Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on businesses
The COVID-19 pandemic continues to disrupt Australia’s business environment, with lockdowns and border restrictions affecting thousands of SMEs nationwide in 2021.
While the unprecedented disruption is causing significant fallout for some businesses across the economy, it can also present opportunities for astute firms to reset and redirect and also look for new areas of growth and expansion.
That can be easier said than done, especially while navigating difficult trading conditions. So, here are some keys to succeeding today as well as taking your business to the next level.
Get proactive
First, if you find your business experiencing a period of disruption due to COVID-19, it’s essential to pivot fast as this will give you the best chance of staying on a growth trajectory.
While proactive steps are needed, they must also be well planned. To this end, here are five actions you can do to immediately to maximize your chances of thriving at times of crisis:
- Assess and address any operational problems head-on
- Secure capital, cash flow and raise debt reserves to be ready for the opportunity
- Be alert to opportunities for growth through acquisitions, when others are contracting, is it time to grow?
- Identify advocates internally and externally and take time to get them closer
- Transform your mindset — don’t be afraid to be fearless
Build resilience
So you’re through the acute phase, now it’s time to use disruption to your advantage. At Olvera, we’re passionate about setting clients up to be the best they can be, and making sure the business challenges of today are no more than a bump in the road to success. Here:
- Re-examine your business’ strengths and weaknesses, then leverages your strengths
- Re-evaluate strategies regularly in line with rapidly changing business conditions
- Think laterally and get comfortable challenging the norm — don’t follow the crowd
- Get the right team around you that can make a positive impact on the business
- Strengthen relationships by ensuring you look after your people and stakeholders
Alter your mindset
Success in hard times also requires a paradigm shift. That’s because, unlike boom times, navigating rougher water inevitably has its ups and downs. You need to adjust to that.
Here, working on a more empathic approach to helming your business can be a gamechanger, and has been proven to be a powerful tool in times of crisis. It can:
- Help develop flexible outcomes and devise solutions adaptable to individual needs
- Drive innovation via encouraging better communication and agile problem-solving
- Fosters organisational calmness to help keep distressed situations under control
- Builds trust with stakeholders to assist in maintaining relationships under pressure
At Olvera, we believe the best time to grow your business is when everyone else is stagnate or starting to starting decrease – this is when you start to see the opportunity to expand your business into different areas and take stock of what everybody else is doing.
Contact us today for an obligation-free consultation with one of our specialists.
