The minimum viable nerve center for governments coronavirus response

In response to the pandemic, governments are racing to suppress the virus and manage issues on a range of fronts, from the economy to social services. In this McKinsey webinar, specialists discuss how governments can create a nerve center that provides the structure and agility to mobilize resources quickly, execute, and shift gears as conditions change. Their main observations consisted of the following:

• A crisis nerve center is an agile, coordinated body that brings together crucial organizational skills and capabilities so senior government leaders can engage agencies and functions in addressing urgent needs while also working on the next phase of the crisis response.
• When establishing a crisis nerve center, governments must ensure they implement the right leadership, structure, and tools—including data and analytics—to enable rapid decision making. As important, this entity must maintain flexibility to adapt as the crisis evolves.
• The nerve center also incorporates links to stakeholder groups (such as citizens, legislatures, and the business community) and major external partners (such as federal or national partners for local governments) so that government leaders can fully mobilize the public and private sectors.
• Leaders can draw valuable lessons from subnational governments that have already formed crisis nerve centers.

For more, read “Crisis nerve centers: Supporting governments’ responses to coronavirus.”