The fancy phrases are “contingency plan” or “business continuity.”  A year ago – if you were mature and prescient enough, you would have called it “scenario planning”. For now, it’s shocking and disorienting.

In my syllabus, the reading for 3/16/20 (day we return from spring break) was “The Big Lie of Strategic Planning” by Roger Martin (ex-Monitor, ex-dean of Rotman).  It’s good and worth reading here. Originally, I assigned this because it was class #15 of 28 (approximate midpoint) of the semester on strategy.  Good time to reflect on the unpredictable, hairy nature of the markets, right?  Sheesh – hella true, now.

As you read this, there’s a good chance you are working from home, with kids trying to study in another room. Stocks in the US are down 30%, so yes, things have changed with Covid-19. I’ve been in my house for the better part of a week and cooking food all the time. We all need to be thoughtful, grateful, and generous. We are completely going to get through this – but the question to management consultants:

• Advice for CURRENT projects in motion?
• Advice on FUTURE projects (proposals, business development)?
• How best to use this time?  If you’re on the beach / bench?
• Any famous quote to share (that reflect your mood, advice, aspirations currently)?

Surveyed 40+ seasoned professionals had to say in blue color. Thanks for your good words. . .

Be a human

Be in constant touch with your team members via virtual channels. Call them and check on their well being as well. Our Clients/Colleagues are our Second Family members.

Its time to get back to first principles and be present to them. Your family is extremely important. Life is not only about work or money or success. Enjoy your time with friends and family. Get intimate. Be a child once again. Call up people whom you have not spoken to in years or decades – Just like that, for no reason. Listen to your children, parents, spouse/partner. Reach out to that friend or colleague partner with whom you were pissed off, and bring back the relationships to what they were. Be human. Call up your parents and say you love them. Express your emotions. Laugh, cry. Be happy for no reason, things could have been worse. Take full breaths. Be present to nature around you. Help others in need. Its in times like these that your humanity shall flower.  Its all about people, people and people in your life.

Take this time to ensure you and your family and loved ones are safe.

Be grateful for friends, family, resources, and gifts, help others with less (e.g. resources, resiliency) where and when you can, and devote extra time to product development, refreshing your methodology, and organizing your marketing, business development, and project delivery toolkit

Don’t feel guilty if your days don’t have structure, you aren’t productive, you get down. Learn to sit in your feelings. Call people vs. text them (friends, colleagues, family, neighbors — especially those who live on their own). ALTRUISM — plan for connecting with the elderly in your building or subdivision, donating financially to people, workers pay to check to pay check.

Be a thought leader and use that leadership to stay in front of clients and others. Do all of this in the context of getting your own house in order. You can’t serve your clients or your own projects if your house is on fire. Be kind, empathetic, grateful, and humble. Build trust. Make the difficult decisions with grace.

Hard to get attention to outstanding proposals unless client initiated or mission critical – pushing too hard can appear desperate or oblivious to client business continuity realities. Sustaining existing relationships through caring contacts and meaningful conversations is always valuable personally and professionally.

 

Stay positive

Highlight progress and achievements, communicate about what comes next and support positive thoughts about the future and our human capacity to respond to change with resilience

 

Communicate

Put your project leaders and clients at ease through increased communication. Get out in front of their asks – communicate key contact information (even if they already have it), set up recurring calls to force communication if needed, highlight upcoming milestones and any risks to achieving them, and if necessary develop contingency plans and revised forecasts

Over-communicate with your sponsor and expect changes beyond the usual – try to stay focused on the ultimate objective. Your flexibility will pay dividends down the road.

What a great time to close the loop on projects and complete things that we have been putting off.

Have engaged conversations around how to continue in this time (unprecedented so there is scope for a lot of creative ideas) and try a few experiments.

Stay informed. Many don’t know how to check or use sources of quality. You can be that voice of quality. Encourage sensible actions. Like not panic selling. Remind people that long run = long run and to stay course on sensible decisions.

Built Projects. 1) Read you contract regarding impacts of Force Majure events. 2) Assess if there will be delays in project schedule because of labor or materials issues. 3) Create a plan forward that reflects the short term financial squeeze and the probable longer term economic impacts.

