How to plan for 2016

The talk of the town has turned to planning for 2016 and how businesses can ensure they are prepared for the unexpected.  It used to be that in business we created a five year plan.  Even then UK organisations were criticised for being short-sighted however now the preferred approach is to have an agile five year plan but to be nimble and have a dynamic approach that means your plan is revisited every quarter.

The key to success in a changing market

The key to success in a changing market is market awareness, aligned to action these ten key questions:

1. What are customers and potential customers doing?
2. What ideas can I leverage from other markets?
3. What are the macro ‘PESTLE’ (Google it!) factors that could re-shape my market?
4. How am I maximising all existing relationships with suppliers, partners and customers?
5. What am I doing to meet the changing needs of my customers/potential customers?
6. How quickly and effectively can I deliver the required changes?
7. How can I maintain continuous change momentum?
8. What are the regulatory changes that could impact our sector?
9. What was the best achievement in 2015?
10. What was the biggest learning point from 2015?

Finalising plans for 2016

As we finalise our plans for 2016 and look ahead to an exciting 2016 we must keep one thing top of mind: it all starts with the customer.

‘If you do what you have always done, you will get what you have always got’ – however this may not be true, because in today’s market, with ever changing customer expectations that approach may not work and you may get less and less; embracing the change I suggest really should not be seen as an option.

As you consider your approach for 2016 be the one to do something fresh and different because if you don’t somebody else will. 

Thanks for reading!

Gareth Griffiths

Legal and Operations Director, NextGear Capital