Good boards are learning entities, and the pandemic was certainly a learning moment. But, as Cyclone Gabrielle has demonstrated, we will continue to experience challenge and crisis.

It is useful to review this series of questions and ask if we have thought about them in sufficient depth. And for organisations grappling with the effects of the cyclone, ask: did we take learnings from one challenge to the next?

#1 Is our relationship with management strong and clear?

First, and importantly, this was a time to provide support—help the team cope; show some bright spots in the dark sky; discuss and, if possible, answer any specific questions; and share experiences around managing people and organisations in times of crisis.

But also ensure we weren’t pushing in. As one chair noted at the time, it is not helpful if too many helpful people are trying to be helpful. A balance must be found between keeping the board informed while giving the management team clear guidance and room to operate.

The most useful role a board can play is to ask the right questions and test management’s assumptions while appreciating and encouraging a hard-pressed team.

The chief executive’s performance targets and authorities may need adjusting, along with the basis for performance evaluation. Some boards necessarily regularly revisited the chief executive’s mandate.

Did we make clear our new information needs? Were these realistic in the light of pressures on the management team? This will vary by organisation, but most boards identified cash flow and employees’ wellbeing as primary targets of management attention.

#2 How good is the organisation’s communication?

A big part of crisis management is not leaving people to make up their own stories or hear things through the rumour mill. People appreciate honesty about what you don’t know, though they also want to know what you’re doing to get the answers.

Both internal and stakeholder communication should have been standing agenda items for the board. Communicate often, elevate the narrative, and don’t declare victory too soon.

#3 Are we acting from within our value set?

Soft stuff matters in hard environments. Small words or gestures have a big impact on a management team working hard to protect and resurrect the business. What people will remember is how you made them feel.

Boards that act quickly to reinforce a strong, compassionate and positive culture with both internal and external stakeholders stand to benefit the most after a crisis.

Were your organisation’s actions consistent with people’s expectations? Inconsistency will come with a longer-term cost; for example, when organisations with strong balance sheets treat people as a cost to be cut rather than value to be retained.

#4 What was already in flux before COVID?

There are decades where nothing happens, and there are weeks where decades happen.

Lenin

The Covid moment is what strategists call a structural break. It accelerates change already in progress. The tenuous nature of businesses struggling under an old model is suddenly brought into sharp relief.

In the non-profit (for-value) world, several things were already evident, including:

• too many competing entities providing similar or overlapping services
• the need to partner, enter joint ventures, collaborate or merge
• the impact of technology
• changing consumer and volunteer behaviour
• outdated structures and delivery models.

Some of the above factors, and likely others, are now very real. Which ones are most relevant for you?

#5 How many possible futures do we foresee?

There was much speculation about how the pandemic would roll out. It was a good time to employ scenario thinking. Scenarios are not predictions, but descriptions of alternative futures—possibilities to explore and plan for. They help expand our thinking so we can better anticipate and imagine what might happen, and how we might respond. It is important to test the organisation’s capacity to operate in each scenario and the likely consequences of each possible future coming to pass.

As part of this, it is important to ask if we have truly looked at the range of possible outcomes. Scenario planning by management is often too rosy, based on the worst that has ever happened in the past, not the full range that could happen in the future. Optimism bias is real and needs to be challenged.

#6 Can we trust this information?

During Covid there was a surfeit of opinion, with evidence and facts sometimes harder to locate. Consultants, advisers and professionals of every stripe were filling the ether with words. Some of it was undoubtedly useful but much of it was not and a great deal of sifting and scepticism was needed. Mainstream news media can be an unreliable source; social media even more so. Plenty of vested interests were positioning themselves in a confused world. Bias and self-interest were sadly prevalent.

It is worth having a checklist for testing information you might need to rely on. This one—derived from a Cornell University decision-making framework—is useful at any time: Is this information: complete, accurate, verifiable, relevant, recent, objective?

Your answers will likely be No, at least in some part, forcing you to make probability judgements.

It is important to pause and reflect on what was being learnt as you moved through the crisis; to consider which aspects of the business should remain the same, which might briefly change, and which have been permanently disrupted—including consumer behaviours, public expectations, supply chains and operating models.

What new options and thinking will become more influential and prevalent in the future? Digital meetings, remote working and a reassessment of the need to travel are undoubtedly permanent changes from the Covid years.

#7 What should we stop doing?

Covid restrictions created a good opportunity to reflect on organisational purpose. If we had to make tough decisions, what was our frame of reference for that?

The well-known marketing witticism is relevant: ‘I know that fifty percent of my advertising spend is wasted, I just don’t know which half’. Here is equivalent question for non-profit entities: which of our activities have the greatest impact and how do we know? What is essential in delivering outcomes for our community/beneficiaries? What is non-negotiable? What can we say no to and stop? Some useful models are available for this conversation but all presume clarity of purpose, planning, and measurable specificity around costed outcomes.

One lens is a critical review of past growth. Many organisations have quietly added ‘stuff’ over the last ten to fifteen years. As new lines of funding have opened up, this has often been opportunistic rather than deliberate, resulting in organic rather than strategic growth. A useful exercise is to look at the cost structure of ten years ago (CPI-adjusted) and today. What additional benefit/outcomes have we achieved related to this additional expenditure? Can we even answer this question? In the commercial world, if the cost of sales goes up, say, 30% then the impact on the bottom line is expected to be significant. What is our analogous metric?

If we cut that 30% increase in cost, would it make any difference to the benefits we are generating? How do we know?

#8 How compelling is our story?

Short-term support funds from Covid are now coming to an end. The impact of Cyclone Gabrielle will mean a sharp reprioritisation for the government and others. Once again there is a world of escalating need coming and many traditional funders may change priorities.

To prosper in this world will require a clarity of purpose that can be communicated well and backed up with evidence of impact. It will no longer be enough to simply claim that we are ‘doing good’. The question for boards that needs a compelling answer is why should anyone provide resources to us ahead of others?

#9 Are we ready for next time?

This was sadly a rather prescient question. We also propose asking the following questions: What have we learned? How well are we prepared for another similar event? Boards should ensure business continuity plans are now crisp and clear, and risk management and monitoring are more thorough than they were.

Final thoughts

Four themes emerged in response to the pandemic: recovering revenue, rebuilding operations, rethinking the organisation, and accelerating the adoption of digital solutions. These reflected both the need to recover lost ground and to use the moment to accelerate change.

Above all there was a need to act decisively, and not be a possum in the headlights.

And to those affected by and dealing with the effects of Cyclone Gabrielle, we extend our sympathies and best wishes