognize this law from the book of Romans, but James Allen who wrote the classic “As a Man Thinketh” espouses the same truth. You cannot expect new results with old thinking. Einstein is quoted as saying, "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again but expecting different results". Fundamentally new thinking must be brought into an organization to ensure transformation. Leaders that rely on tradition and past success will drag the nation back into history. The future is not determined by the past.

2.      Keep the customer in focus

This quote is not business jargon; it is common sense. The citizen is the sole reason for national transformation. Without the people, the government is irrelevant. Transformation should focus on ensuring that the people survive and thrive in the new environment. When national focus shifts to tax, stakeholders, salaries or even specific leaders, citizens will not support the government. Citizens, a nations customers, must be the primary, if not the only, beneficiaries of every transformation initiative.

3.      Upgrade the organization continually

Some people would like to use the word “update” rather than “upgrade” in this law. However, in essence, this law means that what worked for an organization in the past is not going to work in future. Every organization lags behind its environment. Every athlete knows that, “what got you there is not enough to keep you there, leave alone to take you ahead”. Any government or organization that slides into the comfort zone of success is hanging on the cliff of major failure. 

4.      Align organization values-systems

Any attempt to transform an organization without aligning its culture to the new service delivery requirements is a recipe for disaster. People’s values and attitudes drive performance. The proverbial story of the donkey that refused to drink water when taken to the river, finds potent application here. Skills and technology build organizational capacity, but an organization will not advance without a shift in the people’s will to serve the public.

5.      Uphold integrity

Integrity is both a personal and organization quality. However, integrity is not, “not doing wrong” or, “doing right”. Integrity is the ability of a person or organization to deliver on their promises. National transformation will take place when our people and institutions do what they promise to do. The electricity company, for example, fails the integrity test every time there is a power blackout. Leaders fail the test every time they do not pursue what they propose to do. Employees fail the integrity test when they ask for more pay and produce no value.

6.      Develop new leaders

This law underlies the biggest tragedy of many national transformation initiatives. Constantly recycling old leaders and never developing new leaders does not move the nation forward. Jack Welch not only diligently developed leaders to take up senior positions at General Electric (GE); but he also religiously got rid of 20% of the bottom performers within the organization. GE survived and thrived, not because of its top leadership, but because of the depth of its new leadership. If we are to see national transformation in Kenya, it should be liberally populated with emerging leaders.

7.      Evolve with your customers

Many organizations are guilty of treating their customers with contempt. They consider their customers to be, “the same old, same old”. They offer one standard product like Henrys Model T Ford. When pressed for choice by his customers, Henry made the car in four colors. Frustrated customers migrated to other carmakers. What Henry did not know was that his customers had evolved. The very good product he offered whetted the customer’s appetite for more. There can be no national transformation if the government does not keep up with transformed citizens.

8.      Lead the transformation process

Finally, someone must be willing to lead the transformational effort. The leader must be willing to be a pioneer and step into places people have never been before. This is the main reason why transformation cannot be led by conventional or “experienced” CEOs. Such leaders are not willing to take risks that would jeopardize their career. Conventional leaders are only comfortable with minor changes and at ease with the status quo. It took unconventional leaders to turnaround CIC, KWS, UCHUMI and Kenyatta University. Transformation goals must initially look impossible, if not stupid.

Successful transformational leaders, like Mandela, often have little or no experience, and may have no superior academic qualifications in the area in which they lead change. Most have the ability to set clear goals and work things out as they go along. The basic ingredient is a professional competence and a keen sense of enterprise. However, all such leaders understand the power of leadership; have new ideas and the courage to implement them. And possess an above average passion to drive the arduous transformation process to completion.

 

Allan Bukusi is the author of How To lead Corporate Transformation    

Handling Personal Change

Handling Personal Change

CHANGE ARTICLE 8

How do we ideal with changing environmental conditions. In this article, we focus on an individual response to situations demanding reform. The obstacles that can be mounted by people unwilling change (or in a change process) are all too familiar. But let us deal with the issues in relation to a positive adjustment to environmental change.

 

Change starts with deceleration and disengagement in one area followed by an attraction and participation in another. Successful personal change is handling the change process from deceleration to participation. This process will involve four clear stages embracing, accepting, accommodating and sustaining change. This process can also be likened to taking a curve or a corner. Decelerating into a corner, stopping (or turning), negotiating the bend (changing direction) and finally driving off confidently in a new direction.

 

How does one embrace changes? To embrace anything you must face it. Perhaps before you stretch out your arms around it, you probably need to be attracted to it or at least understand it enough to trust it, at least a little. From a business point of view, the changes you face will not require you to get physical, but they will make use of the same principles.

 

Facing change arouses fear and it will require courage to make a rational, if not balanced emotional, response to the whole concept of change. Allowing fear to run amok will result in maladjustment to that change. Facing the change is vital because you get an immediate visual of the situation at hand. But we cannot stop there. We must take initiative to get facts and information on the matter. Facts enable us to separate reality from rumor. Information enables us to take measures and qualified action in line with the facts of the situation. Reliable information also helps us develop a healthy amount of faith and confidence in the anticipated change, as we begin to understand its nature and intent. Embracing change assumes you want to remain proactive and maintain the initiative in the change process. If we don't maintain the initiative we will be overcome by the threat of change overcoming us.

 

Second, we must accept environmental change by doing something about it. That means that we should evaluate how the change will affect us and the demands it will make of us. In accepting change, we commit to address these demands first and then find out how to deliver later. This equation is not a comfortable one and many change initiatives are held back by people not willing to make this paradoxical pledge.