Consulting Projects. 1) Be honest about the limits of your knowledge. 2) Give your clients a framework for thinking through the impacts to the project or their business at large (process over product). 3) Create one likely path forward with alternative paths forward that anticipate possible future changes. 4) Be gracious if your project is put on the back burner – you want them to be a client when we come out of this.

 

Stop and Assess

Stop and reassess where this project fits into your client’s priorities right now — is it still mission critical? Irrelevant? Delayed indefinitely? Proactively reach out to suggest what client should do so your client doesn’t have to. Assuming you know your client’s business well offer any suggestions for strategies during these highly volatile and uncertain times. If you don’t have any, offer to serve as a sounding board and/or support.

Use this time to measure work done so far, re-calibrate / re-scope, re-design, and agree a roll-out plan for when things start to return to normal. Charge something for this work!

Re-imagine future projects through the lens of the current crisis

A good opportunity to adjust projects that are on the fringe of falling behind, and allow folks to save face.

Identify all time sensitive elements that are unaffected by COVID-19 and determine how to manage them.

Likely some ROI reevaluation to be done. As to project execution, more concern to the ability to perform activities remotely.  We’re in the process of trying to set up a remote business process review in anticipation of an ERP project, so that’s a first.

For the next 30 days, management is going to be occupied dealing with COVIT-19 concerns. Business development will slow down. Evaluate what you can do in the next 30 days to hit the ground running with your business development.

Scope/roll-out changes may be warranted. Done some best case/worst case scenario planning. Preparing for the worst, ‘wait and see’ approach is a non-starter. 

 

Keep doing good work

Keep going. This too will pass, and new business will be needed for both consultant and client.

Current projects need to continue to move ahead. This situation will pass and we don’t want to be too far behind. There will be delays as staff figure out their personal lives and we need to accommodate them. However, if we just stop everything now, we’ll never get the time back.

Business as usual

Continue to make progress.

Most businesses are going to be (or already are) working through priorities assessments. What is a must-have or nice-to-have expenditure. We need to be sensitive to the uncertainty they feel (even while we feel it ourselves) and be prepared for stop-work requests. I’d suggest checking in proactively or holding on doing too much work unless you are prepared to hold on invoicing for a while if that is the request of clients.

Keep moving forward as best you can, this too shall pass.

Overdeliver!

Stay the course. Let them know that you take the safety and well-being of your clients and employees very seriously. That you will continue to monitor the circumstances surrounding the novel coronavirus, and will take the necessary precautions to keep your clients and employees safe as we continue to serve you.

Clients are also happy to proceed as usual – at least for the time being

Agree on “rules of engagement” for unavoidable on-site work. Then communicate the plan with your client.

Please consider how different work cultures have solved similar problems. Being open to different cultures will open whole new possibilities alternatives that work for you. Reach out to different people/cultures to listen to their views. Be humble and in the space of listening.

Some projects must be postponed (for example if they involve meetings & travels in areas with restrictions): in that case it is better to reach proactively a reasonable agreement with the customer regarding the postponement.

Everything’s on fire in food business. I’m mostly standing back in mute admiration of small operators pivoting with grace and creativity.

Caution: let’s see how this issue evolves (1-2 weeks) and then check if we have to make some changes on current projects (perhaps changing priorities or even cancelling some of them or starting new ones). Time to see strategic impact of COVID-19 on the business.

Current projects will slow down, but they do not need to go to a work stop status.  In our organization, we are looking at each issue that stands in the way of completion and asking…”How can we move forward…”

 

Set up a decent home office

Invest in a good headset for conference calls – set up your home office so it is free from distraction – help clients understand that they should continue momentum on current projects so they are stronger when things return to normal

Get good at remote computing in a hurry (zoom, teams, VPN, RDP, VNC, RMM, etc).

We need to be prepared in the future to work from today to tomorrow all remotely (as much as possible)

Daily stand ups and huddles. I value the time we have to ‘bump into on another’ when co-located. There’s great psychological value and social value in the random interactions there. I am aiming to build as much of that as I can into my remote working rhythms.

