GSA - Managing Collaborative Relationships in a Crisis

COVID-19 and the resulting global lock down has put a huge strain on service delivery around the world. Call centres in India, the UK’s biggest delivery destination, almost closed overnight, with limited contingency planning for a wholesale, global close down.

Some industries, such as travel and tourism, suspended nearly all operations, yet other industries, such as ecommerce have experienced a massive upturn. As a result, some services have effectively been mothballed whilst others asked to ramp up activity significantly overnight. There are ways of doing this correctly.

The GSA urges companies to follow industry best practice at this time. This is not a time for short termism and knee jerk reactions. Business will come back and companies and individuals will remember how they were treated at this time.

To help the industry navigate the storm the GSA is holding on an online tutorial on how to manage relationships to industry best practice even at times of crisis. This will cover:

• Relationship management is a combination of science and art
• How to grow trust even in times of crisis
• Governance problems
• Managing fluctuating performance
• Review of risk approach
• Disaster recovery, business continuity and exit plans

This is the first in a series of at least 4 online tutorials and will be delivered by GSA's Associate Director of Professional Development, Chris Halward, and feature guest speakers:

• Steve Watson, Principal Consultant, Peru Consulting
• Mark Crichard, Partner, RPC
• Ravi Veerasubramanian, GSA Council Member and Managing Consultant, Gibbs Hybrid
• Mark Devonshire, GSA Chairman and VP and Head of Client Delivery for EMEA/Latam, NTT Data Services