Managing Organisations during the COVID-19 Vortex, is a comprehensive book to help leaders navigate their organisation through the Coronavirus crisis. From managing day-to-day practicalities, to scenario planning and sense-making, this book offers guidelines from over 20 leading experts to help executives deal with their most pressing challenges.
It helps leaders find the guidance, knowledge and will to persevere through this time, and offers them guidelines for navigating their organisation through the Coronavirus crisis.
Topics
Some of the topics covered by the book are:
How to manage uncertainty and complexity
Leadership excellence in the COVID-19 crisis
Promoting mental wellness in the workplace
Sense-making for better decision-making in a crisis
Effective crisis communication
Economic and social scenarios
Business contingency planning during COVID-19
Retaining resilience in chaotic conditions
How to navigate lockdowns with certainty
Best practices for managing virtual workers
The legal implications of COVID-19 for employers
This book will give leaders the context, tools, guidelines and perseverance needed to face this crisis head-on and lead their organisations into a future beyond the Coronavirus. It is available now in PDF e-format at WWW.KR.CO.ZA
Contributors
Contributors include among others:
Tim Cohen, Editor and Journalist, Daily Maverick
James Hebbard, Chief People Officer, Tencent
Michael Davies, CEO of ContinuitySA
Navlika Ratangee, Clinical Operations Director, ICAS SA
Feedback
What people are saying about the book:
“A global pandemic is not normal business disruption. It threatens workforce directly. It requires strong leadership, extensive set of activities to assess the risk, stress test pandemic plans and put people rst – safe, productive and engaged. This book will be a valuable resource for leaders during unprecedented times.”
Jeanett Modise, Chief Executive: Human Resources, Sanlam Limited
“As business leaders struggle to come to terms with managing their organisations through this vortex, it is heartening to see a great team of specialists coming together in the spirit of Ubuntu to share their perspectives and ideas on how to plan for this new world of work.”
Ronnie Toerien, HCM Strategy Leader, Oracle
“The multitudinous impact of COVID-19 forces humans to reconnect. An insightful read on a vortex of socio-economic impact and counter strategies grounded on rekindling neglected intra- and interpersonal relationships, novel depictions of leadership agility, re ections on breaking down walls of work and revaluing the power of organisational culture.”
Prof Daneel van Lill, Executive Dean: College for Business & Economics, University of Johannesburg
To buy this ebook today, visit Knowledge Resources. Use the code AUTHOR upon checkout, to receive a 15% discount.
While the whole world is currently dealing with the Coronavirus, and more specifically known as the COVID-19 pandemic, the project management community has a responsibility to deal with this issue on our projects in a decisive, direct manner. What are the important things to do?
When faced with such an extreme risk, uncertainty and challenge, the first thing to do, is to arm yourself with accurate, comprehensive information to best prepare to manage through this crisis by making informed, thoughtful decisions. As Project Management Professionals we need to be planning for this on our projects. Of course this will include to put it on your Risk Register, including a series of scenarios, the expected impacts and mitigation actions with risk owners.
Take the project conversation to your Sponsor and Steering Committee to consider if the project should be put on hold or delayed. You will need signoff on decisions made.
Business Implications
According to a McKinsey article, on the COVID-19 implications for Business, published prior to the lockdown of several countries, there are 3 potential economic scenarios for the Coronavirus Disease. They are:
Quick recovery: The case count continues to grow, given the Coronavirus’s high transmissibility. However, countries are able to achieve rapid control, as seen in China and the virus is assumed to be seasonal.
Global slowdown: Most countries are unable to achieve the same rapid control that China managed. In Europe and the United States, transmission is high but remains localized, driven by strong countermeasures taken by individuals, firms, and governments, while virus is assumed seasonal.
