Moving from setting new priorities to strategic priorities for impact
by Elias Moses
Uncertainty is here to stay. Volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity of market scenario will be continuing to haunt the business world for the next four quarters. Revenue is going to hit the mid to large scale industries, across the sector for sure.
No one knows the decision of the Govt for the next quarter and the quarter after, as there is the steep climb in the number of Covid cases along with the volatility rupee day by day.
Thus, the time for waiting, in my opinion, should be over.
Companies and businesses should think otherwise then normal.
The step to entry into the new normal must begin now. All our management practises have to take on the new challenges by having an about-turn strategising options.
The Business Leadership needs to think on the following three options
1. Move from setting up New priorities to Strategising existing Priorities
It is time to move on from setting new priorities to strategising existing priorities and strategic priorities to deal with the crisis moment, such as this, which we cannot do away-with in times to come. The rest of the world have learned to cope already.
Creating sustainability during turbulent times and sustainable work environment for workforce have to be the key. This is not something new. That is why, I said, during crisis times, it important to strategise one’s existing priority.
When we set up or focus on entirely new priorities, we have no idea if we can sustain them on the longer, unless they are ultimately essential or we have a financial buffer to take them on, in view of creating a competitive edge.
On the other hand, it important to refocus on what we were once good at doing before pandemic, and do them with a renewed vision and strategic plan. This creates sustainability. This is what I call as working on ‘priority of essentials.’
Keep doing the same thing, with a different frame of reference. This is where the functional units of companies have to contribute or adapt to new options.
Multinationals like Microsoft and Amazon are leading examples for this. They have changed the way they work and do business even during crisis times. Many firms like them even redesigned their workspaces to make them more environment friendly and policies concerning WFH options. Amazon adopted “frustration-free” packaging and announced “Shipment Zero” project, and have moved on with it even during Covid times with ease.
Creating a sustainable workplace cannot take a back seat with covid-19. How can sustainability be a not strategic priority during this pandemic times?
This pandemic has in a way conscientised us to respect nature, rethink and act different.
2. Localise Business and Operational Structures
The leaders have to move on from being crisis managers to change leaders. And this change must happen locally.
We are good at customising global practises for our workforce, by the way we operate and run our companies. It worked for us before pandemic, when we all were working within office premises. WFH has resulted in not being productive, unlike in many European countries. (pls read my article on ‘leadership challenges from remote work’)
In order to upscale our activities during Covid times, it is good to ask these key questions to think and act local, why even strategise local.
- Do we have the right skills and manpower to ensure smooth operations, and how do we ensure safety of my workforce?
- how do we ensure smooth operations and safety of our workforce considering the changing red/green/orange zones?
- Are our supply chain geared up to meet these demands?
- Is there an opportunity to relook at our non-core costs and can we move some of them to a variable cost model?
- Are our suppliers and dealers financially stable? How can we align?
- how has customer behaviour changed and how do we continue to effectively engage with them?
Companies need to develop a list of time-bound and well-defined activities, localise their operational procedures which need to be carried out diligently, while re-starting operations and their supply-chain.
Let us take the clue from here – “Countries will look to localise their production and supply chains so as to mitigate the disruptive effects of a global calamity such as this one’, as noted by our Foreign Secretary’s address on ‘New World Order Post COVID-19’ to the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) on 21 May 2020.
3. Build a Cultural Immune System in the company
In case of trade off between cost-saving options and resilience, the decision has to be made in favour of the latter.
Some times the nature does few in our favour, while putting us through heavier strain, as it has happened during covid-19.
This pandemic has helped us to build a cultural immune system to cope with life and demands.
The business leaders will have to take the first responsibility to boost a new cultural immune system by using adequate digital technologies and localised work from home options (WFH) options to start with. These are only a start.
They have to rethink on these five strategic areas to boost the work-culture immune system on a sustainable basis.
- Realign your cost structure and sharpen productivity
- Supercharge digital transformation to create a digital enterprise
- Carve out new revenue streams
- Prepare your workforce for the new world
- Strengthen capital efficiency
Agility is going to be a new virtual in the business world across countries and organisations going forward, building a strong immune system among its workforce.
It is important for business leaders to build resilient and agile work force into a capability itself going forward. And there is no looking back here.
I am completely confident that our visionary leaders will strategise their priorities and improve the company processes to reach the goals by an optimum usage of available resources.
When tough situations arise, the tough must get going.
Elias Moses is a Senior Business Strategist, Consultant, Researcher, Corporate and Leadership Trainer, Orator, Columnist and an Entrepreneur. He is the Founder and Managing Director of a growing reality firm in south India. He is also the Founder of Managing Next.
The author can be contacted@
email: elias@managingnext.in, linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/eliasmoses