Strategic Planning and Management Insights

Given the troubling and unprecedented times we're living through today, we at SME Strategy are doing what we can to help prepare you and your organization for any type of uncertainty, economic slowdown, virus, natural disaster, and everything in between. 

Below is a video that will breakdown the scenario development process, and walk you through each step in process. If you'd like to just read about the process or follow along, a transcription of the entire video is directly below. Thanks for watching!

An immigrant from South Africa, Elon Musk is an inventor, entrepreneur, investor and multi-billionaire. After dropping out of a Stanford PhD program, Musk went on to create and sell his first technology company to Compaq Computer Co. for over $300 million (USD). After that, he and his brother created what we know today as PayPal, before selling to eBay for $1.5 billion in stock. Finally, he had the funds to start a private space exploration company called SpaceX, as well as an electric vehicle company called Tesla shortly after. Along with having an involvement in other companies such as Solar City, Neuralink, and the Boring Company, Musk’s success has amassed him a net worth or over $19 billion.

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Your business network and access to your data can be disrupted anytime because of natural or artificial disasters. Although, you cannot do anything to prevent the occurrence of such disasters, you can take actions to secure your data. By addressing these issues during your next strategic planning session, you can take action before unplanned scenarios arise. Additionally, using recovery software is beneficial because it will keep your most important information safe in the face of any emergency. Knowing that your data is easily accessible, will give you time to focus on your other issues.

Image rights owned by Research Optimus, author of this article. 

Small business owners cannot possibly eliminate all of the risks to their business. It’s a fact that highly successful entrepreneurs learn to accept. What we can do is minimise it through proper planning. Having a risk management plan in place will help you steer clear of potential risks before they become a big issue. The best risk management plans include the right tools, proper analytical strategies, and a business impact analysis to keep a keen eye on risks. Start 2018 on the right track by creating a sound risk management plan.

Today I received an email from the Vice President and Chair of the Strategic Planning Process  and VP Board of Directors for the Canadian Soccer Association, Nick Bontis. 

He shared their strategic priorities from their last strategic plan, and invited me to participate in their stakeholder survey that they are going to use for input into their strategic planning process for 2019-2021.

While it is important to have a sound organizational strategy, a roadmap to success for your organization, it’s also important to have a plan for how to handle emergencies along the way. Crisis communication strategies are similar to scenario planning and risk management, but focused on how to handle both the behind the scenes and external communications when big issues arise. 

The World Economic Forum released an article called "The State of the World in 2016 in Charts" with valuable information from an economic perspective (and also from strategic planning and scenario planning perspectives).