Managing Your Business in the Midst of a Crisis
For the past few days, we have been communicating with family business leaders by phone and email. Our conversations have centered on the COVID-19 virus and its affect on their business and their community. We hear the real concern facing business leaders, banking institutions, family members, shareholders and employees.
We know you are also responding to the crisis, assessing priorities, and making decisions in real time that affect your employees, suppliers, family members, and shareholders.
What we know is that family businesses are strong. This strength comes from their multi-generational perspective and a history of success during adversity. As family business leaders you have weathered
difficult times with composure, calmness, and clear-minded leadership. You will do it again during the current crisis. Here is a collection of lessons that we have learned from you:
What to Do and What Works in Times of Crisis
Lean into your strengths. You have a tested resiliency and the ability to recover from challenges.
Your commitment to your people is real. Your employees look to you for strength and guidance. You demonstrate prudence in your actions and language, and you lead with calm.
Most family businesses exhibit a conservative use of debt, making them uniquely positioned to ride out a crisis.
Look to the past for guidance—what other challenges have you overcome? Tell those stories to remind others that together, we will work our way through this.
Now is the time to come together. Focus on the health and well-being of your people and your communities.
Lead with intention. Respond rather than react. Responding requires us to slow ourselves down and work with our family and leadership team toward common goals.
You live with three spheres: what you can control, what you can influence, and what is beyond your control and influence. Focus on what is within your control and what is in front of you.
Decide which wolf you will feed. One wolf is the 24 hour news noise which adds to your anxiety. The other wolf is your support system—sleep, regular meals, prayer, meditation, humor, and your plan for the day. Feed the one that will support the work you need to do.
Anxiety is contagious. No matter who you are, you can help contain and manage anxiety with your own behavior.
Lean into your community.
Here are Some Things that Your Fellow Family Businesses are doing to Manage the Crisis
Set up a “war room” with regular senior leadership team meetings (virtually or in person) for morning and evening check-ins.
Manage energy, not time. Pay attention to how you are feeling and do what is most difficult when you have the most energy.
Cancel all unessential travel including trade shows and vendor events.
Test IT infrastructure to make sure it can handle more people working from home.
Develop employee communication plans in case a location has an infection, or a community has a lock down.
Communicate your policy regarding health status and compensation. This includes what to do if you feel sick or have contact with people who are sick (including family), PTO, triggering events for furloughs, etc.
Contact cleaning contractors in case you need to administer a disinfecting deep-clean.
Develop plans and required actions at 1 month, 3 months, 6 months, and 1 year.
Contact your commercial bank/relationship manager and share your planned response to anticipated slowing of sales, production or service challenges, and supply chain disruptions.
Don’t neglect your family. They are why you work. Don’t get so caught up in managing the business through this time of crisis that you forget that they are scared too - and need you more than you realize.
Take care of yourself. Take deep breaths, read something inspirational, find a way to “recharge” yourself. You are leading through a very difficult situation. That drains your emotional battery faster than you can even imagine. Be kind to yourself.
Don’t let uncertainty undermine you or your team’s efforts. Stay on course. Focus and finish what must be accomplished now. Acknowledge the fear, but don’t feed it. Be courageous and live your values. And care for your team - to every extent you are able to care for them.
At The Tennessee Center for Family Business our mission is to help family business leaders create a positive environment in which the family THRIVES and the business performs. During this time, we encourage you
to stay in touch. Our continued support for you, your business, and family remains constant.
Jennifer Lewis Greg Lewis
President CEO
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