Recently the World Health Organization (WHO) officially declared an “end” to the Covid-19 pandemic. Although that should come as good news for American businesses, newer challenges are starting to take center stage with American consumers, including the big one.
Are we in a recession yet?
Other issues ahead include rising mortgage rates, continued supply chain shortages, and prices on consumer goods on everything from gasoline to groceries.
Although none of this makes for a comfortable forecast for 2023, it doesn’t necessarily mean there’s a gloomy outlook for American businesses either. As we previously wrote, many major American companies, including Trader Joe’s, Microsoft, American Airlines, and more were founded in times of economic downturn.
The only real truth for the year ahead is that preparation and planning will serve as the best foundation for the year to come, no matter how the future shakes out.
“Planning is bringing the future into the present so that you can do something about it now.”
― Alan Lakein, author
If you’re looking to align your future with the present day, here are a few key steps to help you build your strong foundation.
Review Your Core Values
As the checklist for how you run your company, your core values should be front and center in all business strategy meetings.
Ideally, every employee should be able to quote your core values by heart. Why? Because if your core values guide you in all that you do, your employees should already be aware of that and actually want to follow suit, as they look to replicate your successes in their own leadership and departments.
What makes great core values? Your core values shouldn’t just sound good on paper, but they should carefully align with your business ideals and practices.
Great core values are what set your company apart. They are the values that are wholeheartedly believed and experienced by your leadership, your employees, your partners, and your customers.
If your core values aren’t already a tent pole for your business, now is the time to pull them out, and review them. See how you can reframe your internal communications to get your team on board and align their business outputs with the values you’ve set for the business.
Take a Good Look at Your Internal Team
Covid-19 certainly made recruiting even more difficult than ever as employees–especially those in middle management positions–redefined their work-life balance.
During the “great resignation,” as it came to be termed, the media focused extensively on the mass exodus of people leaving positions that were no longer meeting their needs. The media spent less time, however, covering the many employees who went to positions that better fit their values and their needs.
If your employee recruitment has been frustrating, highlighting your mission, your business culture and your core values can be a beacon to employees looking for a better fit for their skills.
It is also important that you don’t settle for “good enough” for the executives who aren’t in alignment with your core values. Keep in mind that mishires in senior roles can cost businesses hundreds of thousands – if not millions – of dollars in lost revenue.
So choose right, from the beginning, and use this to determine who’s a match for your corporate culture and who isn’t.
Focus on Your Growth Opportunities
Now is a great time to focus on your growth opportunities. While you may think growth opportunities means increasing revenue and finding new clients, it is equally important to create a culture that allows your employees to grow.
Here at PFD Group, we are big believers in the idea that creating a culture and an environment that encourages your employees to thrive, should be a central part of your growth strategy.
As a leader, I can confidently say that there is nothing more rewarding than seeing your employees thrive and grow in their roles.
–Ethan Martin, CEO, PFD Group
Solicit Feedback
Ostensibly you’ve built your business to serve your clients and to serve your employees. But are you asking them if it does exactly that?
In a prime tech example, by 2008 users had already started celebrating the annual “Delete Your MySpace Account Day.” The social network was rapidly losing market share to upstart Facebook, which had a better user experience, according to people actively engaged in that experience.
It took MySpace another 12 years before it was finally acquired by that same upstart.
If you were listening to MySpace leadership, big plans were in the works that were sure to bring users back. But if you asked your team and your clients, you already knew that Facebook was the place to find clients–nearly a decade before MySpace closed for good.
Internal and external feedback is a critical tool to help you drive growth, customer service and product development.
At PFD Group, we have developed a facilitated process that carefully solicits feedback from your most engaged clients and customers.
Week One: Confidential Interviews With Your Leadership Team
During the first week, work with your leadership team to determine what’s at stake, Discuss how you’d like to drive change–if necessary–from what you learn from clients and employees. What are your key growth indicators and how can you align growth with what is on board?
Week Two: Distribute the Survey
Have your survey ready to go on day one. And remember that each survey should be dedicated to a specific area or topic. Don’t make it too broad or too long. You should be constantly talking with your core customers so written and verbal feedback should always be a part of your outreach.
In advance of sending each survey, have a full plan in place on how you will outreach to and remind clients that their answers will help drive change. Let stakeholders know time is limited so they don’t put off answering the survey. Also clearly indicate if you’ll be offering an incentive for completing the survey and especially let your customers know WHY this survey is important.
Week Three: Compile and Share Survey Feedback
Conduct an preliminary review of the survey results to develop questions and topics of discussion that will guide your strategic planning.
You’ll want to plan a half day or full day, offsite, facilitated strategic planning session to review your strategic planning. Facilitating the meeting will allow your senior team to be fully present during the discussion period, and avoid distraction such as meeting logistics, or who is in charge of ordering lunch. One you’ve discussed and compiled the survey, come up with a plan on how to act on the internal and external feedback you’ve compiled.
And don’t forget to thank the stakeholders who participated in the survey.
If you’d like help with your strategic planning for 2023, PFD Group can help. Contact us today to learn how we can help with strategic planning, consumer feedback and employee retention and outreach.