Every organisation has a plan to achieve their vision and business goals. Under normal circumstances, these are long term goals. The situation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has created an uncertain environment, where the best laid plan and strategies have come to naught. What worked yesterday may not work tomorrow.

It is times like these that force us to re-evaluate our vision and goals. This is the time to reinvent the wheel as the world and business landscape as we know it has changed and is still changing to cope with the upheaval caused by the pandemic.

So, what must SMEs do?

The planning that is required for 2020 and beyond is very different from what you have done in the past. Revisit and redefine the vision for your organisation with your leadership team, considering the current scenario we are in.

The business environment is yet evolving due to this crisis. In this scenario, identify your Business Goals and articulate the various steps that you will take to achieve them.

Consider the following questions while you develop your plan:

• What changes does your Product Strategy need? An example – an SME making apparels has now quickly introduced a new line for hospital apparel.
  
  
• Will your earlier Market Coverage Strategy still work? Do you need to look at new segments/markets/geographies? Exports, niche segments may suddenly dry up. What next? What are the new opportunities to be created
  
  
• Do you need to create more channels?
  
  
• What will be your key differentiator in terms of Customer Experience in today’s scenario? Customers going through their own challenges will prefer to deal with trusted vendors and partners. Are you one of them? How can your team stand out?
  
  
• What do you need to do to ensure you deliver the right customer experience today?
  
  
• What steps will you take to reinforce positivity in your employees and create a motivated workforce? Will the Employee Experience during and at the end of the crisis be of respect for the leaders, of caring, empathy, support? Or will you be seen as a villain who did not show respect when things were not good?
  
  
• How will you create an agile workforce that can adapt to unexpected changes quickly, be it adopting to technology, work from home, virtual teams, innovation in approach, etc?
  
  

Thus, the four key elements that will help you define and achieve your business goals are:

1. Product Strategy
2. Market Coverage Strategy
3. Customer Experience
4. Employee Experience
   
   

Build your Business Goals around these four pillars for 2020 involving your core leadership team and be reset and ready when the markets reopen. If possible, have a sounding board or mentor of your choice to guide you along this journey of change.

Also read: Should SMEs behave like a startup during crisis?

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