When it comes to running a small business, crowdsourcing the wisdom of giants through FREE trusted management consultant resource hubs could be one of the best ways to grow your "team" without adding to your budget.
How do you build resilience during a pandemic, and what do you do next? Whether your looking for guidance on crisis management, transforming to a remote workplace, business continuity or pivot strategies, it can be hard to filter through the flood of resources and conversations happening, so it's handy to have a handful of the best on digital speed-dial.
Many of the top consulting firms share daily content on LinkedIn from their comprehensive resource centres, making it a quick central dashboard to tap into new insights in one place. We've included links to their own sites as well so you can do a deeper dive into their libraries.
Here are 5 of the top management consultants you should be following on LinkedIn to grow your business.
1. McKinsey & Company
One of the most respected sources of business intelligence globally, McKinsey & Company provides a wealth of free information and resources to help you come to terms with almost every aspect of running your business.
Timely asset: Coronavirus: Leading through the crisis
Insights on how organizations can respond and what happens next. Some of their recent articles include:
- COVID-19’s effect on minority-owned small businesses in the United States
- How a post-pandemic stimulus can both create jobs and help the climate
- How restaurants can thrive in the next normal
- Why building your people’s skills virtually matters now more than ever
Follow them: on LinkedIn | on the web
On LinkedIn, they have separate pages for each of their distinct channels. Some of the ones you might find helpful include:
- McKinsey Marketing & Sales: on LinkedIn | on the web
- McKinsey Strategy & Corporate Finance: on LinkedIn | on the web
- McKinsey Global Institute (for those doing business internationally): on LinkedIn | on the web
2. Kearney
Kearney is another of the long-standing strategic operations leaders. They also offer businesses free consulting advice with an "ask us anything" invitation on their COVID-19 resource center. Your business question will be answered by their experts.
Timely asset: COVID-19 and its impact on your business. Kearny built a hub of content directly related to COVID19's impact on employees and companies around the world. They are continuously updating it with resources to help you address challenges and opportunities around human resources, retail, supply chain, operations and more.
Some of their recent articles include:
- The future of our communities: how data takes the guesswork out of reopening during a pandemic
- Building resilience in manufacturing and supply chains Previous crises were usually concentrated in particular geographies or specific sectors, but COVID-19 has affected all major economies. We've explored three stages of activity necessary to help supply chains out of distress and onto a secure footing.
- Sailing straight through the storm For leadership teams, the next few months are uncertain. We looked at real-life examples to compile seven bold imperatives for CEOs and Boards.
- The COVID-19 urgency: defining a face mask distribution strategy As re-opening plans start to roll out around the world, governments must provide the general public with the equipment required to continue to contain the spread. We looked at the lessons learned from all over the world.
Follow them: on LinkedIn | on the web
3. Strategy& | Part of the PwC Network
With their articles often featured in the Harvard Business Review, Strategy&, part of the PwC network, is another trusted resource for businesses.
Timely asset: Responding to the business impacts of coronavirus (COVID-19). Tap into detailed tactics and download strategy docs to help you transform your cost structure, operating model, and your culture to survive both during and after the pandemic.
- After the crisis: Three actions to reset your cost and reshape your business growth. How to reset costs and reshape your business for growth. A guide to respond and emerge stronger from the COVID-19 crisis
- Why authentic informal leaders are key to an organization’s emotional health Tapping into the collective wisdom of key employees can help a company build the capacity to weather the worst crises.
- Adapting to a new world Facing the challenges of the post-COVID-19 landscape. How do we prepare to cope with a host of social, environmental, demographic, economic, and workforce challenges in a post-COVID19 world? PwCADAPT offers a framework for addressing five urgent global issues.
- The ADAPT framework — describing a world in which asymmetry, disruption, age, polarization, and trust were fundamentally changing the way millions of people live and work.
- In a crisis, companies must know their purpose A crisis provides an opportunity for companies to affirm their purpose.
- Redefining customer experience: Connecting in the time of COVID-19 As the novel coronavirus forces people into a digital-only way of life, it’s important for businesses to infuse virtual experiences with a human touch. Olaf Acker, PwC’s Global Digital Platform Leader discusses how the customer experience is being redefined amid the COVID19 crisis.
Follow them: on LinkedIn | on the web here and here
4. Deloitte Insights
Timely asset: Combating COVID-19 with resilience. Leaders like you are responding to one of the most sweeping crises in recent memory, calling for both empathy and action to guide your people and businesses through uncertain times. This page gathers Deloitte’s global insights to help you not only respond to this crisis but recover and thrive.
In addition, their general Insights stream is filled with valuable ideas and resources including articles, reports and periodicals providing insights on a broad spectrum of topics of interest to executives and government leaders.
Some of their most timely guide collections include:
- The essence of resilient leadership: Business recovery from COVID-19. Building recovery on a foundation of trust
- The heart of resilient leadership: Responding to COVID-19.
- Embedding trust into COVID-19 recovery.
- Confronting the crisis. Responding to and learning from COVID-19
While some of their guides are designed to support larger businesses, the resources and ideas are relevant and useful for smaller ones too.
Follow them: on LinkedIn | on the web
You can also follow Deloitte as a company: on LinkedIn | on the web
5. Accenture
Like many of the top management consulting firms, Accenture has a variety of portfolios, which you’ll see listed down the side of their LinkedIn pages as “Affiliated Pages.” Depending on the industry you’re in, some will be more relevant than others. One that’s universally helpful is their Accenture Strategy page (on LinkedIn | on the web).
Timely asset: One of the things you may find most helpful right now is their COVID-19 resource hub.
- Outmaneuver uncertainty: Navigating the human and business impact of Covid-19. A new beginning, not just a reopening. As the rules of business continue to change, the scale of uncertainty can be overwhelming. Learn from leading experts in Accenture’s COVID-19 Hub about how to outmaneuver uncertainty and reinvent your organization.
- COVID-19: The industry impact of coronavirus Turn massive challenges into meaningful change.
You can follow their general company page here: on LinkedIn | on the web
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Small businesses have to adapt quickly as they learn to navigate the challenges of the economic crisis created by the pandemic. That means wading through a sea of noise to find the best crisis management and business continuity resources, implement work from home strategies, tap into emergency funding and be champions for employees when faced with the hard decision to cut back staff.
Chances are you're already using LinkedIn to help with some of those things, but you might not have thought about "hashtags" as "discovery channels" to help you quickly tune into real-time lifelines.
Here's how small businesses can use LinkedIn to tune in to crisis management and work continuity resources with just a click ...
With a drastically changed economy, many businesses are finding the need to pivot to embrace new products and services quickly. Being agile means survival.
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