We have been studying a significant number of articles and reports (McKinsey, Deloitte, KornFerry and many others) with regard to how companies are preparing their future during these turbulent times. One point of convergence across all resources: not doing anything is NOT an option.
We put together a simple, easy-to-read and usable toolkit which could support small companies to navigate in turbulent waters.
REALIGNMENT AND SCENARIOS PLANNING
Perform a new SWOT analysis in the new context. It's certainly going to be different than the one 3 or 6 months ago.
Identify key risks (5 to 15) - map them in terms of A) Impact and B) Likelihood and rank them by using a simple colour coding or points (1-5)
Plan 3 different scenarios with a clear narrative: “baseline”, “adverse”, “very adverse” and link these to your most important KPIs: revenues, profits, # of new users, churn, monthly recurring revenue, etc.
Apply what learned in points 1-3 to your strategies and tactics and make the necessary adjustments.
Communicate outcome to the team.
Monitor situation and constantly review the alignment of points 1-3 to the latest developments.
COST REDUCTIONS AND EFFICIENCY
LIQUIDITY
If you have to manage an important liquidity issue, a cash management dashboard might be a very useful tool:
Axis X [time to cash release] 3 areas : fast (<90 days), medium (3-6 months) and slow burn (6-12 months).
Axis Y [impact on profit] 3 areas: substantial (for example >5%), negative (1-5%), positive to neutral (>0%).
Map the most important sources and uses of cash in the chart (size of the bubble).
Prioritize your initiatives accordingly.
EFFICIENCY
Identify and remove sandbags. A sandbag is an activity, a process, a report, a task, that could be improved or cut by one person in less than 4 hours in one week.
Ask your organization to identify 3 activities that slow you down or are not very effective anymore in the context of the current crisis.
Collect all sandbags and pick 3 to 5 that you are really determined to eliminate/outsource.
Empower someone to remove that sandbag.
Broadly communicate the results once the sandbag is removed.
LEADERSHIP
Communicate often to the entire team, several times per week.
Maintain engagement: virtual forums to share concerns / “ask me anything” sessions.
Encourage safe space for 1-1 communications at all leadership levels.
Keep / strengthen rewarding systems.
Attitude -- Be empathetic, clear, confident, honest, ethical, authentic, responsible, transparent and courageous.
Please share if you find this useful.
Your Futurable team.
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(Sources)
- McKinsey&Company - COVID 19 implications for business
- Deloitte “the world remade by Covid-19”
- KornFerry The Covid-19 Leadership Guide
- Nexxworks “Business and life in the day after civic 19”
- Jacques Fisher Evolution (www.culturalchange.com)
- Trendwatching:10 trends for a post corona virus world
- TheSyllabus: politics of Covid-19
- Mindtools: SWOT
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