article
Task Force Management
During a crisis, management must come down from its ivory tower!
The COVID-19 crisis caught the economy and globally interconnected supply chains off guard—companies were forced to react quickly to remain operational during the crisis. In an emergency, time is of the essence—and the COVID-19 crisis in particular has shown that pre-established contingency plans and standard crisis management tools had to be adapted. A commonly chosen tool for crisis management is the establishment of a task force. When used correctly, it is a very effective means of problem-solving; however, there is often a risk of slowing down employees in their actual problem-solving efforts due to excessive reporting requirements.
A key success factor is therefore the active involvement of front-line management in solving day-to-day problems. In addition, every crisis management organization should be cross-functional and have clear interfaces with the various business units. Responsibilities must be clearly defined. This allows reporting to be streamlined to the essentials, while management remains fully informed so it can steer the company through the crisis as efficiently as possible. A flexible work organization is also a fundamental prerequisite: “Working from home” and “social distancing” have shown that employees must be able to work from anywhere and that meetings can be conducted online without any problems.
You can find the key elements of a successful task force in our fact sheet, or feel free to contact us directly if you have any specific questions.
