The unprecedented moment in history that we find ourselves dealing with has left many small businesses wondering how they are going to survive. Dealing with crises is nothing new for most small operators, but the scale and the impact of Coronavirus have left many organizations wondering how they will survive. Now is the time to think about building a resilient business going forward, because one thing is for certain – change remains the only constant that most of us have to work with. The companies who are able to emerge best placed when the dust settles will be those who have used this time wisely to prepare and plan. So what are the factors that you need to consider when you’re working towards building a more resilient business?

Create Value In The Short Term And Long Term

Companies that just focus on one cycle are those that are likely to miss key opportunities. Instead, you need one plan of operations to deal with the current situation and manage the crisis, and another for the medium-term when things start to even out again. That way you’re best placed to benefit from any opportunities you may have to position your organization and what you do as circumstances change.

Know Your Best Contacts

No business is an island, and if there’s one thing that this strange situation has made us see, it’s just how interconnected globally trade and commerce are. So making strategic alliances with the right delivery partners can build resilience for your company. This could be anything from managing commercial partnerships to correctly leveraging contacts like components suppliers and waste management firms. The way that you approach relationship management with suppliers goes a long way towards determining how well your organization withstands shocks when they appear.

Recruit A Diverse Workforce

This isn’t just a box-ticking exercise. Building diversity into a business from the ground up also means increasing your cognitive diversity – more minds coming at an issue from different angles, identifying different potential flaws, and collectively finding more strengths is always a factor that is going to give your business a competitive edge.

Create A Culture Of Accountability

When you give all employees a sense of ownership in their areas of work you get much better results overall – so creating a top-down culture of accountability within your business is a hugely valuable thing. Setting a company culture is something that has to come from leadership and be embedded within the fabric of the business, from first onboarding to weekly stand-ups, sprint meetings, and other forms of management communication. Give ample opportunity for feedback and letting people take charge, suggest ideas, and develop their skills, and in that manner, they will develop much more of a sense of control and agency, and therefore be more invested in projects –  meaning that when a crisis hits, you have so many more resources at your disposal.