Don’t let this be a crisis wasted
By Jen Upton – Head of Risk & Crisis
Over the last eight months businesses have faced unique challenges and an unprecedented level of disruption from the measures taken to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.
As the UK settles into its second national lockdown, organisations who have asked themselves some critical questions about their response so far, and answered them honestly, will be in a better position to ride the wave of whatever disruption the future may hold.
If you haven’t had a chance to do this yet, or you’re back in the throes of dealing with new lockdown challenges and a timeout feels like a luxury you can’t afford, don’t panic!
The good news is that assessing your response to ensure it continues to be resilient and effective for the road ahead doesn’t need to be an all-consuming project − our simple self-assessment tool can be completed in as little 30 minutes. Better still, if you can spare a few hours with some key internal stakeholders there are invaluable learnings to be had.
Ask whether your crisis team is really fit-for-purpose? Are people empowered to act quickly or are legacy approvals processes preventing an agile response? Has decision-making been too hesitant? Have you considered your employees’ health and wellbeing enough? What new risks have emerged, and how do these impact what you already have on your risk register?
From supermarkets, to gyms, to food manufacturers, we’ve been working with businesses to assess their response and stakeholder communications. This means they can improve their strategic, reputational and operational response to COVID-19 – and mitigate the additional risks and challenges that may come their way over the course of the next few months (*cough* Brexit…).
We have always championed the post-crisis review as one of the most valuable elements of a crisis, but with the pandemic already such a long running event − and one which, by its very nature, will continue to escalate and de-escalate for a number of months − waiting until it’s over to review what went well and what you could have done better would be an opportunity missed. Don’t waste it.