The ongoing Covid-19 outbreak is exerting a huge strain on many organisations globally. Repeated lockdowns and restrictions are testing everyone’s endurance and patience. Even with vaccination programs starting, the outlook remains very uncertain.
For all organisations, the beginning of a new year marks a good time to reflect on the lessons thus far learned. Which actions have worked and which have not? Most important of all, what changes require putting in place to better prepare our organisations for the next crisis WHEN it comes along?
THE EXPERTISE OF THE MILITARY
At Avida International, we strongly encourage leaders to examine what they can usefully learn from the expertise of the military, whose commanders are very familiar with encountering such stresses. They regularly face ambiguous and fast-moving circumstances, that can change in rapid and unexpected ways. So, what can pension funds and indeed their service suppliers learn from the military’s approach to the management of risk and coping with crises?
Our Crisis Management methodology allows organisations to rate themselves against the following criteria:
- Did our organisation demonstrate sufficient resilience during the crisis?
- Did we adequately take account of the requirements of all our stakeholders?
- How well do we understand the environment in which we are operating?
- Was our business as well prepared as it could have been?
- Can we call upon appropriate leadership in times of crisis?
- Was I as a leader, as well prepared as I should have been?
- Has there been too much focus on operational efficiency ahead to the crisis that left the business short of the reserves required to manage such a shock?
- How robust were our supplier relationships?
- What lessons can be learned that should be carried forward into future business planning?
- Can we be certain that all our crisis management plans, and strategies have been sufficiently stress-tested?
- In particular, can we improve upon our future scenario testing?
To help answer these questions, we offer various programs focusing on leadership development, mental agility training, wargaming, and crisis management simulations.
'WORK FROM HOME' WORKSHOPS
It is clear that many, if not all of our people will continue to work from home (WFH) for a considerable part of 2021. This adds an additional layer of risk on top of those that already exist for all of our organisations some of which, by definition, we cannot foresee. In response, we at Avida International have developed a workshop focusing specifically on the very real crisis issues that can be experienced in the WFH situation. This program will raise awareness within your team of potential crises that can occur in such an environment and provide the opportunity to learn how to mitigate them before they occur. Your people will also benefit from an exercise designed to promote team-building and bonding, so vitally important in the current WFH environment.
Whilst we all have a strong desire for a rapid ‘return to normal’ soon, this is an opportunity to prepare well by taking stock of what we have learned.
