The past two years have led organizations through one disruption after another. Leaders often felt that proactive planning and decision making were made impossible by the roller coaster events surrounding COVID-19. Now, nearly two years into the epidemic, we are seeing a new variant and some states are reinstating earlier mandates. More than ever, proactive planning around strategy and execution is vitally important. Customers, suppliers, stakeholders, and employees at all levels of the organization are in dire need of sound organizational direction and stability to replace the unavoidable reactive practices of 2020 and 2021. For 2022 planning and beyond, there are 4 questions we should be asking to help build an intentional strategy.
1) Where are you now?
What changes has your business experienced over the past two years? With this question it’s important to take a hard look at how your organization reacted to the pandemic. Some of the changes were probably positive for your organization, and you’ll want to keep them. Others were not. In many ways, we lost control of decision making because of government mandates or necessary “pivots” to keep our organizations afloat. 2020 and 2021 brought significant changes to supply chains, markets, HR and work practices, technology, as well as stakeholder and shareholder expectations. Its important to evaluate all your business practices and identify past mistakes and successes.
2) Where do you go from here?
It’s time to make strategic planning more intentional again. Identifying the future state of your organization is not going to be as easy as it was in the past. There won’t be simple incremental changes to make. Markets have changed, supply chains have been disrupted, stakeholders and shareholders are now vitally concerned about meaningful organizational purpose and vision than ever before, and when it comes to Human Resources, researchers tell us that we will never go back to where we were before COVID. For many organizations, it’s time to re-evaluate organizational values, mission, vision, and company purpose to adapt to what we learned about ourselves and our people over the past two years and to move forward successfully in 2022 and beyond. Clearly define where you want to be related to products, services, earnings, size, markets, customers, partners, and suppliers by some future point in time.
3) What’s the gap and how do you address it?
Identify a specific path forward to get you from Point One to Point Two above. How can you align your organization so that everything you do is directly supporting your organization’s 2022-2026 purpose and strategy? How can you get rid of the practices that are no longer useful? How can you be more innovative in pursuing markets and customers? Should you explore teaming with other organizations, or otherwise leverage synergies? How can you better align your human resources to help you achieve your goals? I am surprised at how many organizations still hope that things will return to normal, and work activity will go back to 100% on-premises work. Researchers from Korn Ferry, to McKinsey, to HBR, to Inc. tell us that returning to the old normal will not occur. What key steps should you put in place to adapt to this reality?
An effective planning process identifies external and internal obstacles that will stand in the way of your organization reaching its goals. How can you address and overcome those potential obstacles? Should you build in general contingency plans, where practical?
4) Does your organization have the structure and skills to get you there?
Once you define the “future state,” identify the needed resources to get you there. Is your organizational structure aligned, or is it cumbersome and outdated? What skills and competencies are needed to help you achieve that desired future state? How can you ensure you attract and keep ideal employees? What leadership competencies will you need in the future organization? They may be different from competencies your organization has now. What can you start doing immediately to address the needs of the future organization?
Asking these kinds of questions can help your organization achieve intentionality again in your strategic plans—all while improving and updating them for incredible future achievement. For more information or for a complimentary 60-minute strategy session, please set a meeting, email me, and/or follow or message me in LinkedIn.