Can Your Business Cope Without You? Maybe It’s Time for a Risk Register

In light of the ongoing pandemic, it’s pretty evident that nobody is safe. If you, as a company owner, are susceptible to this illness, it’s time to think of the consequences for your company.

Would the day-to-day operations come to a halt if you’re not present? What are the risks that you would face in this scenario? Once these potholes are identified, it’s crucial to have a contingency strategy in place to combat the adverse situation and keep your business afloat.

Consider these life-saving steps before it’s too late for a rescue mission.

Name a Power of Attorney

belchonok/depositphotos: Make your business risk-free by getting another person on-board

It might give you the creeps as an entrepreneur to hand over that much power to a third party. Yet, if you need the business to stay functional in your absence, this may just be necessary.

Don’t rush into it, though. Choose a trusted and competent individual who wouldn’t misuse the authority vested in them. You can always plan to mitigate the risks in the legal document by limiting their scope of involvement to specific scenarios.
Non-executive directors are a good choice as they possess the expertise to make the right decisions.

Appoint a General Manager

stetsik/depositphotos: You can’t all decisions. Get a GM now!

This position would guarantee the continuance of usual business transactions. A general manager would be responsible for your staff and the day-to-day procedures so you know nothing would be stalled.

Set Clear-Cut Roles

Communicating and documenting clear roles for each position will eliminate ambiguity and help everyone do their part right. Consider updating the job descriptions of each position to ensure no task is left unassigned.

Re-Evaluate Your Obligations

No matter if you’re a product or service provider, there would have various contractual obligations to fulfill. At a time of crisis, breaching contracts with other parties could bring in more legal complications to deal with. It will effectively take your situation from bad to worse.

So the contracts must be tweaked and updated to cover these unforeseen circumstances with proper legal guidance. Establishing rapport with clients and negotiating for leeway ahead of a storm would ensure that no expectations are let down or connections severed.

Try Outsourcing

lzelPhotography/depositphotos: Outsourcing work to experts will make your business run smooth 

Finding outsourcing options to run the fringe tasks, like payroll, accounting, HR, and distribution can help with stability even at a time of chaos. Employees can then focus their full time and energy on central operations and better manage any new challenges that would crop up.

Be Ready to Work Remotely Again

When the pandemic caused everyone to isolate their workstations, most companies faced extreme levels of disruption as they were simply not prepared for a time like this.

To curb this in the future, it’s best to have a work-from-home model that could be implemented if the need arises once again. Meetings and workflow must run uninterrupted at all times, so your customers get the best service possible.

Once these steps are met, you can finally kick-back and relax. Plan B is in place, and it will see your business through!