BUSINESS
ARE YOU PREPARING YOUR BUSINESS TO
PIVOT? by anita davis-defoe for the urban sentinel
C
oupled with facing the multi-faced challenges brought on by the coronavirus pandemic globally, businesses, particularly smallmedium enterprises (SMEs), if they aim to remain viable and once again thrive in what has become “the new normal” must be focused on what I have labeled a P2P; Plan to Pivot! One of my mentors, Dr. John C. Maxwell says, “Each day we are preparing to move forward, or we are repairing a misstep.” Think about it, when we fail to scan the environment to inform actions and decisions, or when we do and neglect to prepare a strategy to proactively address the factors noted with a solution, we then stay in a constant repair mode. We become a perpetual fire fighter, always moving from crisis to crisis, working to keep the business from burning down. Right now, every business is staring customer demand breakdowns, regulatory modifications, supply chain missing links, escalating unemployment, economic recession, and unsettling uncertainty. Thus, for your business to rebound and recover, during this time of quarantine, do your groundwork, edit your business playbook and create your P2P. Canadian management expert Henry Mintzberg suggests that strategy is comprised of 5 Ps: plan, ploy, pattern,
18
position, and perspective. Every SME should apply this mindset and get ready for the pivot. Determine your current position, plan your next moves, what lens or perspective will guide your actions, what programs –projects – products will your company create and delivery, and how will you continue to evaluate data to be prepared daily. Ponder these questions as you prepare to pivot: 1. What is the current position of your business and what are your business aspirations as the pandemic lessens or hopefully ends? 2. What is your plan for achieving these desired results? 3. What is your “bounce-back mindset, for yourself, your team, your enterprise, hopeful or hopeless? 4. What is the state of your innovative mind, what new programs, projects, or products will you need to create and market to remain viable and to effectively rebound? 5. How are you preparing to achieve desired results, so that daily you are not just repairing? Dr. Marcia Brandon, Chief Entrepreneurship Expert with the Caribbean Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Livelihoods (COESL), shared these thoughts as it relates to the pivot, “Entrepreneurs can use this time to look for new partners and develop existing products or even pivot. Our entrepreneurship landscape will change.
We will have a leaner organizational structure, which means more crossfunctional roles. Entrepreneurs who are operating virtually need governance structures in place (policies) to guide how they do things. For example, how does one work from home? Telephone etiquette, use of cameras on a computer, all of those are things to consider to guide the standards in a business. If MSME entrepreneurs do not have these already it is now time to learn from this and take the time to create crisis protocols and preventive action items for the future.” The current pandemic has clearly spotlighted health disparities and the need for us all to be more proactive about our self–care. Dr. Lenore Coleman, CEO of Healing Our Village, has been and continues to be an innovator in the health sector and is certainly prepared to pivot offering Healing Our Village Telepharmacy. Dr. Coleman commented, “For the past 6 years, Healing Our Village has been involved in the concept of Telepharmacy. The Model State Pharmacy Act defines the ‘practice of telepharmacy as the provision of pharmacist care by registered pharmacists located in within the US. Telepharmacy includes Medication Therapy Management, Remote patient monitoring, chronic disease management and transitional care. All of these services use telecommunications
