FINANCIAL TALK
Gig economy professionals leading organisational change By Francois Kriel, management consultant and director at Kriel & Co
Right now, from the vantage point as external stakeholder, management consultants can potentially offer valuable perspective to leadership at the helm of organisations, when done responsibly.
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n particular, consultants specialising in change management, digital transformation and related operational expertise are in the best position right now to support leadership teams. Historically, management consultants by their very nature have been trusted by leaders of organisations to offer insights, recommendations and strategies based on objective data to help the organisation move forward. Management consultants also help navigate blind spots during journeys where organisations are often traveling fullspeed on what resembles an Autobahn – a highway which bears no limit to the speed that travellers may reach. I think it is safe to say we are finding ourselves in the middle of this limitless space. With challenging economic conditions as a direct result of one of the largest health pandemics the world had ever seen, executives are increasingly finding themselves in crisis-management mode to keep organisations and teams 22 Business Events Africa May 2020
adjusting forward, and adapting to ‘business in the new-normal’. It’s not hard to realise that organisations, and especially SMEs, by an overwhelming majority have taken some of the hardest knocks. They are relying on their safety systems now more than ever before to manage the many curvy bends on the long road to economic recovery.
Cash-strapped reality for organisations At the onset of the lockdown Statistics South Africa acted fast to understand the impact on a business level. They polled 707 businesses in the formal sector to get an idea of how the current crisis has affected businesses from 30 March to 13 April, the two-week period at the onset of the lockdown. The bleak results were released shortly thereafter and serve as a good benchmark that is now a downward trend in sentiment and a stark reality for countless organisations. The report showed that five out of six businesses surveyed had a
drop in turnover while 85,4 per cent of respondents reported worrying turnover below the normal range. Largest hit were the construction, real estate and other business services, as well as transport industries. More concerning were the 42,2 per cent of respondents who indicated that they do not have confidence that they will be able to continue to operate through the pandemic due to dwindling financial resources. Over half of respondents said that without turnover they can survive between one and three months. This is bleak, and the outlook curves further downward as the weeks are progressing.
A growing gig economy
While management consultants can admit that the scale for the type of work performed is most definitely tipped in the consultant’s favour, it is at this exact tipping point where we must consider the changing nature of our own landscape. It is not only within organisations where www.businesseventsafrica.com
