SME Strategy Guide - Question 1: Where are we today?
- josh58306
- Dec 2, 2024
- 3 min read
Updated: Dec 17, 2024
This is part 3 of our strategy series. For part 2, click the button below.
I’m always going to push towards having a big audacious goal, but you need to be realistic about how big this goal is to be if you’ve any hope of achieving it.
If you tell me you want to cycle across the island of Ireland, that sounds cool - but saying this without knowing if you can a) cycle a few miles or b) even have a bike, will make the challenge a bit harder than originally thought.
It’s not that you can’t do the thing, but it’s about being realistic about how hard or long or tricky the thing will be. Knowing the context of where you are starting, with an honest account, is a crucial first step.
Analysis without the paralysis
I’ve never formally studied business, but those who did shudder at the thought of a PESTLE, SWOT or Porters Five Forces being mentioned. I could write chapters on the pros and cons of each of these frameworks and how they practically apply to start-ups and small to medium businesses. I’m not going to do that today.
YouTube and ChatGPT are your friends on how to conduct a good analysis, but here are my top 3 ways I assess businesses I work with:
Your own context - V2MOM
V2MOM: Vision, Values, Methods, Obstacles, Measures
I use this with everyone I work with, having only discovered it last year in this article The Permissionless Corporation. It’s used as a way to create alignment within organisations, which is really what this question is all about. It’s all about the personal, first person view, which is what makes it an easy entry into talking about organisational strategy.
The external context
PESTLE Analysis: Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Legal and Environmental contexts
I always conduct this in a group setting. If you have a team, brilliant, if not, find a customer or partner. If you’re very early stage, find some people you trust and get them in to talk through the idea with you. It’s about trying to call out the facts as bluntly as possible about the external situation surrounding your business.
The people context
Stakeholder Analysis: No acronym here!
No business operates in a vacuum, and you need to understand who are the key players around you. This includes customers, suppliers, partners, and employees. Think outside the box, such as regulators, or supporters who exist within your ecosystem. An easy axis to plot these individuals against is that of power versus interest - see below:
I keep it as simple as that for the contextual analysis. Those three exercises will set you up for success, and provide three points of analysis for considering where your business is currently operating.
Actions to complete
Complete each of the above three exercises for your business, ideally involving others to build a rounded picture.
Gather some internal performance data you have and compare and contrast to the context you’ve outlined. Look at the ‘measures’ for success you outlined in the V2MOM and benchmark your actual data against your aspiration.
Keep your stakeholder analysis updated in a live document somewhere - going through the pain of creating this will help you out in the long-run, as you’ve no idea when you’ll encounter people again!
