Blog Post

Leadership and Communication During the COVID-19 Outbreak

Linda Gober • March 27, 2020

Strategies for Our Current Business Climate

This is the first in a series of strategies to use in the current climate. Today we focus on leadership and communication.

LEAD

What do we mean by leading during this climate? You should not panic and you need to be positive and proactive. As a business owner, of course, there's a lot of risks that fall under our shoulders. It is after all our bank balance and we have to make the hard decisions that we need to make and so there's obviously going be a lot more strain on a business owner than the staff and they may not all appreciate that but at the same time, it is up to us as leaders of our businesses and in in in our industries to stay positive.

Let’s liken this situation to a party or a networking event. If you went to a party or if you met people at a party and you met people who are down, negative and always talking about the woes of their life, they're people you want to avoid generally. On the other hand, you automatically gravitate towards people who are positive and enthusiastic.

The same is going to happen in this situation. Your customers will gravitate towards businesses that are positive. Those that are proactive who want to try things and have a can-do attitude.

Your attitude and your mindset will flow down to the rest of your team and to your customers so just be very aware of that.

If we are focused on the area of concern that we can't really do anything about, it's just counterproductive. You should instead shift your focus on things that you have influence and can control.

If we focus too much on the circle of concern where we don't have any control or influence, it's just causing us stress for no reason. We need to be aware of what's out there but we need to focus on what we can control and what we can influence. Otherwise, it's just counterproductive and it's just a waste of energy.

It’s also important to be decisive and make decisions around this issue, understand what

the impacts may be, make those decisions sooner rather than later and lastly be fair and empathetic whether it's with your team or with others here in the community.

Be realistic too. Every business is going to be in a different situation. Some will have plenty of surplus funds that they can draw on others will be a lot tighter in terms of margins and cash surpluses so some businesses may be able to weather the storm a bit easier and maybe potentially hold on to staff or will not reduce hours but others may need to make decisions more quickly.

PROACTIVE COMMUNICATION

You obviously need to communicate with your team regularly and keep them informed. Make sure they understand the situation and potentially how things may develop over the coming weeks. You should definitely communicate with your customers as well.

You can communicate proactively through social media. You can post on your Facebook page about how seriously you’re taking hygiene, give some tips for people, refer back to your five-star food and safety certificate, and so on so.

It’s definitely advisable that you be proactive with customers. Once they've made a decision not to come, it's hard to convince them otherwise. So get on the front foot and re-emphasize your hygiene practices and delay those fears that they may have.

With suppliers, it’s important to keep them informed too. If you can't pay for whatever reason, people are generally quite accommodating if you're open and honest so it is all about being proactive with the communication with your networks. It could be your partners that you have, other people that you work with or people outside of your supply network.

People want some reassurance and communication these sort of uncertain

times so just get out there and do that. Definitely get out there and put some sort of press release out or some sort of statement.

< Older Post Newer Post >