 

Invest in relationships

Continue to invest in building those relationships. Don’t expect any business commitment.

Be generous with your thought leadership/insights

We are change agents and it is important to be there. Business development needs to be considerate and I would give a lot of free advice and information, this is an investment in future business.

Stay connected with prospects and understand if there is a way you can help pivot your proposed work to help them

This may be an opportunity to offer to support your clients and show immeasurable value to them at a challenging time by either moving forward on a project at-risk (if you have tc time and want to take it on) or even offering to do some amount of the work for free in a show of long-term investment in the relationship.

Maintain better documentation – document risks, barriers, have contingency plans in place already. Don’t wait for it to hit the fan to begin thinking through these materials.

I believe embracing and being frank about the uncertainties will be of value. It is disingenuous to pretend that things we will be ‘business as usual’ for the coming weeks or months. It obviously will not. Economic and social disruptions are coming. Being forthcoming builds trust and opens opportunities for partnership.

Think 90 days+ out

Plan for a long delay … three months at least.

Think scenario planning

Clients are postponing rather than canceling projects, but that could change quickly as the situation escalates. At this point we’re expecting pipeline delays, probably 8-12 weeks.

Get ready to re-engage!

We are focusing on preparing pipeline for the post-corona crisis. Also adjusting or considering which services will be relevant after the crisis

Will be years’ worth of shaking out the implications.

Chunk them up – design, pilot, roll-out, evaluation. Charge for a design phase and then stage/gate before initial pilot.

On Hold – Nobody has the time to discuss now. Opportunity to do some research but wouldn’t push any agendas here in the present. 

People are scrambling around moving their operations to virtual and modeling staffing and financial scenarios. Shutting down certain projects and just massively switching gears. My 3 active clients went away with one talking about hopefully the fog lifts come summer

Think strategically about where you can add value for clients and the types of projects that will maintain or grow in value over the next 12-18 months (the advised length of time to a COVID vaccine). If this means hitting the pause button on new long term projects for a few weeks (or more) that should be okay and is likely what your clients are thinking through currently. Better to commit long term to something you know will be a good strategic direction. Consulting Projects. You may have to create your own project ideas for yourself (think all the things you’ve been wanting to do but haven’t had time) and for your clients.

 

Solve new problems

Defining the requirements and needs of the future is tuff, but looking at how we can improve processes as well as look for new “out-of-the-box” solutions or areas is really interesting

Anticipating substantial revenue disruption, big focus on cost reduction and contingency planning having conversations with clients around modeling exposure, stress testing P&L, planning urgent cost-take out maneuvers to conserve cash. on the revenue side, we’re scoping work for “playing defense”… e.g. pricing strategy, targeted account management (best way to approach customer segments, geos), pushing e-commerce rather than in-person services. 

Goodwill free consulting…make this a time of being vs. doing (perhaps we will become CREATORS…finding the time individually and in groups to IDEATATE, be creative, after we get past these first 1-3 weeks locked in homes depending on where you are. Perhaps the universe is telling us to slow down, connect, create, pause…

Invest more time in planning and feasibility studies. Get lessons learned from the crisis and update your risk register

This crisis will require companies to adapt to the new / future environment: g. revamp their supply chain, industrial footprint & supplier base, develop new markets & channels to balance their risks, restructuring… They will need consultants for that. Consultants should make proposals already projecting “after” the pandemic.

1. Any future project needs a business continuity plan (BCP) which includes pandemic planning (considering the likes of Covid19). Proposals should necessarily describe meeting the intent driving the project, through alternative means (Always mention the higher level purpose or context of “Why are we doing this?”). Ensure people get it and they will find better alternatives. 1a. For the chosen alternative, BCP mandatory in any RFP/RFI. 2. Remote operations/working/collaboration weaved in as part of BAU rather than exception. 3. Any person should be able to securely access any business operation as per the role or function whenever and wherever duty or inspiration calls.

Invest in yourself – get off the couch

See #1 Build vertical-specific business continuity insights / perspectives

Take the time in silence to think

Now, we can grab people and do the training online while they’re in pajamas, with their kids, over a glass of wine!

