Metronome United 3HAG Coaches from around the world have compiled the following list for your consideration.  We have broken down the list into You/Family, Business, COVID-19 Planning, and Key Impact Area Checklist:

 You/Family

• Take the time and proper precautions to keep you and your family safe and healthy (please see below for suggested websites).

Business

• Review your current forecast for the fiscal year (please see more below in COVID – 19 Crisis Plan).
• Update your forecasted P&L down to cash in the bank for the worst case, best case and most likely case scenario. Please note all assumptions for all 3 scenarios.  Your own KPFM(Key Process Flow Map) is a good place to map this out and then work it back to your P&L Forecast.
• Know how many weeks of cash reserve you have at all times (minimum of 1X/day).
• Know how much revenue decline you can cope with and when/how to take action for each scenario.
• Know what supply chain lines are going to impact your revenues and when.
• Negotiate with large creditors now to preserve cash.
• Review local, state and federal government assistance plans (e.g. small business loans and funds made available during crises. For example…)

COVID – 19 Crisis Plan

• Take a leadership role in sharing information with your team. Find credible sources (g., CDC - https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html, WHO - https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019, and NIH -https://www.nih.gov/health-information/coronavirus)  and share updates as you receive them.
• Assemble the best group of brains focusing on cognitive diversity (not title, position or personality type) to spend time mitigating risk and analyzing opportunity. (e.g., Cash - how to preserve it as long as possible, how to focus on the few things that truly matter to your teams and customers, how to drive increased profitability).
• Take the time to plan – look at the meetings you have coming up – and look at what is the best way to still make the impact required with the means we have available. Here is a link (HBR) for best practices to run a virtual meeting effectively and a long-form white paper (20 ways to improve..) for the detail-oriented. Lastly, here are two videos (Part I and Part II) for some practical tips.
• Have the finance team prepare 3 stress testing forecasts (please see above updated P&L forecasts):
  • 15% revenue drop & what needs to be done to achieve break even
  • 30% revenue drop and what needs to be done to achieve break even
  • 45% revenue drop and what needs to be done to achieve break even (% change relative to business model)

FACT: Every downturn creates opportunity. What action can you take now as well as future planning to improve margins, increase customer value, customer acquisition and profitable sales volume? 

 Key areas of potential impact to include in your COVID-19 plan:

1. Team members:

• You cannot over-commuicate at this time!
• Develop a plan on how to handle your team working remotely;
• Consider what protocols are necessary to have for employees returning from affected countries
• Understand the implications of leave, travel, and other affected employee policies and the associated implications for how we manage our employees;
• Develop team huddle fact sheets for leaders to discuss personally with their teams.  Leverage software apps like SLACK, Metronome Growth Systems, MS Teams.
• Create a master spreadsheet to track absences and potential service issues for every division
• Set up the Payroll team to work remotely and meet all payroll deadlines
• Create a COVID daily huddle for your teams – (sharing impact, concerns, ideas on how to get through this – this is NOT a business huddle)

3. Customers:

• Communicate updates to Customers Often.
• Educate and train frontline staff as required.
• Actively consider what, if any, communications we may want to make to our customers and when.

4. Facilities:

• Facilities is enacting various precautionary measures concerning our head office and all locations.

5. Technology:

• What collaborative tools, software (e.g., Zoom), and hardware (e.g. additional monitors) can be of the greatest benefit to teams and individuals.

6. Risk mitigation and related protocols:
   • Supply chain risks - review and assess.
   • Identify critical risks and check in everyday.

7. Media and communication:

• Share helpful information on Coronavirus from credible sources (please see suggestions above)
• Communications prepare reactive media messaging in anticipation of media queries
• Communications work with HR to issue regular updates to employees

8. Business continuity:

• Establish a timely huddle (each morning is recommended) with leaders to ensure focus and better faster decisions.
• Ensure that all data backup systems are working as expected

This is not a complete list by any means but should spark the areas of discussion with your leadership team.  

IMPORTANT – We are all in this together, if you have useful suggestions-  please leave a comment - this will benefit all.  

My peer coaches from around the world have been collaborating almost daily and have been sharing best practice in supporting all types of companies in this challenging times. Please do not hesitate to contact us at any time.

Be Safe. Be Cautious.

We are here to help.

Metronome United 3HAG Coaches (www.metronomeunited.com)