6 Steps to Formulate a Business Re-Opening Strategy

Recently, I watched a short interview conducted with Robert Herjavec, a Canadian businessman and TV personality (known for his role in Dragon’s Den and Shark Tank) about how businesses, especially small businesses, can survive and thrive amidst COVID-19. Two critical questions that Robert posed to businesses are, “Did your business survive COVID – 19? Did you grow your business during COVID-19?”

Since the public health emergency was announced, in the last three months, I have seen many businesses successfully progressed from their initial “panic” mode, to a “transition” mode. From the beginning of May, as businesses can now gradually re-open, I have seen leaders switch to the “plan-ahead” mode.

“How do we get the business back to normal as quickly as possible?” is the most common question I hear these days. Organizations want to recover from this crisis, which makes “getting back to normal ASAP” seem to be the most obvious next step. However, Robert’s interview questions about not only regarding businesses surviving the pandemic but also growing during the pandemic, prompted further reflection on my part concerning optimal ways of returning to some semblance of normalcy. As we are planning for re-opening, the focus should not just be on the “what” (what we need to do to rush back), but more importantly, on the “why” (why we want to be back in business) and “how” (how to ensure continued success).

A suggested six-step return to business strategy is presented below. Both paths beneath will get your organization back in action, but their effectiveness will differ.

Crisis situations are “stress tests” of business resiliency and its leadership. What organizations do now will have a huge impact on the workers’ trust and engagement, and the forthcoming prosperity of the business. Planning for “what” to do to get business to effectively re-open is important, but the focus should also be on the “why” and the “how”.

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