CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield and Dr. Fauci indicated they anticipate the COVID-19 coronavirus will likely have another wave in fall 2020. For this reason, business leadership should consider having a proactive plan in place to respond to a potential second wave of COVID-19. But what are the key deliverables that should be in a COVID-19 second wave response plan?
To answer that question, I recently listened to a presentation sponsored by the Ohio Manufacturing Extension Partnership where a manufacturer shared best practices on how they are managing COVID-19. In addition, I participate in a weekly meeting sponsored by the Dayton Region Manufacturers Association (DRMA) where manufacturers discuss the issues and how they are responding to COVID-19.
Based on these and other sources, a written COVID-19 second wave response plan should at a minimum cover the following 4 items. These items can be easily remembered using the acronym “ABCD”:
- A: Associates –plan addressing policies, procedures, and engagement with employees to ensure safety, compliance with regulations, and retention
- B: Business Operations Continuity – plan covering processes, infrastructure, resources and redundancy systems ensuring flow through suppliers, operations, customer service, and customers
- C: Cashflow –financial plan for short term and medium term success
- D: Dialog with internal and external stakeholders – communication plan (including frequency and communication method) with employees, customers, ownership, and other stakeholders
In addition, your response plan may want to include “E”: Expand customer base. Nearly everyone is more willing to explore options they would not have pursued prior to COVID-19. Now may be the time to develop a plan to be more aggressive on growth.
To see more deliverables and to assist you in developing a proactive plan to respond to a second wave, a sample pre-populated project scope sheet is available to you in a Word document.
