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Moving Forward Out Of Crisis
Richard Brewin • May 22, 2020
When crisis hits a firm, whether it be a pandemic, flood, critical IT failure or a myriad of other catastrophic, unplanned events, the ability of the business to survive and thrive will depend on its ability to manage itself through 4 key stages:
Stage 1 is the most immediate and we call this the Assess stage. What just hit us? What is going on? Where can I find out more information? Your most pressing need, having called on any existing emergency service, is knowledge. Find out as much as you can as quickly as you can so that you can move onto Stage 2...
Stabilise. This is where you take the action necessary to stabilise your business for the short term, survival mode if you like. It’s the steps you take to buy yourself time for a more considered solution. For many businesses, this stage is about protecting your remaining resources, especially cash, and your ability to function, at least in some form. This gives you some breathing space to move onto Stage 3…
Progress. You’ve stabilised the business in the short term. This is where you now start looking at how you can move forwards again. The mistake too many firms make is in staying in Stage 2, survival mode, for too long. Stage 3 is where you look for the things that you can control, the steps you can take, however small. What can we produce? What can we change to allow us to move forward? Look for the ways that you can take back control.
Stage 4 is the final stage, Evolve. Once you have taken control of your business and your destiny again, Stage 4 is where you look at the lessons you’ve learned from the experience and consider what these mean for the longer term plans and strategies of your firm. We had a plan but what does it now look like, post crisis?
These stages are not mutually exclusive. In reality, rather than doing one after another, it’s more like learning to juggle, adding one ball at a time as you become more confident of your progress. Even once you are considering your future in Stage 4, you are still keeping a weather eye on Stages 1, 2 and 3 to ensure you continue to build on a firm base. You can’t afford to drop any ball.
So, get into survival mode as quickly as possible but don’t stay there. Decide where you want to be as you come out of the storm and take charge of your own direction, don’t let the storm just spit you out.
Accountants selling to their clients is a topic as old as the profession itself. I regularly hear criticism from those looking to monetise the accountants’ relationships with their clients that “accountants can’t sell”. I also come across an attitude within the profession that “accountants shouldn’t sell to their clients…it’s unprofessional…it’s not what my clients expect”. Let’s tackle the issue.
Back in the 60’s and 70’s, when I was a lad, doing the family laundry was a time consuming chore. Mum would disappear into the kitchen and close the door so that the noise around the rest of the house was at least manageable. She would be in there for hours, swapping between washing, rinsing and squeezing out. Every so often the noise level would resemble a fighter jet taking off on an aircraft carrier as the tumbler element kicked in and then she’d reappear, wooden tongs in hand, to ask for help to reposition the twin tub that had danced across the kitchen floor.
Do I deal with the client who is shouting the loudest, the most pressing deadline, the thing that is most stressing me out, the best thing for my cash position, the team member who is stuck without my help, the thing that I had set out to do today or any one of all those other issues that are lined up at my door? I would love to give you a definitive or simple answer but, of course, there isn’t one. Welcome to every day decision-making, not just in an accounting firm but in life!
Still need more information?
Progress Barnwell Brewin Ltd
4 Ashby Place
Ashby de la Zouch,
Leicestershire,
LE65 1JL
hello@progressbb.co.uk