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Navigating the Uncertainty: 5 Points to Assess Your Business Performance

What is the rest of 2023 going to look like for your organization? Does that seem like an impossible question? After all, no one could have predicted the disruption that we’ve continued to endure and its effect on business performance.

What we have learned is that innovation and agility are integral to success in this new economy. Yet, half the respondents in McKinsey’s State of Organizations Survey say their organization is unprepared to react to future shocks.

One approach to assessing your business readiness is to apply a 5-Points Star Model. This model looks at the business from five perspectives, all centered on strategy. This article will help you implement the 5-Points Star Model and evaluate business performance.

Getting Started with the 5-Points Star Model

The 5-Points Star Model assesses how well the business performs toward achieving the strategic goals.

To get started, draw a star on a sheet of paper. In the center, write “Strategy.” Next, ask yourself the following questions:

• How well-defined is your strategy?
• Who is your audience?
• How have the continued disruption and workforce shifts affected it?
• Have you identified three to five goals with initiatives to support them?
• Does every person in the company understand how they relate to the strategy?

Your answers to these questions will give you an idea of where to start when creating your own 5-Points Star Model.

The Star Model: 5 Points

The 5-Points Star Model assesses how well the business performs toward achieving the strategic goals.

• Process. To create and sell a product or service, a company must have processes. These provide consistency at a high level but should be adaptable and flexible where distinction is needed. Many companies fail to continue improving processes without proceduralizing them. Processes should not be cookbooks — they should be key steps or checkpoints to ensure quality and efficiency still support innovation and improvement.
• People. The personalities, skills, and competencies you hire are your business. They provide it the “humaneness” that creates new ideas and approaches, and ultimately, the face of the company. So many businesses have tried to drive out this factor through processes and procedures, with little to no success. Accept that people are different and that this is a strength rather than an issue.
• Organization. How you organize your people to support your processes may change, based on the situation or strategy. Currently, most companies seek to “flatten” the organization, reducing the number of levels between the front-line worker and the executive.
• Tools. What the organization uses — tools, software, and hardware — to accomplish its work. Often, management seeks the “silver bullet” tool that will fix all its problems, but this is a fundamental mistake — and usually an expensive one. Tools enable the people, organization, and processes. If those areas have issues, then tools only make them worse over time. Do your tools support good processes? The team members’ roles? The organization? If not, challenge their usefulness. (You can checkout my PowerPlays™ for tools and techniques to help you better lead through uncertainty.)
• Culture & Values. What does the company stand for? Why would someone want to work for it? Whether they are working in the office or remotely, having a culture of innovation and purpose is important to younger workers. Its focus on values, principles, and social relations can keep your company intact and strengthen in tough times. Without it, a job is just a paycheck.

Where you see areas for opportunity, engage your team to determine how to address them. This will strengthen your company and prepare it for the future, no matter what challenges it may bring.

TRANSFORM DISRUPTION INTO OPPORTUNITY

We know that the world is changing. But be assured that your organization can thrive even through the disruption!  Contact me to learn about my workplace generational keynote speaking, executive coaching, and facilitation services.

This article was originally published in September 2021.