A brand new year has just begun. Meanwhile, the long-term impacts of COVID continue to linger in companies and startups around the world. When it comes to planning the objectives for 2023, companies have a lot to take into account, including an environment that’s more competitive than ever. The flipside is that this environment offers unprecedented opportunities to save money while increasing productivity.
Your startup’s business plan is the strategic map that will help you make the best decisions in a completely VUCA (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, and Ambiguous) commercial and economic environment, and it guarantees a few certainties:
- Digitalization is everything
- Counting on international stakeholders is no longer optional (clients, talent, investors)
- Flexibility and adaptability are vital for staying competitive
Broadly speaking, this means investing more in technology, permanently broadening your horizons, and relying on a “liquid” work structure, meaning that it can flow toward your key objectives at all times, even if those objectives change in response to extenuating circumstances.
However, there are some common steps that can help you define these objectives and achieve them in the best way possible.
1.- Get rid of whatever doesn’t help you
If your company or startup was founded before 2019, you probably built your general objectives based on a radically different economic and labor market in your industry.
Since the new normal is here to stay, it’s a good idea to review and update your pre-pandemic objectives:
- What do you need to clarify?
- Where do you have to be more ambitious?
- How have your target market’s needs and behavior changed?
- Which policies don’t work anymore? Which ones do you need to implement?
For example, thousands of startups that transitioned from hybrid to remote first are now taking the leap toward a full remote work model. This was unthinkable even a few years ago!
2.- Analyze your competition
When you look at the big picture, you’ll notice that “the company objectives” never exist in a vacuum. They depend on a wide variety of client needs and how the competition acts.
Unless you have the luxury of being the only startup in your industry, you’ll have to watch how your competition acts, especially in terms of:
- New products and services
- The user experience that they offer
- The types of technology that they’re using
- How they save on operating costs
For example, maybe your competition just invested in an ecommerce platform to provide their customers with more efficient and automated services. This doesn’t just mean that they’re using B2B ecommerce technology; it also means that they don’t have to centralize or multiply how much they pay their customer service team while they scale their sales.
3.- Establish team and department objectives
Once you have an updated outlook on viewing the business environment as a competitive strategy, it’s time to sit down with your department heads and managers so they can help you define concrete, realistic, and interrelated objectives in terms of:
- ROI
- Market expansion
- Technology innovation and optimization
- Stakeholder satisfaction (clients, team members, providers, etc.)
- Corporate responsibility
- Company culture
- Agile methods and productivity
- Digital presence and authority
- Scalability and cost reduction
- Remote work and international hiring
Each of these aspects are critical for every startup and must be focused on during the planning phase, but that doesn’t mean that there won’t be other aspects to consider depending on the nature of your business.
4.- Define your KPIs and who’s responsible for them
For example, if you’ve established that creating an IT or programming department that’s more flexible and 100% remote team is one of your strategic objectives, some of your key KPIs will be expedited hiring processes, onboarding learning curves, cutting recruitment costs and turnover rates, etc.
Having clear KPIs is great, but knowing who’s in charge of monitoring progress and constantly optimizing KPIs is even more important. For example, your HR department head can be responsible for publishing a monthly report on how the company is saving time and money by hiring remote IT employees.
5.- Give the people in charge of your KPIs a little extra motivation
Intrinsic motivation is one of the most desirable traits that a team member can have, but it’s never a bad idea to give them a little boost of extrinsic motivation.
Once you have your final list of objectives and KPIs for 2023, specify the type of bonuses or rewards that your leaders will get once they achieve each of them. Then, establish a system where every department’s progress is visible to everyone at all times. In this case, gamification will always be your biggest ally. Don’t be afraid to use it to your advantage.
Need help migrating your startup to a 100% remote work model in 2023?
One more thing: we’d like to remind you that migrating to a 100% remote work model in 2023 is a key objective that will positively impact your company on many levels.
Remote work allows you to save money on office space and supplies, and it can save your company up to 30% on recruiting and hiring. It also improves the company culture and increases your ability to respond to any unexpected situation or circumstances immediately.
Take the first step by hiring Workana-certified developers and IT talent for your team. Tell us what you need, and our team of experts will find the perfect qualified candidates for you in less than two weeks. Best of all, you’ll have a seven-day risk-free trial period to work with the candidates!
We have an 85% fill rate. Ready to get started?
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