By Tatiana Walk-Morris
The Covid-19 pandemic has been a test of business resilience for many companies. When thinking of what business resilience means, values such as creativity, agility, tenacity and innovation come to mind for Jim Powers, chief executive officer at the accounting, consulting and technology firm Crowe.
“It’s difficult to instill those values during a crisis,” Powers says. “At that point, your team might be more focused on missing what they were once able to do rather than finding solutions to the problems at hand.” However, integrating those values into the company culture from the beginning has served Crowe well over the years, he adds.
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For companies navigating today’s uncertain times while simultaneously preparing for the future, leaders at Crowe offered insights on the role that company culture plays in building business resilience. Here are some steps companies can take.
Create An Empowerment Culture
“Sparking the creativity and innovation that carries companies through crisis periods and into success starts with creating a work environment that supports its people,” Powers says. “The culture of agility and empowerment that Crowe has established enables our personnel to service clients even when they can’t travel or meet in person as they once did,” he says.
Trust is also important. “With Crowe’s flexible and remote work arrangements, we trust that our employees will handle their responsibilities how and where it works best for them,” Powers says.
“We’re focused on what we can do and don’t spend a whole lot of time worrying about what we can’t do. Find a way to do it,” Powers says. “Your clients need you more than they ever have; you’ve got to find a way to be there for them.”
Track Your Business Resilience
Measuring business resilience can be difficult, but Powers points to metrics such as client engagement, client retention and employee retention as markers to watch. Companies also should keep track of innovation via the new products and solutions that are developed and brought to market, he explains.
Another indicator for companies to monitor includes client payments. “Keeping an eye on clients’ timely payments gives a sense of their future sustainability,” says Bob Lavoy, partner in consulting services at Crowe.
Echoing Powers, Lavoy emphasizes the importance of valuing employees. “Our people are our biggest asset. Whatever value our people are adding in the market is how we drive value as an organization,” Lavoy says. Monitoring employees who are not using paid time off or are using more sick leave than usual can help companies understand how employees are persevering through challenging times, he adds.
“Resilience is all about the people,” says Lavoy. “Everyone’s going through a different journey right now, but we’re all going through it together.”
Cultivate A Broader Talent Pool
One of the lessons the pandemic has taught many companies is that employees can remain productive while working remotely. As the crisis continues, Scott Grant, talent acquisition leader at Crowe, anticipates that firms will be more open to new talent beyond the local market, which could lead to greater innovation over time.
Companies that adjust their recruiting processes to accommodate candidates wherever they are will benefit from having more diverse teams as they work with people with different perspectives and from different time zones. If, for example, a company is working with teams in the United States and abroad, it can hand off projects to remote teams and other countries and thus create a 24/7 operation that can increase productivity.
“When you focus on diversity—whether gender, race or thought process—you bring all the best talent together to collaborate. And that’s when you get the innovation that every company is looking for,” Grant says.
Cultivate Your People
Crowe’s internship program has always been a vital pipeline for new talent, and that didn’t stop because of the pandemic. As other companies began canceling their intern programs, Crowe adjusted its approach to meet the current circumstances, Lavoy says. The firm modified its program to meet its goals and still provide solid opportunities for college students, says Lavoy, who also joined Crowe as an intern.
The internship program went remote and was trimmed from 10 to four weeks. But in condensing the program length, Crowe could be more specific on what it offered and how it trains interns. Plus, with geographic barriers no longer an issue, unexpected wins popped up, including interns meeting more executives at the firm, Lavoy says. Despite the unusual conditions, the program was a success and has kept the company’s pipeline moving forward, he adds.
In addition to supporting internship programs—even amid challenging economic conditions—“companies should continue investing in their employee education as a strategy for building business resilience,” Lavoy says. “The work we need to be doing tomorrow is what we need to be learning about today.”
“On the surface, it might seem counterintuitive to invest in employees who could depart for other companies. In times of crisis, tight management of expenses often is the main priority, but short-term cost reductions can have negative—and lasting—effects on the business. Helping personnel learn and grow can help retain them in the long term,” he says.
“Resiliency is all about our people finding a new way forward and having the self-esteem and confidence to feel like they can control their futures. If people don’t feel like they’re being challenged,” Lavoy says, “you’re going to lose your top talent because they will go wherever they feel they’re going to have new opportunities and to grow.”
Company culture might not be top of mind for businesses thinking about resilience. But people are central to any company’s ability to pivot and innovate—something every executive should remember.
Want to learn more about how to achieve business resilience? Find the latest insights from Crowe on how to prepare your people, partners and processes to support your company throughout today’s needs and tomorrow’s evolving landscape.
