Is Your Organisation Recession Proof?

There is no doubt that today we live in a world driven by the media. Minute by minute accounts of travesty from around the world and the ever-present forecast of doom, from a world in conflict to a global pandemic to the forecast of recession. Now I certainly don't advocate sitting by and watching and waiting to see what happens, but rather ensuring you and the organisation are prepared for potential challenges ahead.

Failing to plan is planning to fail...        

What does being prepared actually mean and how can we prepare, after all, we have no crystal ball, and none of us can see the future. In the first instance have a plan, don't wait for the obvious to hit the fan, plan now! A simple business plan is a great place to start. Find a business planning template as a starting point. The basics of any business plan will encourage you to ask growth-orientated business questions. It will also encourage you to conduct market research, with an analysis tool such as SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunity & Threats). In turn, this will stimulate you to take a view on the future and how you want to influence it.

However, if you want to develop a robust plan and make your business recession-proof then you may want to take a deeper dive into the planning. In order to do this there are 7 additional questions you'll need to ask:

Question 1 - What's happening in my marketplace and why?

Whilst there is lots of rhetoric in regards to the general state of the economy, not all market opportunities are equal. What are the trends you are observing, and what has changed? When you look at the marketplace as a whole look for the change, for the opportunity and maybe even define new opportunities. It may even offer up new market opportunities.

Question 2 - What is the purpose of my business?

In the simplest terms, why does your business exist? What are the driving factors of your business? How do these differentiate you from your competition? Here you'll also discover and or reinforce your purpose, to define why you do what you do. This can be extremely powerful, not just in challenging times, but as a focus towards success.

Question 3 - What impact do you want to have on the marketplace and what must be achieved in order to achieve that, the objective and key results?

In answering this question you’ll start to gain an idea in direct relation to what you want and need to achieve within the marketplace. This will help to determine the level, consistency, and quality of action and the potential resources which will be required. You will further develop specific objectives and goals which will need to be achieved in order to have the desired impact.

High level of situational awareness is essential...        

Questions 1 to 3 focus on the situation. The point here is to look at the situation your business is in right now, the tangibles, whilst also taking an informed view of the potential future situation. That doesn't mean listening to media portraits of doom and gloom or the hype but rather looking at your situation in detail.

This will allow you to think about potential courses of action and future decision points, the contingency planning. Whilst these will all be assumptions, even best guesses will serve you and the business better than having no forward focus. Understanding the impact of your situation and the potential future will increase confidence to act swiftly, and decisively and timely often before travesty strikes.

The following 4 questions focus on the development of that plan.

Question 4 - What are the business objectives and how best can they be achieved?

Having a clear understanding of your business situation, you can now begin to take a look at developing a plan of action.

What will the objectives and outcomes be for marketing, sales, logistics, operational, financial, HR etc? Who will be responsible for the delivery of the outcomes, what team collaboration will be required and what managerial support will be needed to support the activity?

At this point, you can also determine what the mission for the business needs to be, which will give the team clarity and their limitation in regards to what must be achieved.?It's also a great way to add an air of urgency, not to create fear, but rather focused purpose.

Question 5 - What will be the resources needed to accomplish the objectives?

Having clarity in what now needs to be achieved you can determine the resources required to accomplish the objectives. In essence, you look at time, team and finances in terms of the resource and ensure there is clarity in where, when and how they are to be used.

Probably most important here is what direction and support you need to ensure are in place to facilitate the delivery of the objectives and outcomes required. How much detail will be required for the team to undertake the activities? What are the rules of the game?

Question 6 - When and where will the activities take place in relation to the overall desired outcome?

In planning terms, this is the detail of delivery, your schedule of actions and events, and your Gantt chart. This is all about coordinated activity working in harmony and in support. This is essential to creating organisational clarity, making sure everyone has visibility of what's happening and when.

Question 7 - What control measures and limitations do you need to ensure are in place?

In order to create momentum and facilitate the delivery of the plan without you becoming the default solution to every problem or issue you will need to have clearly defined limitations for the team. At which point do they need to seek clarity? What happens if the situation changes and when do they need to refer to you for guidance?

Why plan?        

As you reflect on the situation for you and your business, as you ponder whether to focus on a plan or leave the future to chance it's worth reflecting on the reasons for having a plan and contingencies in place:

1. It will ensure you remain calm and collective and with an understanding that the cycle of business will continue, ALL BAD THINGS COME TO AN END.
2. To be able to adapt to a new cycle in order to thrive and not just survive.
3. To be a clear mark of your unwavering faith to your team and family that in growing your business you will put forth extraordinary effort no matter what. To enrol and inspire.

And finally...        

Colin Powell was quoted to have said...

‘a dream doesn’t become a reality through magic, it takes sweat, determination, and hard work’

The toughest element of gaining the forward momentum and maintaining it is getting underway. Everything pales into insignificance if you don’t act. Getting into action really takes hold when you’ve got real clarity on where you want to go, what you seek to achieve and what it means to you, the team and the business. ACT NOW PUT YOUR PLAN INTO PLAY AND MAINTAIN FORWARD MOMENTUM.?Please feel free to download our crisis planning template and our 11 Step Process.

You might also be interested in joining Steve for the 6 Steps to Massive Growth where again he will focus on the fundamentals of recession-proofing your business. Register here for the webinar.

?About the Author

Steve Gaskell the 'Challenge Coach' is a High-Performance Business Coach who unlocks the high-performance potential in those he coaches. The author of 'Business Shouldn't be this Tough' is also a keynote speaker with a focus on high-performance outcomes through coaching and also creating extreme ownership within the boardroom. A former Army Officer Steve understands the challenge and interFEARence faced by business owners, directors and executives in leadership and confronts them head-on to focus on unleashing true potential.

If you would like to unlock the potential within your organisation, board, leadership, team or yourself just ask. For more information on the topic of this newsletter, you can message Steve via his profile, call on 01392 927997 or email [email protected]