Reframing a Business to Stay Relevant

New problems cannot be solved by using the same tired solutions. Industries and clientele have needs and desires which are constantly in flux. Executives and business leaders must keep their businesses agile to respond to those changes. If you are a business leader, reframing your business could be the needed opportunity to ensure it has a sustainable future and continues to be profitable.

Before you Start

Ensure the right operational structure is in place to sustain any pivots or reframing you want to consider. Business leaders will know if a proper structure exists once they look at several elements of the business:  financial feasibility, costs and cash flow, existing clientele, lost revenue, and a solid idea of the business’s methodology for meeting needs in a unique way. If those don’t exist or are not as healthy as they need to be, they’ll need to be addressed first.

If you as a business leader or executive are considering reframing your business, you likely already have an idea of what might be going wrong to lead you to your decision. A full analysis of the business will need to be conducted to discover unknown problems and underlying elements to known problems before any final decisions are made. Conducting an operational assessment will help you have a solid understanding of your starting point and will guide you to the desired destination. If systems are properly in place, you already have the ability to conduct the following assessments:

• Operational Risk
• Fiscal Management
• Operational Efficiency
• Consumer and Community Needs
• Internal and External Analytics
• Technology Use

Priorities

As you are reimagining the framing of your business, consider the organization’s top priorities. Ask if they are still aligned with the new direction. Priorities may need to change. They must reflect the current business climate and reflect the assets your organization has on hand. By establishing top priorities, business leaders can ensure that any changes made and operations moving forward will align with the overarching vision for the business. Consider how these priorities reflect your business’s mission, values, goals, and also how the priorities reflect the situation which caused the need for a pivot.

It’s important to remember that relationships with the people around you and those you conduct business with be included in the priority list. The relationships between leadership, management, and the team will dictate how capable your organization is to withstand a pivot, and these people will help with developing innovations and efficiencies within the business to sustain industry changes. The relationships with customers are valuable because you will want them to continue purchasing from the business during and after any pivots. Be sure to communicate with them about how their services may be affected during any transition times and listen to their feedback so adjustments can be made as needed for continued or improved satisfaction.

Moving Forward

Now that you know for sure your structures are in place to regularly conduct assessments, be sure to do so. Regular assessments can help you monitor progress after a reframing to ensure optimal operations efficiency, that the business stays relevant within your industry and with your clientele, and that the team is adapting to and innovating through the new way of business. This will also create the opportunity to make sure your people are in the right place in regards to their talent and skills. Roles and needed skills are likely to change throughout the lifetime of any business and upskilling and retraining must happen in response to those changes to retain talent.

The importance of technology use in business will continue to increase which means the technology you use must be regularly increased and updated. It is clear that many of technological adoptions done recently will be here to stay. Consumers and employees will anticipate the business’s ability to continue following trends in the future and adopting the technologies which will continue to improve daily activities, streamline workflows, and enhance customer interactions.

As you move the organization forward into the next phase, be sure to maintain the ability to be nimble. Having this capacity will ensure that future adjustments are easier to execute and that the team is prepared to endure them. To learn more about improving agility and becoming increasingly nimble, click here to access our white paper.

Scenario planning is a valuable addition to determining needed agility capacity. Business leaders and executives should take the time to become aware of any risks their business may face and any potential disruptions that may come through industries. Scenario planning will help business leaders be prepared for action should something change which would threaten the future sustainability of the organization. As a business leader, plan for what actions you would take and what phases those actions would have to go through to be successful in responding to the scenarios developed.

Business leaders and executives must also continue to improve their own ability to lead. Monitoring all aspects of the business regularly will ensure proactive responses to scenarios, problems, or changes. When business leaders and executives work to elevate knowledge in any areas of weakness, they improve their ability to make decisions which will lead to operational efficiency and growth.

It doesn’t always take a pandemic to create a need to reframe an organization. Changes in industries and consumer demands occur regularly as technology improves and industries innovate. Preparedness will increase a business leader’s ability to withstand any disruption that may come.