It is clear that the Coronavirus pandemic will have an economic and cultural impact well beyond immediate health crisis. In these uncertain times, businesses need to be prepared to work differently if they are to safeguard their futures.
A full house of 50 people attended the first in a series on seminars run in partnership with the University of Gloucestershire. At this first event, University of Gloucestershire Vice-Chancellor, Stephen Marston, was joined by Jonathan McMahon.
Jonathan recently stepped-down as Joint-Chief Operating Officer and member of the Executive Board at St. James’s Place Plc., where he was also Chief Risk Officer until 2016.
His experiences in the global financial crisis form the backbone to his forthcoming book about crisis management. As well as being a personal account of a crisis past, it is also a handbook for leaders and businesses dealing with the crisis present.
At this session, Jonathan covered 4 areas:
- Understanding the Crisis
Jonathan talked about the tug of emotions from the right and left brain; dealing with too much information and that we should be mindful of what and how much we listen too.
2. Understanding the Nature of the Crisis
He emphasised this was not a rerun of the 2008 banking crisis but that this had every opportunity to turn into a financial crisis with the highlighting potential for further aftershocks. Jonathan talked about making decisions with incomplete information and in the first few weeks having to make decisions quickly and that no on knows what will happen so don’t mistake confidence with competence! Imperfect decisions need to be made imperfectly and that is OK.
3. Doing: Clear Your Head
You need to understand your own situation. Get the facts and figures and know the numbers. Frame your reality and look for opportunities. What can you do? Ask your customers ‘how are they doing’. Relations are key for now and for the future, see where you can help. Be positive but within the realms of the reality.
4. Doing: Planting Your Feet
Jonathan advised to over listen at the moment and get a ‘think description’ of what is happening with your customers. Really understand their situation. Adapt and innovate but don’t change. Have a growth mindset and develop from this perspective.
We wish Jonathan every excess with his book and look forward getting a copy once it is published! Thanks Jonathon for a great session.
Attendee list and recording of the event can be found on the C2S Asset Bank : https://www.circle2success.com/asset/
The next in this series: 29th May 10.30am – 12.00pm: https://www.circle2success.com/events/c2s-talks-to-professor-beckkoum/
Professor Bechkoum is interested in the application of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning to engineering design, cyber security and big data analytics. Examples of some of his PhD students’ projects include “Modelling Virtual Characters” and “Implications of Cybercrime in Nepal from the Perspective of Corporate Social Responsibility”. He holds a PhD in Software Techniques for Computer Aided Engineering from the University of Cranfield, UK, is a Fellow of the British Computer Society and a Chartered IT Professional.
