
Managerial lessons from COVID-19
Many businesses had no idea what to do when the COVID-19 pandemic and its unprecedented effects on businesses were felt across the globe. Findings from a survey conducted by Stats SA found that 90% of companies reported a lower than normal turnover in 2020. Despite the shock and disruptions caused, there are a few managerial lessons that businesses can take into the foreseeable future.
Prioritise workplace safety
Complying with legal and industry standards for occupational health and safety is now essential for businesses to continue operations. This entails ensuring the wellbeing of employees by minimising the possibility of workplace incidents, ensuring employees receive the relevant training and making provisions for the relevant PPE to be assigned to them. Establishing a continuous channel of communication enables businesses to address employee concerns effectively and transparently. To help provide safe working environments, many companies have had to find innovative ways of allowing employees to work remotely to minimise business disruptions. This has required investments in technology and effective SHEQ management systems. Integrated SHEQ management systems can aid in company compliance and building a reputation for reliability and safety.
BCMX – Our Integrated Business Continuity Management System (BCMX) merges all organisational systems and processes, business risks, threats and vulnerabilities that could impact companies continued operations in to one common cohesive framework that enables ongoing monitoring and review of the performance and effectiveness of the business continuity management system
Business continuity is essential
Effective business continuity management is essential to ensuring that your organisation maintains operations with minimal disruptions despite uncertainties or disaster. An effective business continuity management system (BCM) will plan and prepare to sustain business activities in the event of natural disasters, cyber-attacks or global pandemics with periodic reviews and adjustments based on operations. Reshaping organisational strategy for business continuity maximises the ability to respond to significant shifts in consumer behaviours. A part of building business continuity is ensuring resilience. Businesses need to ensure that they respond to the “new normal” appropriately. A management system that can reduce risk whilst still finding ways to increase profit builds confidence in the organisation and builds resilience.
The bottom line is that, if your organisation does not have a business continuity plan, now is the ideal time to implement an integrated management system. The COVID-19 pandemic may have created a global economic crisis, but there is great potential for businesses to evolve to the business of the future.