So am I being too optimistic in thinking that it is starting to look like we can see the end of Lock Down? Watching the news this week we are seeing a reduction in hospital admissions and, although still extremely high, a small reduction or at least stabilising of the COVID-19 death rate. I am not saying we are out of the mire yet, but I have a cautious optimism.

I have also had a bit of a shift in opinion recently, until a few days ago I thought the government would give us a few weeks warning before the lifting of restrictions, I’m now thinking it might only be a few days’ notice.

Do you have a plan in place to re-start you r business when COVID-19 restrictions are lifted?

So as a Business Owner do you know what you need to do to re-start your business. And what will your business look like after this? It will not be the same as it was! We have now all got used to remote working, with the technology in place and we are getting to grips with the human and emotional side of not going into our place of work every day.

As Business owners we have learnt to be more deliberate in our leadership, with tighter planning and delegation of work. We have instigated daily huddles to substitute for the social interactions of the office. As we can no longer have a quick chat in the office, we are making sure we check in with our teams directly on a regular basis.

When the flag drops it will be a Sprint to reclaim market share, so Warmup now

We can expect that once the restrictions ease there will be a sprint to reclaim market share and take advantage of the pent-up demand.

Do you have a plan for re-starting your business – warming up for the sprint? Have you got a plan in place for when your furloughed staff come back to work? Do you know when to order stock and supplies? When do you switch your marketing to communicate you are moving back to more normal trading, what that looks like and any special offers you have to attract people back to your business? Does your cash flow indicate that you will need extra funds to finance the re-start?

It is inevitable some businesses will have gone under during the crisis so are you in regular contact with your suppliers to ensure they are still open and will they be able to provide you with goods and service when your business needs them. Don’t assume that just because you are able to trade again all your suppliers will be. You may have to find alternative sources to buy your stock so work out who that will be now.

How has your market changed? What is the new normal?

At this time as Business Owners we need to be working out how our market is likely to respond to the new normal. Now business has confronted the technical and social challenges of remote working they are very likely to continue. Remote working will allow businesses to save cost while allowing the staff a more flexible work life balance though reduction in the office size, moving to hot desking model instead of allocated seating, or even disposing of the office completely, using meeting facilities in business centres or hotels when they are required.

Also many businesses with a shop front presence have adapted during the crisis to web based sales. It is inevitable that this will continue as part of their go to market at some level, at the most extreme adopting the Apple model of the stores being simply to showcase product and sales being handled through other conduits.

Be prepared to re-plan with each new announcement

We all know it won’t be an instant end to the COVID-19 restrictions, it will be a phased relaxation or we will have simply gone through a lot of pain and expense to move the peak of infection by a few months. So as Business Owners we need to be thinking about what the likely scenarios mean to our business, how our market will react?

As we watch the news over the next few weeks, as the government makes various announcements, as we see what is happening in other countries we will get clues as to what the phased lifting of restrictions will look like. We need to be constantly re-planning our warmup and sprint to integrate each new indication of the likely scenarios.

Test your plans with your team

Finally make sure you have communicated your plan to the people who will be doing the work, your team! Make sure your entire team knows what the plan is, including those staff who have been furloughed who may need to make arrangements for childcare, dependants, dog walking before returning to work.

The more you communicate with your staff, the more feedback they can give you on the plan and they are the ones who know the detail! Accounts or the warehouse may identify a problem that you can address now instead of the whole business stopping on the first day back to trading.

I might be wrong about the timing …………

Whether I’m right or wrong about the timing (we may be in Lock Down for months more) all Business Owners should have a plan in place for how they will return their business to normal working, addressing the restrictions of a phased relaxing of the rules and trading in the new Business as Usual.