Raincoat or Sunscreen?

In business and life, a certain degree of uncertainty is inevitable. But, right now in the throes of a global pandemic, it feels like we are taking everything day by day. Planning ahead can be confusing, It creates more questions than it solves. 

While you'll never be able to predict everything that lies ahead, every uncertainty gives you an opportunity to improve your scenario modelling and become a better leader. 

My goal is to help you identify the most important areas to plan around - right now so that your day to day operation feels somewhat on track.

Here are a few of the key strategies I'm employing in my businesses, to ride out the storm and turn the challenges into opportunity.

1. Cash Flow Management

Making quick decisions in any market condition means knowing your numbers and having an effective cash management plan.  

At River our executive team continues to update cash forecast data weekly. We create a clear set of objectives once we know what's coming in and what needs to be paid out. The entire management team has visibility on the numbers and the objectives so we can make quick decisions in our own departments.

Working remotely means that the tools and software we use must work in real-time and be easy for everyone to use.  I’m a big fan of Trello a software platform that helps our teams work collaboratively and manage the big picture and the tiny details.  We can all access Trello from our desktop, laptop or phone to stay on top of what’s happening without endless emails and phone calls.

Being able to take the pulse of our cashflow at any given time means we stay on the front foot with supplier and contractor communications.  At River, relationships are at the foundation of our success, so being able to plan ahead and let our stakeholders know what to expect strengthens our ecosystem and build equity in the relationship.

Here are my tops tips for cashflow management

• Create a spreadsheet of all your money in (arrival dates / money out ( Due dates ) and link this to your Trello tool. This way you’ll always have visibility on who you need to call and what needs attention.

• Review all your supplier payment terms and negotiate a fair deal. You get better pricing and reliability if you pay early and pay well. Pushing for the cheapest rate will certainly cost you in other areas. Paying late defiantly hurts you on price and time.

• Continuously review your subscriptions, if you don’t use it very often then you can manage without it.

2. People Power

Covid-19 has shifted the traditional business model beyond what we could have ever imagined. Businesses that don't adapt their organisational structure and create a plan based on the future not the present will be left behind.

At River, we spend time each quarter mapping out the outcomes we are targeting, that way we can specifically allocate responsibility to each person for delivering the result. 

Once we have a clear set of outcomes we can forecast the business needs, and people power required. We're always hiring for where we want to go and not just what we need to get done today.

Here are my tops tips for organisational effectiveness

• Create your future organisational chart based on specific outcomes provides.

• Time your recruitment strategy to align with cash flow forecasting

• Don’t be afraid to reposition your current team into new roles that create a win-win for employees and the business. The energy that comes from new thinking and fresh starts can be electrifying for everyone.

• Adapt your HR communication tools as you grow and remember to select tools that enhance communication in a positive way.

3. Foundations and Fabric

Infrastructure planning involves looking at all the facilities, structures and services that our business needs to survive and thrive. 

As we're all faced with pivoting and adapting to a more remote and digitised way of working, it can be easy to fall victim to what I like to call 'the technology pile on'.  

In our quest for doing things faster, we can start to employ software, apps and IT that make our lives more complicated and in truth, end up just giving us more to do!

For every new system we employ at River, we look at how we will phase out legacy items and continually assess how this new technology will enable more freedom and growth.

I'm not going to pretend that navigating this new business climate is all plain sailing. There's a lot of tough decisions to make, but using these three scenario planning strategies might just help you make faster decisions and come out stronger - even if the forecast says cloudy with a chance of meatballs