Coronavirus Q&A series: Interview with Guy Kurlandski, Managing Partner, Liquidity Capital

Leading Your Business Through The Coronavirus Crisis

The COVID-19 crisis has impacted various aspects of our lives - especially work. With remote working becoming the norm, employees and employers alike, especially the first-timers, are experiencing the ups and downs related to the situation.

On one hand, employees are worried about job security and the challenges of working as a team, on the other, employers are facing issues such as engagement and productivity drop, among others. It now falls upon the leadership to keep the team up and running.

How are the leaders handling the situation? HR.com interviewed senior-level executives from various organizations and asked them to share their lessons and insights.
 

Guy Kurlandski, Managing Partner North America, Liquidity Capital. Kurlandski comes from a diverse background of printing, real estate development and consumer facing products in the US and Europe.

Q: How has the COVID-19 crisis affected your business? 

Guy: We, like many others, moved to work-at-home mode in March for our employees in Israel and the US. Though, as we are all well organized and technology adept, the transition was smooth and productivity has remained just as strong, if not stronger. 
 

We have seen a ~30% increase in funding applications from prospective companies who have experienced unprecedented growth since the beginning of March. The companies are seeking our Trajectory-Based financing, which provides instant cashflow without the burden of acquiring any additional debt. We are currently in due-diligence stages with software-as-a-service (SaaS) technology companies in sectors such as telehealth, logistics, wellness and ed-tech that are seeing major demand for their services. 

Q: Are your employees working remotely? If so, what are some of the challenges you are facing while managing your remote workforce? 

Guy: Yes, most of our employees are remote at this time. Although the challenges have been relatively minimal we did experience issues regarding group scheduling. Blocking the right amount of time for joint calls and tasks proved difficult at first. We adapted, however, and managed to implement new processes within a week to avoid these issues in the future. 

Q: What policies do you have in place to deal with such a crisis? 

Guy: Our first priority is always the health and safety of our employees. Since the main base of our operation is based out of Israel, our staff are unfortunately used to dealing with security crises. They are resilient and have been taught to handle these types of situations calmly, with logic and strength. Although we do not have a specific company policy, we are closely adhering to the advice and instructions of our local government leaders and representatives. 

Q: What employee engagement challenges do you come across, especially in the current scenario, where everyone is working from home? What are you doing about it? 

Guy: We are not facing any to speak off. However, we are always available to discuss any concerns or issues with all members of the team. We work very hard to ensure  an open door policy, which has transcended to the remote workplace very well. Now it has evolved into an open video chat policy.

Q: Are you providing or planning to provide any emotional and mental health programs for employees? 

Guy: At this stage we are not offering anything beyond existing policies that have been in place. As the crisis evolves, though, so too will our policies and procedures. 

Q: What leadership lessons have this health crisis taught you? 

Guy: The crisis has reinforced the importance of setting goals and remaining objective yet focused. You have to make sure your team is always ready for a potential change of plan or circumstance, and flowing with it.

Q: What positive change has transpired that you would want to maintain? 

Guy: There is a strong sense of teamwork, which we have always had, but a crisis like this has strengthened that resolve. Although we are mostly apart in location, we have never been more together as a team, working towards common goals.
 

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