Setting the scene
Major or world-changing events, be it wars, economic crises or global pandemics, force reaction and change. In the business world and especially the SME space that means not survival of the fittest, but survival of the most adaptive. Those who recognize a pivot is necessary for their organisation's survival and those who execute on that pivot will be the "thrivers" post-COVID-19. When the storm has settled those businesses will emerge leaner, more focused, and with clear trajectories.
The foundation on which successful pivots are built is a clear, defined, and codified strategic plan. The COVID-19 crisis and the resulting closing and opening of economic activities is very unclear. What the long-term measures and regulations by governments will be, whether the new ways of workings will remain and even the full effect of the virus on our societies are still unknown. We are all in the same boat, trying to see through the same mist. Therefore, having an agile, robust plan and financial tools is critical not only to adapting to future unknown scenarios, engaging investors, or stakeholders, but also to lead your organisation and people.
To many entrepreneurs having a plan sounds obvious; if there had not been a plan the business would not exist in the first place? The economic and social environment we now live in and will live in the future was not the norm when original plans were drafted. In fact, those plans may lack the rigour or relevance as your business has grown over the years. CV-19 and the respective changes it has and will bring in the business world have resulted in old plans and models becoming obsolete or ineffective. To survive you need to adapt and this module, therefore, teaches you the what and the how; What are strategy pivots and a How to develop a plan in a 7 Step by Step guide. This process is supported with downloadable templates and tools to build a strategy pivot plan.
