Most people who run a company of any size would say this is not a straight path. All organisations face so many twists and turn along the journey. Especially now, when the world pandemic is negatively affecting every sphere of our lives, including businesses. 

Across all regions and sectors, sustainability has become a desirable trait for all – leaders, their businesses and members of the team. Leaders need to work on quickly creating resilience in the short term in response to COVID-19 outbreak and use this emergency as an opportunity to build resilience in the long term. Here are a few ways on how businesses can create a resilient company and healthier employees during these uncertain times.

Adapt Your Strategy

The COVID-19 has forced many companies around the world to rethink their original business model and innovate to overcome the wave of uncertainty. The only certainty is that today’s reality of how business works will be very different from tomorrow’s, so rethinking your business model and finding ways to adapt and increase flexibility in the long term is critical to successfully moving forward.

The first step to adapting a new strategy is to determine what is financially viable and what is not. This will not only inform you about the decisions you can make or the opportunities you can take advantage of, but it will also clarify the possible time frames in which you can act. What’s more, when it comes to adapting your strategy, it’s important to think of the long term. Periods of instability can create opportunities that your company can take advantage of if properly prepared. However, during a crisis, most businesses go into “survival mode” and forget to think about the long term. 

The more your company is prepared to face and cope with challenges, the easier and faster it will be to overcome them. The more open-minded you are for the new things for your business, changing your original strategy or discovering a new niche, the better your chances of survival. Finally, the more you remember about the long term perspective, the better your chances of prosperity.

Build Good Relationships & Networks

Consider investing energy in prioritising your team and building relationships with your employees and between staff. While there might be competition, creating opportunities for members of the team to support each other in the workplace helps to build the social networks necessary to ensure sustainability. Whether it’s birthday celebrations or peer mentorship, every sustainable relationship at work will reduce employee turnover and increase opportunities for innovation.

Also, good relationships with your vendors, suppliers and customers can help you get through tough times. Relationships built on trust allow partners to seek help when needed. Actions like giving extra time to pay or sharing ideas on new ways to attract consumers with emerging new behaviours will occur more frequently if you have built good relationships and have maintained regular communication with all of your partners.

Additionally, make sure to connect your business with other companies in your community. Social cohesion provides a united front in times of crisis when no one business can handle it.

Prioritise Generating Cash

Make sure to find emergency funds anywhere and everywhere. Make a list of all the available financial resources that you can use for your organisation. 

If you are eligible for an emergency loan or business disaster assistance, consider getting it. Nowadays, there are plenty of local, federal and state financial programs that can help businesses affected by the coronavirus outbreak to deal with the fallout. Take advantage of as many grants and programs as your business is eligible for, to cover expenses and keep your funds safe. 

For instance, the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) can offer financial support for small and medium-sized businesses across the UK. Whether you need regular capital to accelerate growth, launch a new project, hire more employees, move to a bigger workspace or simply to meet current financial commitments, the CBILS lenders provide two types of financing, such as CBILS revolving credit facility and CBILS loans to help your company thrive through the pandemic. 

Think Outside The Box

One of the essential parts for business sustainability is the ability to think outside the box. Creativity, innovation and fresh ideas are the keys to adapting everything from operations of your business to the budget.

Many small organisations have adapted to the pandemic by offering additional in-demand products such as care packages, DIY kits and online classes. Additionally, to get around the problem of business closures due to the coronavirus, companies have implemented delivery systems.

Thinking outside the box usually requires you to let go of the need for control. Once you can give up trying to control things outside of your control, you can use creativity and work with what you encounter.

Be Ruthless

The key to managing a crisis is level-headed and strong leadership and dealing with problems requires taking actions. You and your business are in survival mode, and if you want to stay afloat in 2022-2023, and not just 2021, then you will have to push the boundaries. When you do this, you will find new ways to offer your products or services and discover markets you never knew existed.

A good leader needs to develop an excellent dashboard and a bias to action, changing direction as needed, but always open to new technologies, methods and approaches in light of new market conditions.

Accept The Challenges As Part Of The Path

You’ve probably heard this multiple times, and yet it’s easier said than done. However, our way of looking at things is often the key to success. If you internalise the fact that the most rewarding paths are the paths with the most obstacles, you will have no problem with enthusiasm to overcome all the obstacles that come your way. The coronavirus crisis taught us that companies should always be prepared for the worst. Fortunately, such difficult situations will be a good helper for businesses in the future.

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