Incomprehensible Excel spreadsheets. New government regulations (real or potential). Sleepless nights.

For thousands of companies, August and September traditionally represent a critical time when conflict resolution skills come to fore. Business planning departments send out performance files with 2009 budgetary data and ask executives, directors and managers to come up with some kind of meaningful 2010 forecast and operational goals. Given limited financial resources and a conservative outlook at best for next year, interdepartmental quarrels can break into open corporate warfare.

For many, particularly in a time where government officials are making vague comments about how they think the economy is "stabilizing" or "rebounding from the bottom," strategic planning and budgeting can be nightmarish. As one executive told me recently in an expression of dark humor, "Which would I prefer: planning for post-recession growth with no money, or getting a root canal? That's a tough choice."

With a trimmed down workforce, weak customer demand and anxiety about new government regulation resulting in additional costs, strategists can't just trot out their 2009 spreadsheets, overlay a 5% multiplier and send them back to the accounting department.

What's the new reality? Documented performance. As national economist Alan Beaulieu told Midwest Business in Chicago earlier this year, "When this recession is over, it definitely won't be business as usual."

But on the other hand, without getting too trite, Albert Einstein accurately said: "In the middle of every difficulty lies opportunity."

Many companies are far leaner and smarter than they were a year ago. Many have found new ways of serving customers and clients, exploring innovative means of providing value and being compensated. So if you're staring at an empty Excel spreadsheet and your Q1 forecast is due next week, where do you start?

What's your value proposition? Seems pretty basic, but in today's emerging economic recovery, companies who are still trying to operate their business on a value proposition that was formulated before the fourth quarter of 2008 are in for a rude shock. If it's not going to be "business as usual" in 2010, what are you doing in this lean and mean environment that's going to continue to differentiate your company and keep your customers delighted? Key words to remember in formulating a new value proposition: performance, validated ROI, productivity metrics and exceeding expectations.

What's a realistic benchmark for real growth? Many companies deployed the oxymoronic phrase "we're experiencing negative growth" when they communicated with shareholders and investors over the past 18 months. Resorting to "spin" doesn't help in a crisis or when anxious investors/employees want assurance that your company is still going to be here a year from now.

Now is the time to emphasize and maximize your company's cash cows and dump the "dogs," referring to the famous Boston Consulting model. People are buying your core product or service for a reason, and it’s time to give them more reason to buy more of that product or service. I would submit that the validity and reality-focused application of your value proposition is directly tied to your prospects of increased market share and/or category growth. Have you become a perceived commodity over the past year? If so, pricing is critical. If you can transform any commodity perceptions into a distinctive value-added product or service, then you're back to the performance realm, which is easier to control.

What's your corporate reputation? This is where you'll hear your advertising agency trot out the familiar refrain of "those who don't advertise in a recession have a more difficult time re-gaining their position." Well, maybe. The truth is that marketing and AD budgets got devastated over the past 18 months as companies worked to conserve cash. Many, if not most, are in the same place. So if you have a finite and inadequate budget to re-position your company for growth in 2010, deal with it. Considerable evidence shows that the lower-priced digital realm, coupled with a new emphasis on targeted public relations, is just - if not more - effective than cash-draining traditional ad campaigns, particularly in the B2B world.

Now may well represent a strategic time to break old traditional molds and try a new media mix. Apply the same performance expectations that your customers will expect to your marketing mix. Have a request for a half-million-dollar "brand" campaign on your desk to shore up unmeasurable perceptions? Maybe it's time to take a pass on that and go back to the David Ogilvy model where every ad needs a call to action and needs to sell something. Simple but true.

Cash is still king. With otherwise vibrant companies dropping like flies during the past 18 months, positive cash flow still rules going forward. Consider setting trigger points where if cash flow rises above a certain point for a sustained period of time, then your company or department can embark on a new venture or hire some much-needed expertise.

Don't forget your people. While putting together your strategic plan for 2010, don’t forget the people who stuck with you during the tough times. If your cash permits, work in a "battlefield promotion" or find an innovative way to reward the employees who improved productivity during layoffs or delivered exceptional performance. An "attaboy" pat-on-the-back only goes so far.

Finally, this is likely the best time to dust off your copy of Good To Great by Jim Collins. It's still a quick read, and the principles in there have been consistently proven to lift up companies, but only if they're applied. The real truism? This recession, like all others, will end. Face the fears of strategic planning and get on with it.