Why Dates Matter In The Upcoming Phases Of ‘The Dance’
David Alston is a former executive at Radian6 and Salesforce.com. He is a technology entrepreneur, small business owner, and actively involved in community initiatives in New Brunswick.
I came across this photo today. It was taken while on a trip back in 2013, way back when traveling was actually a thing. This photo jumped out at me because it sums how I often feel these days, whether on a daily or even hourly basis. I don’t think I’m alone.
As a small business owner, currently shuttered in New Brunswick, I am one of many in the province currently typing away, doing my best to prepare a Covid-19 Recovery Plan. Like many other businesses, I am doing this in order to hopefully open at some point in the weeks to come.
While some general guidelines have already been published by the Department of Health to go by, more often than not I am finding gaps that still need to be clarified. It’s a work-in-progress for everyone so that’s to be expected.
Throughout all this, I am reminded that businesses are, in general, quite the complicated beasts and this exercise feels very similar to the one I went through prior to our business opening just two years ago – lots of unknowns to decipher and hopefully lots of backup scenarios developed in order to mitigate them.
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But while going through a Covid-19 planning exercise shows just how difficult it is to unravel, it pales in comparison to the actual overall business planning process to re-open. There are so many factors involved in re-starting a business, especially one where one knows little of what the demand might be on the other side and whether regression to tighter lock-down phase could be triggered if an outbreak were to happen.
Throughout this exercise, there appears to be a very important glaring omission: the lack of dates on each of the upcoming phases.
Uncertainty is the true enemy of any business because it causes businesses to take unnecessary risks around commitments and spending. And when so many businesses are already directly behind the eight ball with mounting debts and very little or no revenue, uncertainty has the capability to wield a deadly blow.
Without dates to pin plans on, businesses are faced with key issues like:
- when or if to hire staff (the longer you wait to hire, the greater the chance that some key hires with special skills will look elsewhere. At the same time, hiring too soon may have a business incurring costs they just cannot afford.)
- when to train (because roles may need business-specific training as well as new COVID-19 specific training.)
- when to begin marketing and what it will say (just because a business opens on a specific date does not mean customers will know about it or will immediately flood back. Businesses need time to prepare campaigns and to reach out to customers in advance to tell them what the new experience might be like.)
- if they can get or keep grants (for many businesses grants will play a key role in keeping costs down while they attempt to get through these next phases. Grants have dates attached to them and they often require staff names to be attached to them as well. Not having either may mean missing out and making the business case to re-open a difficult one.)
- whether to purchase personal protective equipment (PPE) and other equipment or not (whether it’s plexiglass, pre-screening gear, kitchen modifications, sanitizer stations, temperature guns, or face shields, if a business is going to open they need to figure out what they need and order it in time to get it installed and ready to use. Many of these items are already very hard to come by and could be the reason a business then becomes delayed in opening. At the same time, without knowing if their plan will be accepted, businesses may end up spending money on items they do not need, especially if it turns out that they cannot or do not open.)
As business owners and citizens, I think it is safe to assume that we all agree with re-opening gradually and carefully. The issue is that we just cannot afford to guess about dates because the negative impacts of these guesses can be potentially too great. At the same time, it is also not an acceptable situation to have to react to announcements to open with only a few or no days notice.
Our leadership and essential workers have done such an amazing job in getting us to this point, in terms of the number of active cases as well as the infrastructure and teams now in place to handle any new cases as they appear. We have clearly been a shining light for the world in demonstrating how to bring down The Hammer and flatten the curve.
RELATED: New Brunswick’s Re-Opening Plan — A Draft Framework
Collectively, we want to demonstrate this same leadership as we move into The Dance phase. This not just about re-opening but beginning a solid recovery for all businesses as part of the new normal. In order for society to do this as a whole, we need the help of businesses to not only restart the economy but to provide an extra layer of defence against the virus with new protective measures and to help with the modelling of new behaviours.
Businesses are key partners with the government during the next phases. With an understanding that if an outbreak happens there may be changes, businesses need specific dates for each of the next phases of recovery.
In these very uncertain times, specific dates can provide businesses with a foundation of certainty, helping them successfully plan, and in some cases, helping them find a way to survive.
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This article originally appeared on David Alston’s LinkedIn page. Huddle publishes commentaries from groups and individuals on important business issues facing the Maritimes. These commentaries do not necessarily reflect the opinion of Huddle. To submit a commentary for consideration, contact editor Mark Leger: [email protected].