From the Lionesses of Africa Operations Dept.
Last week we looked at the most important aspect of any business when times turn tough - that of Cash Flow. Please note those practical steps have worked for our team in other businesses around the globe, and although not guaranteed to work in every case, will at least encourage thinking in our Lionesses to preparing for the threat coming.
Why are we at Lionesses of Africa sending out these communications? We have seen daily the tragic situation in Italy grow; how it spread so fast to Germany, Spain, France, UK; how the horrific death rates raced up (and continue exponentially); and how first world hospitals are simply not able to cope - it is essential that we warn the Lionesses of Africa community about what is on the way so they can prepare.
In an interview with an Italian Doctor on the front line, he says that hospitals are being overrun. It is not like the flu, it is severe pneumonia by the time it reaches the hospitals.
In an interview with an expert who has been involved in a number of major disease controls across Africa, he pointed out that in many countries in Africa there are no social safety nets that Europe takes for granted, this means that millions have to head out from their homes and ‘hustle’ daily for food and money. This makes it impossible for any shutdown of the kind being practiced in Italy and being started in the rest of Europe.
That is not to say there is not hope, in such times the human race has pulled together for the greater good, leaders have brought brilliant minds together and innovation has exploded. Through all of these times it has been noticed that optimism has been an incredibly powerful strength. This is a superpower and one that Lionesses as leaders can build in their businesses and with their employees. It does not help to lie at times like these, truth is absolutely essential, but build optimism, use humour, use the power of community (in spite of having to be apart, we can be together in thought, talk and community, and thankfully modern technology such as WhatsApp groups makes this a possibility). Please do not waste this opportunity.
These communications deal with what business leaders can do during a crisis of this magnitude. It is a fact that people will need jobs when this situation has calmed down and that is why all business leaders must not hide. There will be decisions that you will have to make for the ‘greater good’ that in normal times you would never have considered, but these are not normal times.
Leadership is the number one superpower that will be heavily tested in the coming weeks and months. As a Lioness with a heavy responsibility for your employees, customers and suppliers and all of the associated families and communities, now more than ever you have to show calm and kind, firm but fair, leadership.
So much of what we have to do will concern the health of and communication with your customers, suppliers and of course your employees. Communication should be clear, and unambiguous. Please remember that even in dark times, a little bit of humour always helps to ensure the message is taken in and remembered
As part of Melanie’s drive to bring business leaders into her management team, we have either seen and developed these simple and practical tools in other businesses or have seen the reaction in the Northern Hemisphere to Covid-19 and so can report and suggest ways in which the Lionesses of Africa Community can protect their businesses and employees ahead of a tidal wave of negativity that will hit very soon.
These are also part of a series to cover three new core business processes that have been thrown at us, namely Prepare, Resist and then Recover. Given the late start in Africa, we are still at the ‘Prepare’ stage, but very quickly we shall be moving to the ‘Resist’ stage as disruptions happen.
It is said that if there is a crisis and people know and can see the end in sight they buy small items that they think they will need, such as food, drink and toiletries. If there is a crisis and people cannot see the end or even guess what the end will look like, they rush into the supermarket and panic buy the biggest thing they can see. This is often packed in large packets of 24…and yes, you guessed it, is called Toilet Roll.
This is a clear sign of just how bad this virus is for businesses, if you think that demand or supply shocks are going to clear up anytime soon, you will be sorely disappointed.
So ‘What Next?’
Three of the four qualities of a great business leader are largely intuitive:
Sets vision and strategy;
Drives growth;
Displays financial acumen.
The fourth is
Managing a crisis.
It’s under-appreciated, overooked, and often not even one of the top requirements — until a crisis hits!
Managing a crisis involves recognizing the problem and then designing a plan to mitigate the risk. However, there is no perfect plan when a crisis hits. That is so important, we shall repeat it:
There is no perfect plan when a crisis hits
and indeed it is often said that in war (and all political leaders are describing this as a war), once the first shot is fired, the ‘fog of war’ descends and no plan stays the same - so Stay Flexible. With that in mind, we have written this piece to give you not a plan that must be followed, but simply as a way of encouraging and perhaps assisting your thoughts about what lies ahead and what you can do to plan, even if only in a small way.
