The following post is courtesy of Diane Harrison who is principal and owner of Panegyric Marketing, a strategic marketing communications firm founded in 2002 specializing in alternative assets.
Shelter in place. Quarantine. Social Distancing. These directives, issued from the CDC in early March to most of the nation, have forced us all effectively to tread water, in business and in our personal lives, for weeks now, with the likelihood of weeks longer in front of us. If you were not previously in a position where you could work virtually from home and have connectivity with others in your business world doing the same, this nationwide halt has created numerous challenges for the economy’s suppliers and consumers.
But let’s not rehash the national lament about toilet paper shortages here; rather, let’s take a positive view of 5 lessons alternatives managers can learn from the corona containment period that might help improve their business lives.
ONE: Take inventory of what you already have.
With this unplanned economic ‘breather,’ managers have the luxury of time to stop focusing on running their business and instead perform a self-evaluation of how the business has actually been performing. This is the ideal time to reflect and examine what issues, internal or external, have been both positively and negatively impacting the running of the fund, or managed accounts, or both. By isolating these factors and weighting their impact on the overall operations, managers can begin to form a diagnosis of operational assets and liabilities. Liabilities may include business challenges from competitors, internal critical skills shortages, budgetary pressures—whatever they may be, this is a good time to capture them on a list for further assessment.
TWO: Make a list of what essentials you are missing.
One of the outcomes of taking an overall inventory of the business is a list of priority gaps or shortages that seem important to the future running and building of the business. While some of these might be from the immediate pressures brought about by the COVID-19 shutdown, such as a lack of ability to sell or market in a manner previously working for you, others may be revealed as opportunities for improvement that have been neglected in favor of focusing on the daily financial management activities. By separating the list of missing essentials into those that you can work on versus those that have been temporarily imposed upon the business, a measure of control is restored to managers on some of the challenges that are or have been blocking business progress.
THREE: Create a plan for a) obtaining the essentials you can access, and b) working around those you cannot acquire.
This is the time to think creatively about problem-solving for the business. Once you’ve determined some of the essential business needs you might be able to build, refine, or acquire, you can draw up a plan to get them in place. For example, if there were projects that the business needed to implement but other priorities had overshadowed them in the hustle of everyday operations this relative quiet period could be a great time to consider refocusing on them. Some examples might include defining team roles and responsibilities, creating some of the marketing messaging and tools, such as case study examples of investment challenges and successes, and updating or expanding the firm website to articulate key strengths and benefits,
In addition, isolating those essentials which are beyond your control to obtain in the present automatically forms a priority list for when business functioning in the ‘new normal’ starts to open up. This priority list might also be a signal to course correct the business path, or redefine a new way to obtain stability and growth for the fund.
FOUR: Adapt your goals to the tools you control.
As you consider the potential projects you may be able to address in this quiet period, match the tools you possess to the tasks required, and identify what, if any, gaps exist. For example, if expanding or updating your website is a project goal on your list, can you handle all the creative and development efforts internally this requires? If not, can you accommodate bringing on external resources to assist with photography, content, design or coding? If creating a management development plan for the next phase of the fund’s growth is another goal, perhaps engaging with a search firm or other human resource professional can help formulate position descriptions for both existing and future talent.
Even if you are not ready to proceed with such projects in the immediate, using this time to think through what you want and how you can achieve it is a valuable exercise in budgetary prioritizing for now and the near future. Tools you possess already can be put to good use, and the tools, or skills, you need to outsource can be planned for in accordance with defined projects.
FIVE: Break down large tasks into small, manageable goals that advance you towards the final objective.
So now you will have an inventory of items or projects that you have determined to be essential, attainable, and able to be addressed in some fashion, as well as a list of priority issues requiring attention in the future as soon as possible. For the attainable list, the next step is to workflow out a plan to begin solving or developing these items. Translating critical wishes into action steps towards completion of a goal is where the creative meets the practical. What is the goal? How will you get there? What are the steps needed to move you to the finish line? By taking time at the beginning to see a path and work towards each step, you make the end result more manageable in time, resources, and effort. Progress can be its own payoff and help invigorate the process to get to the final goal.
Time is one resource we have all been granted during this period of forced introspection. Using yours wisely can help you both retain some control over the future course of your business as well as assist you in reshaping your success as we enter the ‘new normal.’
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