Why you need to think about contingency planning
When considering where things are at the moment, with all the stress of COVID-19, think about your contingency planning.
Why is it a good idea to have a contingency plan?
It is never too late to do so and whether you are a business or simply in your personal lives, these suggestions might help. I stress that this is not a comprehensive authoritative list. Just some thoughts that might help give you a head start with your own ideas and thoughts, starting with the How, Where, Who and What of contingency planning.
How will I be able to make it work
How will circumstances change the way you or your employees are able to undertake their work? Can you work at home? What do you do about the kids, internet bandwidth being under strain, the dogs barking curing conference calls or even elderly relatives popping in to see what you are up to! If you are living in limited space and your partner, roommate, family members or the like are also having to work from home, agree boundaries and rules. Make sure you have a healthy routine. Eat, sleep and eat as if you were in the office.
Where will I be spending most of my time
Will your business be able to operate. Can it work remotely without interruptions? Are the systems in place to enable this? We are so used to everything working when we expect it, we forget to test for redundancy in the event something goes wrong. Working from home has its own challenges in terms of productivity. Everyone can slip into bad habits both in terms of working too little or too much for that matter. Does everyone have sufficient and appropriate equipment to work at home. Is it actually there? What is required?
Who must be notified?
Our immediate thoughts might be employees or business partners/colleagues but what about clients. Reassure them you are fully available, and you have plans in place for uninterrupted. Also consider connecting with landlords, bankers, accountants, lawyers and other professionals who might be able to help you. Just give them a heads up so they can support you when you need it. Also, other people in your field of business. It is always heartwarming how even competitors will come together to help each other in difficult times. Think about having in place an emergency chain of command if things go wrong. Perhaps have triangle communications system for staff members to update others even if you do have a system in place for group electronic updates via WhatsApp, text, email etc. People need human contact. And don’t forget to keep staff members updated and in contact with each other. Group video conference meetings are so easy to do these days and it helps those members of staff to feel the support of both team and business.
What systems and processes will be affected?
What can only be undertaken in the business environment manually? Artists pictures can be online but what do you do if they are sold and your gallery is in lockdown. What about your notes from that meeting before the office was closed or the camera you took those photos on when you did a site inspection, that you left in a drawer in the office? You get the picture! In my world, I can survive with a smart phone which has internet service and my headphones but that is not the same for all businesses.
Lastly, remember to breathe
So many people are approaching me because they find themselves in overwhelm. The most important thing to remember is it’s fine. There’s a lot going on. My suggestion for you is to take a step back, get some elevation and gain clarity. Make a plan of what you need to do to achieve your success and then go with it. I stress, these are just some thoughts to help you get started. Plans like these can be several paragraphs or run into hundreds of pages depending on the organization or business.
