Now what? Our worlds have been turned upside down by the events of the last 3 months. Some have thrived, many have struggled, often down to luck or market position. Many are now turning their attention to what comes next because one thing is for sure, doing what we were doing this time last year is probably not going to get us to where we want to be.

As the COVID-19 restrictions are slowly starting to relax we are also heading into the end of the financial year, a time of year when most of my clients plan for the next financial year and for Q1 specifically. So how do we get to a point where we understand what we need to do differently? The good news is that if you have a strategic execution framework in place you don't have to run your strategy and planning differently as you are really just responding to a change (a big change) to your environment.

Most of my clients are now forging ahead; many are now ahead of where their original plans said for this time of year and this is down to two things:

1. Luck; they were in industries and sectors that were in a position to scale or at least maintain, then scale. Then, they acted on this luck.
2. More importantly, they had a strategy and plan, they adjusted their plan when the crisis hit, they executed their new plan and when the time was right, they reset their strategy for how they saw the new world forming. They did this quickly, when the signs in their market suggested the time was right.

This is what they did (and if you want to Scale Forward out of this crisis, this might help you also).

Is our "Why" Still our "Why" (most probably)?

Your purpose (or your "Why") is most probably still the same, you might not be in a position to execute against it as well or at the same level that you did six months ago but it is unlikely your "Why" has changed. Validate it and refresh it if necessary then move on.

Is our BHAG still our BHAG?

Unless your world and your business has really be turned upside down your BHAG will also probably not have changed. Why not you ask? Well your BHAG is your long term (10 - 15 - 20 Year) goal and whilst the impact of COVID-19 on most businesses has been severe, your BHAG is far enough out that it should still stand. If the impact has made your BHAG unrealistic, refresh it and move on.

Who's In Charge of What (Now)?

If you have structurally changed your business or the accountabilities in your business you need to review these. Make sure you are clear on who in the leadership team is accountable for which business functions and how you measure this accountability (both leading and lagging indicators). Also make sure that no one person in the leadership team has too many accountabilities.

How are things running?

Now review how the key functions in the business are operating. By key functions, I mean the functions that directly contribute to getting cash in the bank. There will be functions that don't directly contribute to getting cash in the bank and I don't mean to say these are not important, they are, they just don't contribute directly to getting cash in the bank (and as you know "cash is king"). The impact of the crisis may well have impacted how different functions of the business are operating so you need to be able assess objectively how they are operating NOW, not six months ago. Are they each operating really well (green), OK (orange) or not so well (Red). This status review will guide you when you come to make decisions on priorities later on in this process. Make sure you get agreement on these ratings from the leadership team.

How has our market changed?

Now take a new look at your market to assess has it changed. There are various tools you can use for this. You can use Porter's "Five Forces", the Strategyzer "Environment Map" or the tool I tend to use with my clients, the Market Map from Shannon Susko's "The 3HAG Way".

This tool will show you who loves you, who hates you and where the money flows from and to in your market. It will give you valuable insight into your market and how it might have changed. I won't review this tool in this article but I'll publish an article on it soon. Reach out to me if you want more information on how you can use this tool to map out your market.

Is our Core Customer still our Core Customer?

Just as markets might have shifted, your customers might have also. Make sure you are crystal clear on who your core customer is. Now just to be clear, that is not the type of company you do business with, it is an individual in the business who values what you do and will therefore:

•  pay your premium,
•  bring repeat business to you,
•  Pay you on time, and
•  refer others to you.

You need to be absolutely clear on who that person is and what characterises them. Give them a name and bring them to your meetings (a purposely empty chair or a cardboard cut-out works well).

Are you still in white space - Have the characteristics of the (New) Market Changed?

Next check your business is still operating in white space, that is, it is competing on its own unique set of dimensions. I recently wrote an article on how to do this so I won't repeat this here.

Are we still Unique (and how can we be more Unique)?

Now review your differentiators as these are the things that make you unique. It is unlikely that the COVID-19 crisis will have impacted these but bear in mind there are already businesses out there that are agressively looking at the market to see where they can pivot. If they pivot into your space, you want to see them coming.

Then What?

Now you have iterated your strategy to take into account any impact of the COVID-19 crisis, it is time to evolve your 3 Year Highly Achievable Goal (3HAG). This article I wrote a while back will show you how.

Want to find out how Strategic Execution can get your business back on the rails so you can Scale Forward, get in touch and we can talk through how to apply these tools your business.