Keith Hunt on Resilience
The Coronavirus pandemic is first and foremost, a human tragedy. As the weekend draws closer, Britain waits in anticipation of the Prime Minister's unveiling of a 'road map' to gradually unlock the country, the US is sending ventilators to neighbouring Mexico, and governments across the globe are see-sawing between the 'health and wealth' trade-off.
Resilience is a key coping skill at home, and also an imperative trait for business leaders to practice in order to remain positive, be prepared and keep moving forward so that when the dust settles, they’re able to return businesses to growth.
I’ve been around long enough to have been through several severe downturns and subsequent recessions. Some of the lessons I’ve learnt along the way are definitely relevant in the environment we find ourselves in today. None of us know how long this is going to last or what twists and turns we will witness on the way. But I find the following key principles hold true whatever the outcome.
Hope is not a strategy. It is vital that your plans for your business are robust enough to withstand a longer and deeper downturn than you expect.
Any company can fail if it runs out of cash and finance is always most difficult to get when you most need it. Make sure you have accurate cash forecasts that are revisited often and allow for a big enough margin for error if for example a key customer doesn’t pay. Do everything you can to preserve cash which includes acting quickly to cut costs. And as we come out of recession, cash is also key to taking advantage of opportunities that arise.
Recovery will probably take time as consumer, business and investor confidence will need to be rebuilt. The typical profile is first markets fall very quickly over a period of weeks, this is followed by months of bumping along the bottom and then growth recovers gradually over a period of years.
Focus on who and where the winners are. They will often be companies that have a new way of working, new business models and using new technology or existing technology in a different way.
The world is changing very rapidly. Don’t hang on to old beliefs, policies and ways of working that are fast becoming unhelpful.
A strong unified team aligned behind clear goals is more important than ever.
We've had a very positive response to the one-on-one advice clinics we ran through April and we will continue to offer these throughout May and June - if you'd like to schedule a call with us we'd be delighted to hear from you.
Your response today will shape the success of your business tomorrow so please do contact us if you wish to discuss funding options, steps towards business resilience, opportunities to grow through acquisition, or simply to talk through what we are seeing in the market.
Book in a meeting