Family Business, Braving Fears from Covid-19

Together with my co-leaders and my wife, Gen, our mind was set to invest in activities that will recharge the team to build the right amount of knowledge, energy and faith. We had our planning and synergizing programs to re-enforce the inherent strengths of the Premier team: purpose driven, connectedness, influencer, learner, relator and execution. We hosted multiple sessions of business review, planning and kick off meeting with our collaborating consultants and brand ambassadors who are committed to champion productivity, lead and influence collaborations and engagement. A trip to New York this October awaits us when we achieve our goals, to pay off all the hard work.

It was indeed a good investment to champion collaborations and the importance of the work that we do. We were all forward looking and valued the importance of focus. So even with the Coronavirus, which was already in the background news, it didn’t stop us from doing each of our tasks meaningfully. Our consultants were also busy with simultaneous engagements serving clients in Luzon, Mindanao and Cebu; doing strategic planning, family enterprise planning, ownership and organizational systems effectiveness planning, without being bothered by the virus. Life in family and business then was engaging and normal with a set of controls and productivity in place. We are on track for our 2020 goals.

We were optimistic of 2020 for a wonderful outcome, so we expanded additional office space, invested in technology, people and furniture to build further momentum.

When the time has come to move in to our new abode, just as we were about to transfer to our new workplace, we were held back when the news on ECQ broke out that it will be strictly implemented in Cebu. Domestic flights were eventually cancelled and multiple clients of Premier cancelled as well their meetings and in-person engagements.

When the pandemic was already real, and ECQ was imminent, fears and negative thoughts were starting to alter my being generally optimistic and energetic. These feelings were never in my dictionary. But at this point even with my 25 years of braving multiple businesses in my past, I felt this is different, it gave me a second thought to think otherwise. Despite this, I stood firm, positive and continued to engage my management team to do a quick assessment of COVID’s possible impact to the organization and those of the families in business that we serve.

The immediate realization was that I have to protect and sustain my people first to help others. By taking preemptive measures we can handle the situation better without having to go through the impact of fear and panic. Part of the preparation we had was to apply the quarantine protocols for all of the consultants effective immediately instead of the 72-hour mandate from the announcement.

While in the planning mode, one of the priorities highlighted is in the area of financial sustainability, people protection and care, and productivity of Premier and its clients. We designed a work from home arrangement as quickly as possible. The next day, we already had our productivity plan in place. The transition was fast because we have a team who knows their job and who are very engaged.

Taking care of people and productivity is one primordial concern that I have to do while making sure we sustain financially our operations in the next three months. A quick review of our cash flow and working capital requirement under the different scenarios took place. Having known these, it wasn’t difficult for us as owners and leaders of the business to keep investing and taking care of our key people. We didn’t refocus our priorities just so we can save cash and protect ourselves. By taking care of our people first, communicating to them regularly and to authentically share to them the importance of their roles, their sense of commitment to continue to work despite, will definitely help Premier thrive as a Team, I thought. The tweaked financial road map of Premier also helped us manage our operating activities with confidence that despite the ECQ to reach three months, we will come out with enough financial backing to support our post Covid19 activities.

In Premier the return of security we placed in each of our key people gave different ways that have triggered creative ideas, higher levels of engagements and responsiveness to the team. The first set of priorities I did was to create a scenario of stability which helps us subscribe faster in the new norms of planning for direction, establishing productivity where lead and lag measures are set and evaluating and reinforcing performance. All these done virtually with trust and integrity of our people.

As a Family managing a professional business, we also have our own dynamics and sheer differences but we learned to embrace such dynamics and build gratitude within. We now both feel blessed and grateful that with our situation, despite the halt of income and continued rise of expenses we have a better chance of turning this crisis into an opportunity. We have not been truly tested as a business at this level of pandemic, but we are confident that we can turn this strange new world into a tool in making ourselves and our company a much better version of our past. As a business owner in the midst of COVID, my focus has shifted from making money to giving genuine help to serve our clients. This allows us to pursue the opportunity to live a life of compassion and service. I always believe that service has no boundaries and because of this nature, when you do good in serving others, the rewards will always follow boundlessly; it will not be in the form of money and it might not come during ECQ time but it will surely come very soon after.

To be continued… In my next article, I will share our journey of pivoting, getting through synergistic planning, disciplined executions and mindful monitoring in WFH arrangement in the midst of ECQ and its lessons.