Strengthen your 2026 strategy with two simple planning tools
The start of a new year is one of the best times to step back and take a fresh look at your business plan.
For many small and medium businesses, planning can feel overwhelming or time consuming. The good news is it doesn’t need to be complex to be effective. Two simple tools, PESTLE and SWOT, can help you reset priorities, spot risks early and make clearer decisions for the year ahead.
Studies show that businesses with a written business plan grow up to 30% faster than those without one1. More importantly, businesses that regularly review their plans are better prepared for change.
Why PESTLE matters for SMEs
- Political
- Economic
- Social
- Technological
- Legal
- Environmental
These factors sit outside your direct control, but they can significantly shape decisions, costs and growth opportunities. Your business plan should acknowledge these influencing factors and prepare you to respond accordingly.
For Queensland based SMEs, this may include changes to industrial relations settings, minimum wage adjustments, or government investment in infrastructure ahead of major projects such as the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Environmental factors such as floods, heatwaves or severe weather events may also affect workforce availability, supply chains or insurance costs.
Reviewing your PESTLE analysis as part of your annual business plan review encourages you to pause and ask practical questions:
- What actually impacted us last year?
- What mattered less than expected?
- What caught us off guard?
By identifying risks early and uncovering emerging opportunities, PESTLE supports stronger long-term decision making and helps businesses prepare for change rather than react to it.
Why SWOT strengthens planning and focus
SWOT analysis helps businesses assess their current position by considering:
- Strengths
- Weaknesses
- Opportunities
- Threats
For SMEs with limited time and resources, this clarity is critical. SWOT helps prioritise effort where it will deliver the greatest impact.
For example, a Queensland employer may identify strong customer loyalty, deep local knowledge or low staff turnover as strengths, while recognising limited access to specialised skills as a weakness. Opportunities may include population growth across South East Queensland or increased demand driven by infrastructure investment. Threats might include skills shortages, rising wage pressure or competition from larger metropolitan employers.
Conducting a SWOT analysis:
- Encourages honest reflection on what the business does well and where improvement is needed
- Highlights competitive advantages that can be leveraged
- Brings early visibility to risks that could derail progress
- Supports clearer, more realistic prioritisation
Research shows that 48% of organisations fail to meet at least half of their strategic targets, often due to poor alignment between ambition and execution1. SWOT helps bridge this gap by grounding strategy in real capability and conditions.
Why using both tools together works best
PESTLE and SWOT are most powerful when used together.
PESTLE helps businesses understand what is happening around them. SWOT helps interpret what that means for their business in terms of capability, risk and opportunity. Combined, they move planning into action.
This approach gives businesses greater confidence in where they can realistically grow, what pressures need active management, and how their workforce, resources and priorities may need to adapt.
How Workforce Evolve supports smarter planning
Through Workforce Evolve, Queensland businesses can access free tools and practical guidance to support better planning and decision making, including:
- A PESTLE worksheet to assess external influences
- Business plan templates to translate insight into clear actions and milestones
- Learning modules exploring topics like future focused workforce planning and capability alignment
These resources are designed to support structured thinking, clearer prioritisation and stronger alignment between strategy, workforce and investment decisions.
With these simple steps, you can save time and money by helping your new employees become more productive sooner and encouraging them to stay with your business longer.
Start 2026 with focus and confidence
Using PESTLE and SWOT is not just a planning exercise. It’s a strategic reset.
With the right tools and a clear focus on execution, you can move beyond good intentions and create plans that deliver meaningful, measurable outcomes in 2026 and beyond.
If you are a Workforce Evolve participant, log in now to access the PESTLE worksheet, business plan templates and modules.
If you are not yet registered, sign up for free to access these tools and start building a clearer, more confident plan for the year ahead.
1Funding for Good. Statistics about strategic planning. https://fundingforgood.org/statistics-about-strategic-planning/
2Forbes Coaches Council. The importance of strategic planning for business success. https://www.forbes.com/councils/forbescoachescouncil/2024/04/30/the-importance-of-strategic-planning-for-business-success/
