Brexit Readiness: Seizing the Opportunity

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Whilst I was never a scout, the scouting motto of Always Be Prepared is one that resonates with me and perhaps more so at this time when Brexit is causing an increased level of uncertainty amongst businesses.

No matter if your organisation is based in the UK or in mainland Europe, reading the press at the moment it is difficult not to be confronted by regular stories covering the full range of Brexit emotions, from Brexit will change very little right the way through to nothing will be the same again. It would seem very difficult for businesses to be prepared in an environment that is so dynamic and undecided. Many years of working with companies of all sizes has taught me the value of being able to see through the noise and how this can free a business to move forward.

Organisational Self-Awareness

Understanding the environment that your business is operating in and being able to understand your business' strengths and weaknesses in this environment is a vital part of being able to prepare for and respond to change.

In my book the Brexit Readiness Guide, I discuss choosing two scenarios that you feel are potential Brexit scenarios, for example, your first may be one where the UK remains in the Customs Union, and the second may be one where the UK is outside of the Customs Union.

Using your chosen scenarios you can now perform a combination of SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) and PESTEL (Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Environmental and Legal) analysis to get to know your business and how prepared it is to deal with these scenarios and what your business needs to do to improve. This becomes your Brexit Transformation Plan.

Performing this sort of analysis is useful in many different scenarios, not just for Brexit readiness; t will help raise your organisation's awareness of itself and be prepared for complex change and is very useful for considering "what if?" scenarios.

Be Selective
Some organisations are stunned into inaction when faced with complex change, thinking that they have to know everything before they start anything. The secret to overcoming this and becoming more agile is to break the change into smaller pieces or initiatives. Understanding the dependencies of these initiatives and the decisions that have to be made (internal or external to your organisation) will allow you to identify those projects that can start and offer the greatest benefit to your organisation now.

Spotting the Opportunities
So much of what is written about Brexit focuses on the negative aspects - this isn't the part where I try to convince you of the rights or wrongs of Brexit - I personally believe in the manta "with change comes opportunity". Organisations who are so focused on the potential negative impact, or who are focusing on implementing changes for a worst-case scenario are likely to miss the opportunities that are there now and are potentially being taken advantage of by others today.

The answer to this is to seize the opportunities identified by the SWOT and PESTEL analysis and ensure that they are being acted upon. Having a person or a team responsible for the ongoing identification of opportunities and the implementation of opportunity-orientated changes may be transformational for your business.

Don’t Delay

There is now less than a year until the UK enters into the 21-month transition period. That may seem like more than enough time to adapt your business, but better to start sooner and have time to spare than to start late and overrun. So my advice when I talk about this subject to CEOs, business leaders and business founders is that there is no commercial benefit or advantage in delaying.

If you would like to know more about Brexit Readiness or managing complex change, you can contact Darren at darren.wray@fifthstep.com. His book, The Brexit Readiness Guide is available from Amazon in both paperback and eBook formats.