Remember any plan is better than no plan.
a) because it gets you, your management team and employees into the mindset of creating and following a plan and
b) a plan allows you to play with it and adapt as time changes, rather than suddenly having to start with a blank piece of paper when your back is really against the wall…
Practical steps
1. Employee safety.
The one thing that all governments have been emphasizing daily to stem the huge growth and to slow the impact of virus Covid-19 - WASH YOUR HANDS!
But why?
Covid-19 protects itself behind a warm blanket of fat cells. Soap destroys fat and then unprotected it dies and water washes it away. Simple! In times like these, visual examples are useful: So if you want to show your employees what happens when soap attacks Covid-19, show them how soap breaks down oil by putting cooking oil into water. Show them how the oil sits apart and on top of the water, then add soap and Bingo! Importantly your employees will love showing this to their children - saving lives at home as well - tick the win-win box!
Why do we need to do this for 20 seconds?
Sadly our hands are full of wrinkles and also soap is not magic, we do need to do some work to help it break down the fat.
So, please don’t panic if you can’t buy hand sanitiser, soap will work. This is something you can buy and put in place before Covid-19 really gains ground in your country.
What else?
Please tell employees to cover their noses and mouths with a tissue when coughing or sneezing (or an elbow or shoulder if no tissue is available).
No handshaking or kissing when greeting anyone and stop touching your face! This is one of the main ways for the virus to gain entry.
Visual aids, music and humour work to keep your employees safe. A number of global celebrities have thankfully joined this drive. For example, Gloria Gaynor has challenged businesses to send in videos dancing and washing their hands made by their staff to her song ‘I will survive’ at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PKZqPzTd8I
Please share these with your staff if only to increase awareness.
2. What next?
Provide infection protection for those of your staff on the front line. The WHO gives this advice:
Here is a further non-exhaustive list we have put together concerning employees. Once again we emphasize this is simply to get you thinking, plus if you can only provide some of the following, some is better than none.
HBC - Health, Business, Communication.
To do list - Health:
Actively encourage sick employees to stay at home.
Ensure that your sick leave policies are flexible and consistent with public health guidance and that employees are aware of these policies. Please ensure you have non-punitive leave policies. What has been seen is that employees afraid for their jobs will still come to work and infect their co-workers, wiping out the entire team/company. Not a win-win for anyone.
Bring in flexible policies that permit employees to stay home to care for a sick family member as more employees may need to stay at home than is usual. 14 day incubation period is required to ensure that the employee does not return to work only to pass on the virus. Again please remember we are looking for win-win solutions in very difficult times.
Do Not require a Doctor’s note for employees who are sick with acute respiratory illness to validate their illness, as medical facilities will be extremely busy and not able to provide such documentation in a timely way. Also - the most dangerous place to be at this time is a Doctor’s waiting room - this is full of very ill people.
Provide tissues and hand sanitizers for use by employees (again, do what you can).
How can you increase the distance between your employees? The WHO recommends at least a metre apart - how will you redesign your workflow for desks and worktops?
Routinely clean all frequently touched surfaces in the workplace, such as workstations, countertops, and doorknobs. Use the cleaning agents that are usually used in these areas and follow the directions on the label. (No additional disinfection beyond routine cleaning is recommended at this time)
Provide disposable wipes so that commonly used surfaces (for example, doorknobs, keyboards, remote controls, desks) can be wiped down by employees before each use.
To do list - Business:
Plan for, monitor and respond to absenteeism at the workplace.
Implement plans to continue your essential business functions in case you experience higher than usual absenteeism.
Cross-train personnel to perform essential functions so that the workplace is able to operate even if key staff members are absent.
Identify essential business functions, essential jobs or roles, and critical elements within your supply chains (e.g., raw materials, suppliers, subcontractor services/products, and logistics) required to maintain business operations. Plan for how your business will operate if there is increasing absenteeism or these supply chains are interrupted.