Global recession: In this worst case scenario, the assumptions are similar to that of Global Slowdown, except the virus is not seasonal—i.e. unaffected by spring in the northern hemisphere. Infection cases grow throughout the year, resulting in healthcare systems being overwhelmed for many countries. A recovery in consumer confidence is pushed out to Quarter 3 or later.
The sectors to be most impacted by the pandemic, forecasted by McKinsey, are Aviation and Hospitality, as well as Consumers.
The immediate actions that organisations are expected to take, with application to dealing with this on your projects, are discussed in the next paragraph, based on the McKinsey recommendations.
#1 Protect Employees
Provide clear communication to employees on what to do. Companies, and specifically Project Managers, need to provide clear, simple language to local management and teams on how to deal with the Coronavirus pandemic. These recommendations should be consistent with best practices outlined World Health Organisation and other health agencies.
Secondly, provide autonomy to local managers, so they feel empowered to deal with any quickly evolving situation. With that said, corporates should also monitor and ensure guidelines are being safely followed.
The third one is very applicable to Project Managers to remember. For any crisis, telecommuting has been an important tactic for maintaining operations. Provide an infrastructure for remote work.
To this point, do the following:
Allow employees to telecommute.
Train our leaders. Leaders should be sensible and reasonable in their expectations as to when workers are available for work.
Identify employees who are most crucial to maintaining business continuity. Ensure these employees have the proper tools and infrastructure to work remotely.
Develop a disaster recovery scenario that incorporates telecommuting.
#2 Setup a cross-functional response team
We should set up a cross-functional Coronavirus response team that should include members from every function and discipline within the organization. The leader of the team should report directly to the CEO.
This response team will have several workstreams, focused on the following areas:
Center for communication and coordination
Employee protection of health, welfare and ability to perform their roles
Financials stress test and development of a contingency plan
Supply Chain Management including monitoring, response and long-term plan within the context of Business Continuity Management
Sales, Marketing and Customer engagement including responses to demand shocks.
It’s important for this team to think through different scenarios, to create a single source of truth, to provide clear policies and guidelines, to monitor issues with rapid responses, to track adherence to policies, to update demand forecasts, to support supplier stability and more as applicable to the industry or sector you are in.
#3 Ensure sufficient financial liquidity
It’s recommended to have at minimum 3 months of cash at hand, to have an adequate buffer of stock or other parts at hand, to understand how prepared key suppliers are.
#4 Stabilise the Supply Chain
The activities related to Supply Chain Management include medium-term risk management in our Supply Chain. In the aftermath, there are long-term actions to take related to Business Continuity Management (e.g. supplier regional diversification).
On projects you should consider procurement commitments, including possible delay in deliveries of materials or bringing in contracted staff. A common occurrence on projects, is where people are outsourced from national or international Agencies and you need to consider the implications for those commercial contracts too.
#5 Practice Customer centric design principles
Engage with customers and ensure transparency.
On projects you need to make communications on of your top priorities to address uncertainty, fear or possible panic. Be open with your team, stakeholders, and your sponsor. Communicate your scenarios and plans, and then update with how events are affecting your project and changes to those plans. Also plan for regular review cycles to reconsider plans and responses.
#6 Help the community
Look for ways to support the community. We should adopt strong Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) practices. Some important activities could include targeting nonprofits and community outreach organizations in your local area, encouraging our employees to volunteer. Let others know what your organization has done. The communication should include only the most pertinent details, including the amount of funds committed, the key beneficiaries and recipients, and what you aim to achieve with your donation.
As Project Managers we have valuable skills to offer, so it’s important to link into responses among your wider business and social communities and offer your help.
Finally, you need to consider your own role. Who will step into your role, if you are taken ill? What about work-stream leaders and other key people on your project? Convene your top team and sketch out alternates for everyone – and alternates for those, if your project is big enough. Even consider the possibility of an orderly temporary shut-down of your project.
Coronavirus COVID-19: Facts and Insights, McKinsey, 2020. www.mckinsey.com
Flevypro – Impact, implications and immediate actions.
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