2020 was a rough year for business to say the least. Those that have made it through are now looking ahead to 2021 which, despite a slow start due to the UK’s third national lockdown, looks to be a far more promising year as the vaccine rollout continues. That said, it’s still difficult to make a coherent business plan for the year when there is still so much uncertainty. Here’s a few things to consider when constructing your business plan in uncertain times:
Put into place plans that will allow you to undo any damage done by the pandemic If there’s one thing we’ve all learned from the pandemic, it’s that we can never truly know what’s going to happen. That said, the vaccine rollout appears to be going well, so now is as good a time as any to create quickly actionable plans that will allow for you to get back to something resembling your pre-pandemic operations. How will you go about phasing employees back into the office? Are there any opportunities that will allow you to recoup any losses? Are there lessons you’ve learned over the pandemic that you can now implement into your post-pandemic operations? Furthermore, work on making it even easier to work from home to mitigate the effects of any sudden reintroduction of restrictions in the last throes of this pandemic or any future reason.
Create a resilient budget One of the most immediate effects from the pandemic and the ensuing lockdowns has been marked drop offs in earnings, varying in intensity depending on sector, location and various other factors. While government schemes like furlough and bounce-back loans have helped alleviate some of the burden, mitigating the impact of any further hurdles by giving yourself some leeway in any financial planning will be helpful long term. Make a plan which over-estimates your expenditure and under-estimates your intake. Try and create buffers and put money aside when possible, at least until a bit of certainty is restored in the overall economic outlook.
Be ambitious This may seem counter intuitive, but all business plans need to have short-, medium- and long-term goals. While you may have to be conservative when making short term goals, there’s no reason you can’t create ambitious long-term goals. Having this longer-term view means that you can make the most of any time where your day-to-day operations slow down, as you can take steps towards those long-term goals instead. Not to mention the good this will do for morale and workplace mental health, creating something to work towards and things to look forward to for both yourself and your employees. Minc can help you make a coherent, actionable and ambitious business plan, find out more here here.
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