Re-start after lockdown

Re-start after lockdown, everyone is talking about, everyone is anxious to know what is after 14^th April?

The question is being discussed at all levels, right from Prime Minister to a common man. Lots of speculations and theories are being discussed. The majority are in favor of lockdown being extended while some are arguing on the economy and country’s financial health.

In fact,common man like us, would perhaps argue you will have the chance to revive the economy if we all remained alive.

Lockdown or release lockdown is being discussed on CMs level and cabinet ministry levels and they would assess every aspect and make a decision. It’s a tough decision either way.

If our country press the RE-START button after 21 days lockdown period, will it be a one-shot restart or staggered restart? If it all, understandably staggered if, will it be geographical wise or sector wise restart?

Behind every fear, anxiety, and worries, Re-start is expected by everyone, not for business, not for the probable job loss, not for daily essentials alone but we have never been put into such a situation before, it is that restlessness mixed with anxiety wants relief from the lockdown.

How are you as an Entrepreneur, as a business owner, as a leader, going to lead your team through this situation?

This post is to kindle the thought process and it’s not any kind of narrative in any way. It’s to provoke your leadership thought process.

The process is complex, it can’t be handled as a whole because it has multi dimensions and multiple impacts.

Let us view and inspect each aspect individually

·       What if lockdown gets extended by 7, 14 or 21 days after 14^th April?  How are we prepared for each of these possibilities?

·       How do we handle the cash crunch?  Probably soon after lockdown, we will have fast payables to purchase, while the receivables are at a slow pace since the last 2 quarters. How do we manage?

·       How do we handle our Inventories? Some of our supply lines are running overfull while others are running empty.

·       How are we going to ensure 6 feet distance at work Spots, Canteen and in Commuting to and fro for work?

·       We all freely promote digitization and it is the way forward. How digitized are our current operations would become? What more needs to be done to digitized and how much time it will take.

·       Work From Home is the keyword we all learned recently and it is going to stay. The question is in manufacturing industries what all should we shift to WFH, immediately? What more can we shift in the near future?

·       How would these three things - Medical, Economic and Human play a role after we resume? What is the time frame we are expecting to run without any further interruption? Are we prepared for that?

·       What are the fears and worries in the team’s minds?  And what do we do about them?

·       When will the market and demand revive? And when it does, will it be quantitatively and qualitatively the same or different? Are we prepared if it drops further than last year?

·       How are my business partners would behave like; what will be the organizational health of my Suppliers, Customers, and my bankers? Who can we count on? Who is counting on us? Need to give a thought.

·       What will be Industry scenario for the next year or little more than a year? Who is likely to buy up whom? And, what will be the resultant churn?

·       Will the way I see profits in my business change? How are my competitors likely to change their business models?