Things to Consider for Your Post-COVID Strategy (Part 1)

Where is your business today with COVID? Over it? Concerned? Struggling to survive? Thriving and trying to figure out how to capitalize? Making the best of a bad situation?

No matter where you find yourself, there are a number of things business leaders should consider in developing recovery and growth strategies as COVID begins to move into the rearview mirror. This is the first of several posts that will recommend some of those items.

I suggest thinking of your answers as a rough mind map, allowing the various branches to take you in different directions that you can later sort and organize into things you’d like to operationalize.

This post starts the process with an external or environmental review.

 

External Analysis Questions to Consider:

  • Macro-Level (Big Picture)
    • What has changed in the broader political environment that affects our business?
    • What has changed in the broader economic environment that affects our business?
    • What has changed in the broader socio-demographic environment that affects our business?
    • What has changed in the broader technological environment that affects our business?
  • How do any of these changes directly affect our Mission, Vision, Goals, and Strategy?

 

  • Industry/Regional Level
    • What does the broad competitive landscape look like today? How is this different from pre-COVID? How intense is regional or industry competition? How does this differ from pre-COVID intensity?
    • Who are our key non-customer stakeholders? Board, shareholders, investors, donors? What are their concerns regarding our business and recovery efforts?
    • Who are our competitors? Who of our competitors is no longer around? Which competitors are stronger? Weaker? What is/was their strategy for surviving COVID? What does their emerging recovery strategy look like?
    • Who are our suppliers? How strong or weak are they today? Do they work for us or us for them, honestly? How have these relationships changed, if at all?
  • What impacts do these answers have on our Mission, Vision, Goals, and Strategy?

 

  • Customers
    • How have their lives changed as a result of the crisis? Think about changes to their routines, preferences, income, savings, spending habits.
    • How do they prefer to communicate going forward? Is this different? Are we prepared to meet them in that way?
    • Are our products/services necessities or luxuries? Has this changed? How does this impact who controls the customer relationship (i.e. us vs. the customer)?
    • Who have we NOT seen or heard from in a while? Why not? Can we re-engage them? How?
  • What impacts do these answers have on our Mission, Vision, Goals, and Strategy?

 

These are a few external questions to consider and review. In the next few posts we’ll look at internal team considerations, high-level vision considerations, operational-level strategy considerations, and ways to incorporate everything we’ve learned since March 2020 into effective preparation for future crises.

 

Need help developing your unique post-COVID strategy? Contact us today to discuss your opportunities.

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Craig A. Escamilla
Craig A. Escamilla
Craig Escamilla helps you find solutions before problems exist. With fifteen years of consulting, teaching, and senior management experience, Craig brings a wealth of practical expertise to helping others work on rather than in their businesses.

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