Upgrade your technical/strategy/communication skills leveraging Pluralsight or udemy.

Pick a skill (excel, ppt, memos, etc.) and read a book or find a new resource and add to your toolkit.

Use the time to research, tease out ideas – maybe even write that book you’ve been turning over in your mind but never had time for. It’s likely the world will look different once this crisis passes.   How might that be?  Think about the possibilities.  Be ready to run when the ‘all clear’ is sounded.

If a downturn in work is an issue, use the time to sharpen your technical chops–get better at understanding AWS or Azure, or Windows administration.  I figured out VNC this morning.

Great time to sharpen the saw, particularly in the area of use of technology.

self-improvement via online courses, reading and hands on labs

learn new / shore up existing skills (take a cert or two) – develop your brand offline so you can hit the ground running – reach out to everyone, stay on radars or you will be forgotten

Sharpen your skills, reorganize. develop processes and systems to serve clients through different mediums. Stay positive and motivated. avail yourself of that information to keep positive, stop watching the news, yet stay informed about your business.

Learning and up skilling and sharing knowledge

 

Enjoy the time

I’m personally looking at this time to reflect and take care of myself and my family. To look at life and work balance and take advantage of downtime.  Yes, it will be difficult, but change is always difficult.  The opportunity is in front of us…not behind us.   So my team is working on what we can control, what we can do, and make sure all of our family is safe.  No idea what the change or journey will bring…but I am not scared or concerned about how the future will shake out.

Enjoy the moments, reflect, keep up a daily routine of exercise, cook interesting stuff (try out those recipes), spend a ton of time with family

I’m based in Hong Kong and we’ve been having travel restrictions for over a month: we can choose to be frustrated about it, or decide that we can actually enjoy it ! In Hong Kong, parents spend more time than ever with their kids, and there has never been so many people on the hiking trails…

Read, play board games with family, make a phone call to reconnect with someone

Tackle the long list of “honey-do’s” that never seem to get done; work my way through a very deep reading list on Pocket

For my business, it’s re-trenching, breathing, trying to assess before responding in a knee-jerk manner. WISH I was quarantined at the beach. No such dumb luck.

In Spain we are confined at home. So my best use is: Working on things that have been left aside. These days I have some more time as some meetings have been postponed. Reading with music. Playing games. TV series.

There are a ton of free training resources available on the web. Learn something new to boost your skill set. Don’t forget to take a step back; read a book, clean your home office, read that book that’s been sitting in the pile beside you chair.

Hopefully, you’re working from home, as I am. This is the first time in a long time that I’ve been able to be home for a long stretch and it’s wonderful.  

Times like these are very challenging for smaller consulting firms. This is a good time to review your marketing plans, pricing and offerings. Determine where the bulk of your revenues are coming from and industry sectors. Determine what you can do better to take advantage of what you are best at.

Keep focused and diligent as much as possible, LEARNING, GIVING BACK, and much awareness and sensibility to current health crisis and everything it impacts with any business development efforts.

Take small breaks, get some fresh air, stay informed but don’t obsess. I’m working from home, it’s certainly not the beach, I guess that’s the bench?

We continue projects as much as possible. Keep the revenue coming.

Reading!

Maintain daily routines and structure to keep a sense of control and normalcy. Applies to life and work. We are in uncharted waters, need to keep from getting unmoored. Stay healthy and sharp. Look for opportunities to help others that are not on the beach/bench, but are on the front-lines and/or are struggling to get through this.

Clearing Inbox Clearing out closet! Training

Use this time the same way as any other bench time – develop your business, build your brand – while being mindful of the situation. Schedule WebEx rather than in-person meetings. Write your case studies and key learning articles. Stay connected to your clients and network.

”enforced sabatical” – explore your other interests e.g. painting, writing Invest in yourself – online courses using pomodoro technique   Excercise from home  Rest up, you earned it

People still need relationships. Plan on-line get-togethers!

I’ve been looking at it in two ways: business-building activity (building out my editorial calendar, getting my newsletter up and running, doing some reading and follow-up on leads) and offering up support strategically to businesses. as long as I’m not getting paid I may as well use those hours to demonstrate my value in a more altruistic way – I’m thinking I may offer to write up features on the businesses in my town that are hardest hit by the coronavirus. Free content they can use and share in the future.

