Recapping episode 1 in our first blog post, we talked about a process to think about and create your own company processes. That blog post looked at Loki going through his, “prisoner onboarding”, with the Time Variance Authority. It was fascinating to see that front and centre in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Looking at episode 2, there were a few processes that caught my eye, namely:
- New employee training
- After Action Reviews, and
- Testing your theories
These are all vitally important to running your business in order to create better effectiveness (and eventually efficiencies).
Episode 3 was a bit different. The takeaway from this episode is all about chaos, and how to handle it.
Loki and Lady Loki were transported to another apocalyptic event on Lamentis-1. While trying to figure out a way to get back to their timeline to infiltrate the TVA and kill the Timekeepers, we get some back-and-forth banter and learn a bit more about both Lokis.
Ultimately, the entire episode is about dealing with chaos. The Lokis are trying to find a way back to their timeline before the apocalypse happens on Lamentis-1. They board a train to the city with plans to board a spaceship in order to buy themselves more time to figure out how to get back to their timeline. This is where the chaos ensues. Loki throws a character off the train through a window. He himself is then thrown through the window, which diverges from the Loki’s plan to board the spaceship. Lady Loki now needs to figure out what to do so that she can get back to her timeline and destroy the TVA.
By the end of the episode, we learn that the Lokis are sort of screwed as the spaceship is destroyed right before their eyes as they are fighting a crowd while making their way to the spaceship. Who knows what will happen in episode 4!
The point I’d like to make here is that while you can plan for most situations, chaos can happen at any point in time. Take the pandemic for instance – no one expected this to happen. I don’t know the number of businesses that closed for good across Canada due to the pandemic, but I suspect it was a lot. This is a chaotic event because no one saw it coming. Sometimes that is hard to plan for.
Now that we know what can happen during a pandemic, we can take that information and use it to adjust our plans. “Plan for the worst and hope for the best” is a very popular adage when thinking about your planning journey. You need to account for the worst-case scenario. Considering what we now know of how the pandemic destroyed businesses, consider what could be worse than that. Add these new considerations as part of your planning process. You do have a planning process, right?
If not, you should prepare one. Considerations for your planning process can cover Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Environmental, and Legal factors. I purposely capitalized the first letters of each of those factors. There is a well-known framework called PESTEL, which stands for the first letter of each of the above words. This framework can help you gameplan the future of your business by considering each of these factors as they relate to your business and industry from an external perspective (i.e., how they can affect your business). You should be considering qualitative and quantitative factors as you work through the PESTEL framework.
Once you’ve looked externally, you need to look internally. An excellent tool for this is the Business Model Canvas. It outlines 9 areas you should review in your business to help understand what drives it forward:
- Key Partners
- Key Activities
- Key Resources
- Value Proposition
- Customer Relationships
- Channels
- Customer Segments
- Cost Structure
- Revenue Streams
Completing the BMC will give you an excellent starting point to review your planning process.
At Blueprint Accounting, we’re also very fond of the Entrepreneurial Operating System, as outlined in the book Traction by Gino Wickman. The EOS helps organizations structure their planning process to focus on areas of importance to help grow exponentially. I highly recommend including this framework in your planning process.
Once you decide how to go about your planning process, it’s important to consider what chaos could erupt within your industry or business. The pandemic has shown us that no one is immune to chaos, so you need to plan accordingly.
Credit for the Business Model Canvas: Warren Lynch https://warren2lynch.medium.com/business-model-canvas-learn-by-examples-with-free-online-software-474a872a9bcd
Here is an example PESTEL Framework:
If you need help with planning for your future, look no further than Blueprint Accounting. We provide bookkeeping, tax, and vCFO services to help guide your business to success. Reach out today to find out how we can help you.