 

In helping people make a change, they must be assured that the transition will be safe and that the support means to do it will be provided. But having said that, there is always the element of risk and uncertainty that must be borne by us as individuals. Successfully negotiating this critical point on the curve or "taking the corner" is imperative to effective change. Those who refuse to take the corner are unlikely to come through with the change nor are they able to benefit from the opportunities that change brings. Face the change, make your acceptance speech and move on.

 

Third; work can now begin on accommodating the new change. This involves finding out how to do what is expected by; establishing new goals and identifying priorities, developing skills and structures to support the change in our environment This may mean adjusting daily routines, or reorganizing an office. In short, it is installing the capacity to handle change.

 

Sustaining change requires that we integrate changes with our other interests and harmonize their inclusion of those changes into our wider interests and functioning. This will help us to allow the change to become part of our normal activities thus reducing and eventually eliminating its initial threat. We will also need to develop problem solving capacity to overcome obstacles that we can expect along the way and learn to take advantage of opportunities opened up by the change.  Measure progress and make a point of celebrating achievement of targets however small.

 

Once we get used to handling this four-step process we can actually look forward to any constructive change. In the process we develop two valuable competencies; an ability to effectively navigate changes in the environment and the internal capacity to efficiently handle the change process.

 

Allan Bukusi, 2003

Unity Quotes

Unity in Diversity

1.       We must form a united front against the exploitation of man by man; we must cure ourselves of our complexities by a supranational awareness, a national consciousness. Our ridiculous divisions are profitable only to the great powers, which exploit our weaknesses. Leon Mba

2.      There is no time to waste for we must unite now or perish since no single African state is large or powerful enough to stand on its own. Kwame Nkurumah

3.      Stand together in this new world and let the old world perish in its greed or be born again in new hope and promise. W.E.B. Dubois

4.      If Africa unites, it will be because each part, each nation, each tribe gives up a part of his heritage for the good of the whole. That is what union means; that s what pan-Africa means. W.E.B. Dubois

5.      There is nothing which unites a people as strongly as a common enemy. What we need is a common enemy. The point, however, is that we have such an enemy, not in another planet but here on Earth, namely the poverty of the so called developing nations. Tom Mboya

6.      Only when the black people fully develop the sense of community, of themselves, can they begin to deal effectively with the problems of racism in this country. This is what we mean by a new consciousness; this is the first vital step. Stokely Carmicheal

7.      One nation is one ideal, one destiny is one secular faith in a better tomorrow for all Africans.

8.      Arthur Nnwanko

9.      The glory which awaits Africa cannot come about until Africa is united. If we fail to unite then a great nation will go to sleep forever. Kwame Nkurumah

10.  The high tide of political and economic transformation in the African continent, the high tide of the unification of our people, the high tide of cooperation among our people, has already swept the whole continent – these are the basic assurances of victory of our cause. Kwame Nkurumah

11.  With independence a new phase in the struggle for nationhood begins. For those who seek fulfillment, the challenge of development offers the most exciting and rewarding experience. The search for unity must continue. The urgent needs of the people cannot wait, for there is no probationary period for a newly independent state. Tom Mboya

12.  We have to create our own wealth, and we can only do this if we work together using at the beginning simply the resources we already have – that is, our labour, our land and our willingness to work together. Julius Nyerere

13.   We must destroy all ideologies that tend to divide us. All of us must register a new era of justice, equality, equal opportunity for everyone from every part of the world, regardless of creed, race and colour. William S Tubman

14.   The forces that unite us are greater than those that divide us, our goal must be Africa's dignity, progress and prosperity. If we can achieve this example of a continent knot together in common policy and purpose, we shall have made the finest possible contributions to world peace. Kwame Nkurumah

15.   Freedom, unity and cooperation should be the noble objectives of all peoples. But these will never be assured in we fail to create  the right conditions  which all Africans, despite varying customs, traditions and culture, can whole heartedly support. William S Tubman

16.  We are now owners of our countries and societies. Let us work together to face new problems in such a way as to transform our heritage into an imperishable legacy. Nnamdi Azikiwe

17.  We cannot allow ourselves to be disorganized and divided. To us, Africa is just one Africa, one and indivisible. We need to unify our efforts, our resources, our skills and intentions. The unity and strength of the unions of America states or Soviet Republics, should be our example. Kwame Nkurumah

18.  It is becoming more and more clear to us that to win our freedom is only the first hurdle in a long march. There are still many difficulties ahead. The struggle will be longer, the work greater and more difficult. By uniting the entire people in a common effort, with indomitable will and in a planned way we shall succeed. Prof. Joseph Bibb

19.   Our cultural identity and common historical destiny should be our main concern as we have all been treated unjustly by exploiting powers.  We should be able to identify ourselves, not by the colour of our skin, which is a static reality, but solely in terms of our goals which are just and noble. Sekou Toure

20.  I will say to all Africans that if we must have justice, we must come together; if we must come together, we can only do so through the system of organization. Let us not waste time in breathless appeals to the strong while we are weak, but lend our time, energy and effort to the accumulation of strength among ourselves by which we will attract the attention of others. Kwame Nkurumah

21.   It is only through unity that our people can bargain, it is only through unity that they can discuss matters between themselves and settle their differences. In this way they can negotiate on an equal basis with other nations. Only in this way can they hope to develop. Kwame Nkurumah

22.  Let us work together to bring together the energy and intelligence of the entire people for peace, prosperity and plenty. It is the task of us all to organize society so that we can conquer underdevelopment which is not own making. Samora Moises Machel

23.  The 1950s presided over the struggle for political emancipation. But the 1960s, whatever trials they have brought, have not been wasted. They have successfully opened the way for another necessary struggle, a struggle for the fruits of political emancipation, for that new and unified society without which the people of Africa cannot even keep the freedom which they have let alone enlarge it. Basil Davidson

Selected Quotes from Africa's Greats