If you’re home with family, enjoy the time with them. It might be only time you get downtime with them like this during your working career. If you have time to focus on work, bang out those internal docs, processes, etc that have been on your mind / to-do list but having been able to complete b/c of client demands.

Working, doing stuff that was long time outstanding, learning new stuff, read, pass time with my daughter

Build capabilities, In your practice and in yourself. I will be using my remote time to learn a new module of the vendor platform I work on, and earn a certification.

Learn. Read. Don’t jump off the investment rollercoaster (“keeps arms and legs inside…”)

read a book, write a poem, paint a picture and hug your kids

Any famous quote or thought to share?

Never let a good crisis go to waste. – W. Churchill

Breathe, stop, listen, act and reflect. It’s not going to be easy, but it’s going to be ok.

“I can choose either to be a victim of the world or an adventurer in search of treasure. It’s all a question of how I view my life.” ― Paulo Coelho, Eleven Minutes

“Be present, be alive” (my own quote) – You maybe on your own, you are not alone

“Tutto andra bene” (Everything will be fine): that’s what many Italians currently confined at home post on their balcony !!

“It is how we embrace the uncertainty in our lives that leads to the great transformations of our souls”

“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”

“Be safe, be brave, be kind.”

God grant me the courage to change the things I can change, the serenity to accept those I cannot change, and the wisdom to know the difference.

“What would love or kindness choose?”

“I don’t take responsibility at all”

“What is here now? What ELSE is here now?” -Benjamin Zander

“When the going gets tough the tough get going” (attributed to Joseph P Kennedy, father of President John F Kennedy)

“Chaos is a ladder” – Lord Petyr Baelish 

“Do not fear going forward slowly, fear only to stand still.” – Chinese proverb

Bible verse my 78 year old mother, ordained minister semi-retired shared with my sister and me: “Live under the protection of God Most High and stay in the shadow of God All-Powerful. Then you will say to the Lord, “You are my fortress, my place of safety; you are my God, and I trust you.” Psalms 91:1-4, 7, 9-11, 14-16 CEVDCI

“We may encounter many defeats, but we must not be defeated” – Maya Angelou

“A time to unite and focus”

“Pessimism of the intellect, optimism of the will”

“When the crowded Vietnamese refugee boats met with storms or pirates, if everyone panicked, all would be lost. But if even one person on the boat remained calm and centered, it was enough. It showed the way for everyone to survive.” —Thich Nhat Hanh

“This too shall pass.”

“I am bigger than the situation/problem (Covid-19), and not the other way round. I am unstoppable unshakable. This too shall pass.  All Systems, Businesses, processes, products, music, paintings, anything, each and every aspect that humans have created thus far, is for the happiness and advancement of mankind. It’s time to get back to first principles.”

“They sent you parents/grandparents to war. You were sent to the couch. You can do it!”

“Our ability to grow is directly proportional to an ability to entertain the uncomfortable.” From American dancer and choreographer Twyla Tharp 

“It’s going to happen, because I am going to make it happen.” (Harvey Specter, Suits)

“We will never get this time back.” This is precious time with our family, even if it comes with so many other unknowns and stressors and pressures. Let’s embrace it. Because it’s the right thing to do.

” Change is Opportunity” credo I’ve followed, (been in business since 1977) I realized that my and our teams P&L increased during every downturn by looking at the changes and seeing what solutions we could come up with.

“Man is not affected by things that happen, but his opinions of things that happen” – Epictetus

“A failure to plan, is planning to fail.” – Benjamin Franklin

“Give me six hours to chop down a tree, and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.” – Abraham Lincoln

“The lone wolf dies, but the pack survives.” – Game of Thrones. Always reminds me of the value of cohesion, cooperation, and team. Even now as we distance ourselves from our teams, we cannot let ourselves become lone wolves.

“SHIT happens.”

“Leaders appear in tough times.”

“Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.” Winston Churchill

 

What advice do you have for us?