Due to the uncertainties led by the COVID-19 pandemic, maintaining business continuity is the prime agenda of all organizations regardless of the size and nature of their business. The pandemic crisis has enforced businesses to entirely halt their physical activities to prevent the spread of the virus and has intensified the need for businesses to react as quickly as possible in order to minimize the impact and other associated risks associated with it. Further, prepare the organization for relatively possible scenarios.
In recent times, we have seen many businesses reopening even when the corporate instability remains. Undoubtedly, it’s becoming highly challenging for businesses to plan for the unpredictable future. Consequently, many global business strategy leaders and managers might wonder how they can develop a growth strategy for an unstable year like 2021.
Here are some ways to develop your 2021 business strategy in the uncertain business ecosystem:
Make Improvements
For businesses, 2021 offers an opportunity to improve and transform their organization as per the changing market and consumer demands. For the least, this year has provided the ideal time to organizations for rebuilding and reforming their internal processes and strategies into a digital format. Your business strategies and therefore focus on detailing this transformation including the timeline for testing in implementing the new digital processes. By doing so, you can ensure to prepare a business for other future uncertainties. As a result, you will find that you can better connect with customers and offer them the digital experience they have come to expect in other parts of their lives.
Develop a cross-functional and multi-plan approach
Organizations must focus on creating more than one backup plan for their business as uncertainty is anticipated to continue in 2021. Laying out potential contingencies that your business might encounter in the coming year and using this time to formulate strategic comebacks is an effective way by which businesses can respond to the pandemic.
Your organization’s strategic plans must be able to deal with different ongoing scenarios like health concerns, continued opening and closing, reopening at a stagnant rate, and full reopening. Make use of your experience from 2020 and build out each of these plans.
Developing these multiple business plans can prepare your organization for efficiently switching from one scenario to another and will help in addressing different potential developments.
Give access to valuable resources to your customers
For global business strategy leaders, this is the right time to focus on their business strategy for 2021 based on customer-facing actions like adding to the value delivered to them and the ways in which these actions assist with the revenue objectives.
For sales, businesses can focus on delivering more alternatives for financial assistance like structured payment plan services or layaway to help new customers make their purchases. Leaders and managers now have a considerable amount of time to draft and reconstruct an effective content plan that provides useful information to your customers and prospects. Even though these tactics might not deliver instantaneous profits, they can be beneficial in engaging customers now so that they can buy things when the conditions improve.
Focus on upskilling your workforce
The COVID-19 crisis has forced the global workforce to entirely change the way they work almost overnight. Now that organizations have come to the terms with the realities, this latest remote working model could be a blueprint for the new normal, reskilling employees as per the changing business demands is highly important for firms. The pandemic has accelerated the need for a rapid adaptation to new roles and challenges in the changing business conditions. Thus, global business strategy leaders must focus on reskilling and upskilling the workforce to strengthen the firm for future disruptions. This is the time for organizations to expand their learning budgets and commit to reskilling. The most effective way to do so is by letting your managers and line executives enroll in some of the best business certifications.
87% of executives say that they experienced skill gaps within the workforce.
A recent McKinsey Survey
Here’s a list of some of the best business certifications that can help your workforce evolve and attain the necessary business acumen, cognitive capabilities, and strategic skills to lead the organization effectively:
SBSP (Senior Business Strategy Professional)
PMP (Project Management Professional)
ABSP (Associate Business Strategy Professional)
