When PPP, Mainstreet and similar programs end - it will lay bare how companies are really fairing - if you have not reset your strategy - it's time.
The artificial cover of PPP and Main Street programs (i.e. US) are stop-gap measures to delay (even if extensions exist)- EAT or be EATEN time.
If you are a mid-market company - you may temporarily benefit from this goverment support -but deep down you( your Board and your executive team) know why the saying " there's no free lunch" has stuck around for so long.
In many global client conversations over the last 60 days - the graphic below illustrates where many of the heads are at:
A. 5 REASONS TO RENOVATE
Specifically, in the next six months (July to December 2020) the following changes will become visible and evident:.
- SHORTER CYCLES - Industry changes and fallout will take place in months not years
- UNKNOWN GROWTH POCKETS: Unseen opportunities(i.e M+A) will emerge in overlooked and newly shaped industry sectors
- REDUCED CAPTIAL - Lenders will curb liquidity unless the way forward plan makes strategic sense - just ask your investment banker
- ERODED or ELIMINATED COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGES - your advantages will be tested - those that keep margins healthy and gave you pricing power - unless you dial in on the changing customer needs and supplier dynamics being reset globally
- CHANGED COMPETITOR LINE-UP - different industry sectors will have more or less of it but you count on new, more powerful competition emerging or playing the game differently.
Many of these forces are beyond your direct control but what a reset strategy can provide you is:
- Clear product and market segments to pursue, emphasize or eliminate
- Quicker identification of risks that can really put your company in danger
- More Options depending on how external forces unfold
- Triggers set for action when tipping point thresholds are reached or in jeopardy
It may be time for you as a leader to use this global pandemic as the catalyst to reset the tools and ways your business looks at and executes strategy.
Or another way to say it is - if you don't get decisions teed up they will eventually be made for you.
B. Ways to Renovate Your Strategy
1. Call or email me - p 604 488 4340, tlewko@thinkingdimensions.ca
2. QR Code for my book that can walk you through it
3. Alternatively - if your current strategy is unfit for future use and are thinking of renovating it - ensure the strategy process and tools you use (i.e either home-grown or with your existing trusted advisors) meet these criteria:
- FOCUS - Clarity Not Certainty - internal and external stakeholder need this to sleep
- SPEED - 30 Days Not 3 months to reset strategy, remember cycles are getting shorter
- SIMPLICITY - strategy is about Product, Market and Capabilities choices - don't overthink or complicate this. And the strategy has to link to RCP implications (Revenue, Cost and Profit)
- BREVITY -a usable strategy - should be no more than 3 one-pagers that yield visibility on EXTERNAL FACTORS, INTERNAL DECISION POINTS and EXECUTABLE ACTIONS - there can always be an appendix - but stick with less is more
Stay Well. Make Thinking Visible.
