AFTER THE STORM… PART II – About Crisis Management​

About Crisis Management - RockYourHostel.com

AFTER THE STORM... PART II

About Crisis Management​

If there is a rule that governs the world is that continuity does not exist, the concept of normality is entirely a human abstraction through which we try to give a sense, a direction, to the flow of our existences.

Therefore, the very idea of ​​being able to plan in the long term is in itself a forcing that goes against natural laws. However, at the basis of each business project there are necessarily business plans that span a time horizon of at least 5 years and consider the recovery of the cost of investments through depreciation, as well as the return of borrowed capital, both from shareholders or stakeholders in general, both found on the financial markets.
In addition, the entire corporate adventure focuses on the entrepreneur’s vision, that vivid dream in which his expectations and hopes are condensed, in which his set of skills and experiences, personality and character are mixed. The entrepreneur aims to leave a mark of his passage, to change reality, to make his own contribution, even if minimal, to impact on the status quo and therefore, by his nature, he looks to the future, or more correctly, he lives in the future.

Vision for the entrepreneur is like a path that aims to the horizon...

However, awareness of natural determinism and need of planning are not antithetical, on the contrary. One integrates the other, in a directional and creative process that is based on the assumption that everything that happens in the human being and around him, in nature, is in itself fluid, constantly changing and, therefore, difficult to predict. In this way of thinking, crises are understood as physiological and, therefore, cyclical. It is not a question of theorising about “if” a new crisis will occur, but rather of speculating on “when” and “howwill affect our lives, our projects, our companies.

When facing crises, there are generally always two possible attitudes of Crisis Management to be put in place:

  • the attitude of reaction
  • the attitude of action.

A) The attitude of REACTION

The attitude of reaction is based on the prevalence of a pessimistic view about the current crisis situation and the devastating effects they will have on the economic and social context. Given the alleged impossibility of returning to pre-crisis performance levels, the target will be to prolong the company’s survival as much as possible, favoring a short-term perspective, implementing actions that could also affect the company’s operations and the brand positioning, thus leading to the aggravation of the crisis for the company itself and therefore going against the primary objective of survival. Examples of these actions may be the cutting of research and development costs, staff cuts that demotivate the team and deprive the organization of skills and experience, the drastic conversion to new products / services which if implemented instinctively and not adequately planned can lead to the rapid loss of value of the investments made and the degradation of the company offer.

In the case of a hostel, the choice to reduce the staff by deciding to increase the use of volunteers and exchange travelers could lead to a drastic reduction in quality, which could impact on guest reviews and market positioning, as well as depriving the team of specialist skills and determine the need to train resources that will generally be part of the organization for a short time. Then believing that you are forced to completely change your business, transforming for example into a Bed and Breakfast, addressing your offer to different targets (e.g. families), could entail important set-up costs, debase the brand and reputation acquired so far and plausibly find serious difficulties in readjusting the expertise and offering to serve a completely different target. In the long run, the project may lose competitiveness and have problems returning to its original repositioning once the crisis conditions overcome.

B) The attitude of ACTION

About Crisis Management - RockYourHostel.com

The attitude of action or proactive attitude is based on accepting the cyclical nature of crises and on an evolutionary and fluid vision of the economic and social system in which we live and in which the company operates. The manager or the proactive entrepreneur knows that after the storm the calm always returns and that fighting against the fury of the elements is rather useless, while the attention must be focused on containing the effects of the cataclysms without ever losing sight of the “after “. In this case, the entrepreneur and the manager are courageous captains who lead the vessel-company across seas, sometimes calm, sometimes stormy, facing one wave at a time, straight to the port where they are headed.

The proactive attitude, therefore, aims at the long-term perspective, looking to the post-crisis world as full of opportunities, which must be sought and built with creativity and planning. Even when the crisis makes its sharp teeth feel, whoever is in charge of the company (and perhaps anyone who is part of the organization) must continue to study, read, understand the reality that surrounds us and face it day after day with a positive spirit. The identification of opportunities leads to the development of new projects that can already be implemented or to be launched at later times, which determine immediate or future results.
This tendency to renew itself with changing environmental conditions must not be understood in the sense of completely revolutionizing the organizational structure or repositioning in the market with new products/services offered, rather on the basis of the opportunities that the market offers or will offer, new approaches will be imagined, new organizational formulas, new products / services that will harmoniously fit into the existing corporate structure, without distorting it.

In this sense, a hostel could for example decide to turn to the long stay market or to consider some dormitories as private rooms, it could decide to implement other services and turn to other markets such as developing study or coworking areas (COMING SOON: some tips about actions for hostels to take in facing the actual crisis), it could think on weaknesses or areas for improvement of its organization and devote itself to strengthening these areas, such as pondering the environmental impact and alternative management methods in a green perspective (COMING SOON: which are the hostels with a strong green awareness?).

THE OPTIMAL STRATEGY? Well, it's a mix ...

Each business strategy must necessarily balance different needs and each business need has its reference time horizon, in which the relative causes and effects will occur.

A correct Crisis Management strategy must therefore be based on two fundamental pillars, such as short-term survival and medium-long term development, and define tactics and actions in a harmonious way, so that short-term goals do not collide with the medium to long term targets and that the soul of the company itself is not destroyed by the rapid and “pulse” decisions to be taken to overcome the disruptive impact of the crisis.

Thans for reading,
See you on next articles!
Mick

After the storm… PART I – Introducing RyH.com!

