Financial Insights During A Blizzard
Roadmap For Blizzard Leadership
One of the most loving and important things that you can do right now in this COVID journey is to CONSERVE CASH! We have all heard it said that cash is king. During this blizzard leadership condition without cash you do not have a missional purpose and you are not going to survive. Cash gives you options on how to support and develop people over time. If you don’t conserve now you will go out of business and not be able to help anyone inside or outside your organization.
Whatever was valuable yesterday but is not valuable today should be pruned as quickly as possible. This includes new hires. If you can’t commit financially and you are not sure what they are capable of, drop that plan immediately. All contracts should be negotiated. All outside contracted work should be brought in house as much as possible.
The painful reality is that a combination of headcount, salary packages, and benefits will need to be made in order to survive as an organization. I personally know of leaders and pastors that are facing this reality even as I write this article. To those staff that remain your message and instructions to them should be that of “New Beginnings.” As of today, this is a new organization that will be moving in a new direction – the past is the past. To those who may be leaving, move quickly as possible while attempting redemptive support for those who leave in this economy.
Additionally, I would suggest that you, your executive team, and Board members become very finance centric. Maintain a cash surplus, know what that number is and fight for it. Maintain clear comprehension on the cash flow for the next 30-60-120 days is going to be. When deciding on what to spend – do not spend at all if possible. What you will learn from this action is that your decisions will become better and more in alignment with your missional purposes.
Keep all financial commitments if possible. At any point those commitments threaten the stability of the organization, then an immediate conversation should happen between all parties being impacted. Understand very clearly your needs and constraints and the needs and constraints of others. Use these occasions to forge empathy and courage. New solutions can be forged in this conversation context that will honor the original commitment.
Shepherds Advantage provides Servant Leadership that helps people close the gap between where they are and where they want to be. Shepherds Advantage closes that gap by providing Leadership Development, Keynote Speaking, and Executive Coaching.
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