Image: Isiwal/Wikimedia Commons/CC BY-SA 4.0 / CC BY-SA
A few weeks ago, I posted an article on how to prepare for emerging from lockdown and preparing to thrive in a Post COVID world. Much has been written and many things have become clearer during the last few weeks. On the other hand, the situation remains fluid with conflicting reports and research emerging daily. We mentioned that we were working on a Readiness Assessment Tool. This is the focus of this article.
The tool takes the form of a tabular maturity model. See here on details of how maturity models are constructed and how to use and benefit from the insights that they generate.
This particular one was constructed by us at Inspired, using collective experience and the information available at the time about the pandemic, as well as our background in business architecture, including scenario planning.
The columns represent maturity levels, as follows:
Initial - We are becoming aware of the problem and starting to assess our situation and the impact, but are far from ready
Emerging - We have some measures in place, have a reasonable understanding of the problem and its likely impact and a plan of what may need to change
Managed - We are executing on the plan, controlling negative impacts and seeking opportunities
Optimised - We have everything under control, have delivered on most plan aspects and are monitoring success and adapting where necessary
The rows represent concern areas or competencies. The initial few are shown below. For each of these the cells show typical characteristics of that area for each maturity level. The approach is to examine each row to find where you currently fall (what resonates most with your current state / situation) and then mark that cell before moving on to the next row.
This will yield a “jagged line” of marked cells down the table representing the current maturity or readiness as assessed. Now comes the magic: Given your current level of readiness on each aspect, there are recommended actions you can take to move up the maturity/readiness scale. For each marked cell we want the set that will help us move up from where we are to the cell to its right. These can be compiled into an action plan and allocated to responsible parties. Obviously, this step will take into account practicalities like costs, resource commitments and relevant benefits.
My colleagues and I have prepared a set of such recommended actions, and integrated them into our Maturity Assessment Tool, which is now available online.
We hope that this instrument can help you on your journey to become better prepared to survive the pandemic and to thrive in the changed world as it abates.
Inspired can assist if you would like to work through a process of examining how it will affect your industry, your organisation and the various dimensions of your business moving forward. One form this can take is a remote/virtual facilitated workshop to understand the New Normal using PESTLE analysis, the readiness instrument, scenario planning techniques and rapid business architecture using tools such as the Business Model Canvas.
An interactive online version of our tool is now available. Generate a maturity report for your organisation quickly and easily.