Strategic Planning for 2022: It's Time to Rev Up

We have all been traveling down a pretty rough road lately. But U.S. business and the banking industry, in particular, have soldiered on through the pandemic and other challenges. We bankers learned how to do business remotely, processed billions of dollars in PPP loans, and modified countless loans to pandemic-affected borrowers. To say the least, bankers have performed very well through the tumult of the past two years. As Winston Churchill once said, it has been “a time to dare and endure.”

Since the pandemic began, the banking industry has been working in a crisis mode, and, to a certain degree, strategy has taken a back seat. Basically, bankers have been operating more reactively than proactively. But it’s time for community bankers to get back in the driver’s seat and plan strategically for the future. And that means they will need to address a myriad of challenging questions in their strategic planning process. Here are a few questions that bankers need to consider when planning for 2022 and beyond:

What are your bank’s historical strengths and weaknesses and has the pandemic affected these strengths and weaknesses for better or worse?

Has the pandemic created new strengths and weaknesses for your bank?

Fintech: Beat them or join them?

Is your bank far enough along the technology spectrum to execute your strategic plan?

What Covid-19 era operational processes need to be retained, revised, or eliminated?

What is your bank’s strategy to attract and retain talented employees in an environment that will more than likely be heavily oriented toward remote work?

A good place to jump start your 2022 strategic planning process is to take your existing strategic plan and revisit the plan’s strategic goals, objectives and financial performance. Where did you shine and where were you short? Try to separate out those goals and objectives that were derailed by the pandemic versus the goals and objectives that missed the mark for other reasons. This initial analysis will quickly cut through some of the pandemic-related noise inherent in your bank’s 2020 and 2021 results. In turn, it also will allow your planning team to not only efficiently address those areas in which past performance needs to be improved, but also identify those goals and objectives that may no longer be appropriate for your 2022 strategic plan. Don’t be surprised if your 2022 list of goals and objectives looks a lot different than your existing plan – it probably should.

Strategic planning is the most important function for which a senior management team is responsible. Covid-19 knocked strategic planning off its pedestal for a while, but now that strategic planning reprieve is over. The future belongs to those community banks that can successfully create a winning strategic plan and communicate and execute that plan through talented employees with technology-driven efficiency.

Artisan Advisors has many years of experience developing and implementing strategic plans for community-based banks. Having been past bank presidents, CEOs, CFOs and board members ourselves, we have a unique perspective on what it takes to define, create, and fully implement successful strategic plans. Strategic planning is more than just a “fill in the blanks” exercise – a lot more. We approach each strategic assignment with a commitment to explore your bank’s possibilities using a logical, data-driven method specific to your institution. Should you desire to discuss Artisan Advisors’ strategic planning services in more detail, please contact Jim Adkins at jadkins@artisan-advisors.com.

Learn more about Artisan Advisors: www.Artisan-Advisors.com

Phone: 244-633-2100 Email: info@artisan-advisors.com