The operating environment often determines the type of leadership a business needs. The post-pandemic economy, like the last global financial sector crisis, will demand leaders who are cut from a different cloth.
The pandemic has beaten deep into the global economy. Despite several stimulus packages across borders and industries to help businesses survive the pruning knives of inactivities, the Washingpost last May, reported that thousands of small businesses may never make a comeback. That sounds sad, isn’t it?
To avoid that fate, businesses that are still standing must take an approach that suits the season.
However, that won’t happen until the change starts from the top. Yes, every good or bad corporate decision starts from the chief executive officers. Their jobs involve laying out strategies, after wide consultations, to knit critical aspects of the business together in a bid to take advantage of new market opportunities or avoid terrible headwinds.
Second, their touch of humanity and style of engagement drive the execution from marketing to outsourcing, manufacturing, distribution and sales. Their value, or ingenuity, impacts the value-chain. That chain has to be tailored accordingly to make it through the wreck of the pandemic which started in Wuhan, China, late 2019.
Here, therefore, are 3 business leadership approaches every business needs to make it through this time:
- Being frugal is critical – This may be the time to downsize smartly, dispose of costly investments, like a portfolio that is failing to pick. And if the business is going to make acquisitions, it has to be in growth areas. As well, if it’s going to pivot it must be to take advantage of sure market opportunities.
- Being creatively adaptive is important – Staying the same way is killing. Ensure the business adapts to present market. The business that will succeed, this time around, most adopt tech. Consumers are scared of touch, closeness, and breathing. Retail businesses must expand home delivery. Financial institutions should also leverage IT infrastructure to keep people away from queuing up endless in the banking hall. Restaurants should build confidence in users by spacing out. Whatever a business has to do, it is important it factors in current health scare.
- Being long term-oriented is necessary – If the business is going to downsize or sell asset, it is important not to throw away the future. Negotiating with talented staff members to take pay cut instead of letting them go out-rightly may be fine this time. And when selling assets, make sure they are not portfolios that can be a ‘star’ of the nearest future. It is easy to give up when operation expenses thin, but there is no better time to make a change than now.
