Collaborate, mitigate and cut the cheese

Governments around the world have implemented strict rules regarding the movement of people, and some countries have gone into total lockdown.

The impact of this virus is without doubt an economical one. However, the main impact is on people. Those that are ill, those that have lost their lives, those that are grieving for the loss of family and friends. It is truly catastrophic on a human level.

With all this human tragedy, I am finding it nauseating that some companies seem intent on peddling marketing messages via social media portraying themselves as heroes to humanity because they are still working. They seem to believe they are supplying products critical to the nation’s health and wellbeing.

The reality is the essential supply chain at this juncture is limited. If we have sports retailers portraying themselves as essential, then we have a case for almost any business taking the mantra of essential supplier.

Our business remains open at a manufacturing level. The majority of staff who can work from home are doing so.

A handful of our projects could be classed as essential such as water storage for energy and NHS projects. However, the main risk to our business is contractual and that is taking a great deal of time and effort to ensure we protect the business and work effectively with customers.

It’s not about passing the risk on, it’s about collaboration and mitigating risk for everyone in the supply chain. Nothing new there, just a different impetus given the seriousness of what we face at this time.

We will ensure we have technical teams available to support emergencies through this period of uncertainty. It’s not a big tick in our box, it’s just what we do and I am sure many other well run businesses will do likewise.

We must all act responsibly at this time and refrain from point scoring; business or political. It’s time for leaders to not only understand how they became leaders, but WHY they became leaders.

Now more than ever, we should be thinking of the concept of servant leadership. If serving is beneath you, then I am afraid leadership is above you. As a leader you must show the qualities expected to manage your way through a crisis such as this.

Focus on your people, and then your business. Make the necessary sacrifices now and your business should prevail and benefit in the long run.

It’s not about cheesy marketing messages and jumping on the bandwagon, it’s about values and behaviours at every level.