AFTER THE STORM... PART I

Introducing RockYourHostel.com!

Dear friends,
Welcome to our first post! I’m so glad to introduce our project:
 RockYourHostel.com get started! Welcome to our Community!

All gets started in mid-March 2020; Italy has been hit hard by Covid19, a violent as unexpected cataclysm, that would radically change the world we have so far lived and imagined for the near future, turning upside down lives, projects, ambitions and dreams . While I am writing, we are at the end of April 2020 and the infections trend is slowly improving worldwide, after every country has more or less rigidly adopted a series of measures aimed at containing the spreading of the virus, buying time to study this new enemy and its effects on humans and to give some breathing space to intensive care units. In some countries, such as Italy (or Spain and USA), the virus has hit so hard that governments have imposed very tight restrictions to the freedom of everyone, adopting the so-called lockdown, confining within their homes millions of citizens, who suddenly found themselves forced to abandon their everyday life. At first, the normal flow of existence seems to crystallize, then almost to vanish like a dream in the light of dawn. Some of us begin singing on balconies to show support to each others, some continue working in home office, others enjoy the family, while some hate having one, others face alone a thousand uncertainties. There are those who discover new hobbies, those who practice yoga, those who play the guitar , those who would mourn a loved one or those who rediscover emotional closeness despite physical distance, those who go on, day after day, trying to imagine the world to come.

Dear friends,
 This is our first post and I’m so glad to introduce our project:
 RockYourHostel.com get started! Welcome to our Community!

All gets started in mid-March 2020; Italy has been hit hard by Covid19, a violent as unexpected cataclysm, that would radically change the world we have so far lived and imagined for the near future, turning upside down lives, projects, ambitions and dreams . While I am writing, we are at the end of April 2020 and the infections trend is slowly improving worldwide, after every country has more or less rigidly adopted a series of measures aimed at containing the spreading of the virus, buying time to study this new enemy and its effects on humans and to give some breathing space to intensive care units. In some countries, such as Italy (or Spain and USA), the virus has hit so hard that governments have imposed very tight restrictions to the freedom of everyone, adopting the so-called lockdown, confining within their homes millions of citizens, who suddenly found themselves forced to abandon their everyday life. At first, the normal flow of existence seems to crystallize, then almost to vanish like a dream in the light of dawn. Some of us begin singing on balconies to show support to each others, some continue working in home office, others enjoy the family, while some hate having one, others face alone a thousand uncertainties. There are those who discover new hobbies, those who practice yoga, those who play the guitar , those who would mourn a loved one or those who rediscover emotional closeness despite physical distance, those who go on, day after day, trying to imagine the world to come.

Before this global crisis, our team, born in 2017, is actively busy with cool projects, having made the start up of the Babila Hostel & Bistrot in Milan, the re-launch of the Boutique Hotel I Portici in Arezzo (Tuscany) and the management of both the businesses; and begins to define two new adventures, while creating networks and interesting collaborations, developing skills and living every day on a constant enthusiasm, in contact with guests from all over the world, organizing events, sharing experiences and receiving priceless positive vibrations in return. The violent spread of the virus in Italy, the second outbreak in the world after Wuhan, China, entails the drastic decision to suspend the activites for Babila Hostel and I Portici Boutique Hotel, although at least in Milan there is still some occupation. However, health comes first.

Before this global crisis, our team, born in 2017, is actively busy with cool projects, having made the start up of the Babila Hostel & Bistrot in Milan, the re-launch of the Boutique Hotel I Portici in Arezzo (Tuscany) and the management of both the businesses; and begins to define two new adventures, while creating networks and interesting collaborations, developing skills and living every day on a constant enthusiasm, in contact with guests from all over the world, organizing events, sharing experiences and receiving priceless positive vibrations in return. The violent spread of the virus in Italy, the second outbreak in the world after Wuhan, China, entails the drastic decision to suspend the activites for Babila Hostel and I Portici Boutique Hotel, although at least in Milan there is still some occupation. However, health comes first.

It is in this period that we stop and hit pause on the normal flow of a hectic life. Fear of the future gives way to survival instincts and then to rationalization. It is at this moment that, constantly in touch with call conferences, whatsapp and emails, we decide to still believe in the future. This is how RockYourHostel.com is born, from the desire to give shape to the knowledge acquired so far thanks to personal experiences and working together as a team, to share our point of view on strategic and operational issues pertaining to our sector, to grow a network and get to know intrepid companies’ captains and create a space to share best practices, to provide our expertise to support new projects and the restyling of existing projects.

I hope you will enjoy being part of our community and you will find inspiration and good vibes with the content we will be sharing.

Hugs
and see you soon with new articles.

Mick

It is in this period that we stop and hit pause on the normal flow of a hectic life. Fear of the future gives way to survival instincts and then to rationalization. It is at this moment that, constantly in touch with call conferences, whatsapp and emails, we decide to still believe in the future. This is how RockYourHostel.com is born, from the desire to give shape to the knowledge acquired so far thanks to personal experiences and working together as a team, to share our point of view on strategic and operational issues pertaining to our sector, to grow a network and get to know intrepid companies’ captains and create a space to share best practices, to provide our expertise to support new projects and the restyling of existing projects.

I hope you will enjoy being part of our community and you will find inspiration and good vibes with the content we will be sharing.

Hugs
and see you soon with new articles.

Mick

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