Effective Lockdown Leadership

Supporting employees during the COVID-19 crisis and beyond.

In this video, our panel of experts and entrepreneurs share their advice on how to adapt your leadership style during this challenging time – and for what comes next.

1. Focus on the emotional well-being of employees

Know what you can control and what’s beyond your control. You can’t control COVID-19. You can control how you communicate with your employees and customers, ways of working and what is expected of everyone on your team. Most of all, be consistent and transparent. Francis De Wet, organizational psychologist, entrepreneur and speaker

2. Change your processes

In order to enable employees to successful work from home, you need to change your processes. Start by codifying information. Create playbooks for every process and empower employees to work remotely. Musa Kalenga, futurist, entrepreneur, author and speaker

3. Inspire the most from your people

Ask your employees how they are. How are they coping with their kids and partners? Talk about the lockdown and when it’s going to be lifted. By asking personal questions and talking about these things, people feel validated in their own feelings. Shannon Mclaughlin, founder of Ubuntu Baba

4. Work on your integrity

The foundation of great leadership is integrity, which comes down to three things: what you say, what you do and what you are feeling. Your people need to know that you are there for them and you know what’s going on in their lives. Elana Godley, organizational psychologist and entrepreneur

5. Over communicate

In a work-from-home virtual environment, it’s easy for a team to become isolated from each other. As a leader, make sure you’re connected to your team. At this point, over communication is the key. Mike Sharman, entrepreneur, author and speaker

Business Banking Invested in Every Moment

We understand that small businesses have different banking needs. B\\YOND supports your business with a consolidated platform that enables you to manage your money and keep your business working through these difficult times. Find out more: https://sasfin.com/business-banking/business-banking/transactional-banking/

Michael Sassoon, Marnus Broodryk and Dawn Nathan-Jones unpack some surprising insights about the current SME landscape in South Africa.

During the extended lockdown, Sasfin bank conducted surveys, in partnership with SME.Africa, to better understand the impact of COVID-19 on South African entrepreneurs and small businesses. An early survey was held at the beginning of lockdown and a second as we moved into Level 1.  

Results were announced in a webinar chaired by Sasfin CEO, Michael Sassoon and presented by Marnus Broodryk, the founder of SME.Africa.

Survey summary results

• 41% of SMEs indicated that they were coping with the lockdown
• 49% of SMEs were distressed
• 10% of SMEs were thriving
• Smaller businesses with annual turnovers of between R1 million and R5 million were the most affected by COVID-19 and the lockdown, which meant that they were not operating as usual
• Some businesses had to close until restrictions were eased
• Major concerns were cash flow problems, staff morale, losing clients and not signing new business.

Webinar guest, Dawn Nathan-Jones, an entrepreneur and former CEO of Europcar shared how she is copying during the Covid-19 pandemic and offered insights and advice based on her extensive entrepreneurial experience.

The webinar was concluded by representatives of the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission (CIPC), Sher-Mohammed Khan and Masisange Mketsu, who unpacked the importance of protecting the intellectual properties of individuals and businesses.

Sasfin CEO, Michael Sassoon announced the survey winner.

Business Banking Invested in Every Moment

Sasfin’s dedication to the small business sector was tested during this pandemic. As a bank, Sasfin remains heavily committed to supporting small businesses, because small businesses are our business.