Be prepared to change your business practices if needed to maintain critical operations (e.g. identify alternative suppliers, prioritise customers, or temporarily suspend some of your operations if needed).
Explore whether you can establish policies and practices, such as working from home (e.g. encourage employees to telework instead of coming into the workplace, if this is possible) and flexible work hours (e.g., staggered shifts), to increase the physical distance among and between employees.
Ensure that you have the information technology and infrastructure needed to support multiple employees who may be able to work from home (we recognize that this is easy to say and will be impossible for many SME’s simply because of the cost or say availability of laptops).
Urgent vs. Important: Day to day, leaders face a multitude of issues, both urgent and important. When a crisis hits, though, everything blurs as events and their implications constantly change. What’s important often becomes urgent, and what’s urgent becomes critical. Leaders must delegate the urgent by empowering others to lead around a common purpose.
The future? Who knows, it may be a ‘V’, ‘U’ or ‘L’ shaped recovery for the economy, and your business, but you need to be thinking ahead for all eventualities.
If yours is a ‘front line’ business such as travel, look to government help. Start pushing your MP’s for solutions and financial aid for your business and employees, perhaps put a person in charge of this. They can also look out for mortgage or rental assistance for your workforce.
Rather than defence, perhaps offence is an option? Can your factory be adapted to manufacture other items? In the UK car manufacturers have been asked to manufacture respirator machines, but can your factory produce masks, gauzes, oxygen or hand sanitizer ? Even blood has been running out in the Northern Hemisphere, a drive to encourage your employees to donate blood will both save lives and lift community spirit.
To do list - Communication:
A person’s own employer is the most trusted of all social messengers – beating business in general, government, media and NGOs by 20-point margins. When the boss speaks, people listen and the tone, accuracy and relevance of employers’ advice can make all the difference between calm and panic.
Share your plan with employees and explain what human resources policies, workplace and leave flexibilities, and pay and benefits will be available to them.
Ensure the plan you design is flexible and involve your employees in developing and reviewing your plan. Such an inclusion always helps alleviate fear in humans, if we are part of the process, we ‘own’ it.
Anticipate employee fear, anxiety, rumours, and misinformation, and plan communications accordingly. Remember communication can be both a strength and a weakness. Ensure that it is a strength in such times as these and use it. Employees may well have Whatsapp groups where rumours and fear spreads fast. Find a good way to communicate with your employees during this time. There is no point in joining your employees’ Whatsapp group as they will simply create a new one without you, but that does not mean to say you cannot create two - one for your management group and one for all of your employees including the management group. That way there is still a communication link.
Although your middle management will continue to play an essential role, flatten the communication pyramid. Now is not the time for you to hide. We are not saying you have to answer all questions nor answer them immediately (make sure this is understood on any Whatsapp Group you set up), but someone in your senior management team should respond in their area of expertise.
It’s ok to say “I don’t know right now”, but then come back quickly with a solution. Your employees will need your strategic superpower now more than ever before.
Be prepared to listen to stuff you don’t want to hear, it will come, but these are real problems that your employees are struggling with such as “Joe coughed and I want him out of here…”. In the UK the so called ‘super-spreader’ received death threats - yet there was absolutely no way he could have known he was spreading the virus, this kind of issue was never taught in the Harvard leadership module!
You as a Lioness need to be vocal and most important, visual. No chance of your hiding away in your office, get out there with your team.
Leave No One Behind: In a crisis, leaders must connect with, motivate, and inspire others, and show genuine compassion. A poster simply saying “Be Kind” in your office/factory will be very valuable at this time.
There are some excellent posters for your office and warehouse from the WHO that can be downloaded here:
https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/advice-for-public
These bring awareness to your workers and visitors.
It is natural in a crisis to lock the doors, close the mind and become a dictator (‘my company, my way or no way!’), but in fact leadership is far more about creating a ‘bottom-up’ culture, to bring the team with you together, not drive them from behind. Luckily, this is something that Lionesses do far more naturally than their male peers. So much of great leadership is through great communication and that, more than ever will be needed now.
Stay safe and healthy.