Evaluating and Operationalizing Short-Term Decisions Made in a Crisis that Have Long Term Benefits
In the past six months, businesses have been making numerous short-term decisions that can have long term operational benefits. The key is to evaluate and operationalize these short-term decisions to provide long term benefits to the business operations.
The fact is that almost all businesses during the past six months have been forced to do process re-engineering to improve the effectiveness and efficiencies of the business.
An evaluation of these short-term process improvements requires business modeling and long-term strategic viability analysis to understand what short term re-engineering decisions need to be operationalized for the long-term benefit of the business’s operations. The short-term decisions that may need further evaluation are:
- Employees working from home versus the office
- VoIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) phone systems and service for a distributed workforce
- IT systems, data and end-user security – this is a key issue which requires additional risk assessment
- What platform to standardize on for virtual meetings
- How to track all the business’s assets that are now in employees’ position at home
- How to train managers to manage a distributed workforce
- Internal business communicating with a distributed workforce with a personal touch
- Health and safety protocols for employees
- What employee positions will be permanently eliminated
- The hiring process for new or open positions
- New employee orientation
- Customer communication strategies in a virtual and face to face environment
- Marketing strategies in a virtual and face to face environment
- How much office space does the business need when the lease is up for renewal?
The short-term decisions that have been implemented over the past six months and during a crisis in the business are endless, but business owner(s) and management need to determine what short-term business decisions need to be operationalized for the long-term.
Some of the short-term decisions made during a business crisis will need to be reversed as the business environment normalizes. Now the key is how do business owner(s) and management reverse these short-term business decisions to make the employees understand that the short-term decisions that were implemented were unviable for the business’s long-term success.
Business owner(s) and management need to start determining which short-term decisions are viable and will improve the effectiveness and efficiencies of the business for the long term.