Does Your Business Have the Strategic Agility Required to Survive?
The world of business innovation and strategic planningis ever-changing and always evolving into something new and exciting.Does your business have the strategic agility to survive the world-widerecession of 2008 and onward?
"It’s an ever-changing world,” you’ve heard the statement, but hasit really sunk in yet? The world of business innovation and strategicplanning is ever-changing and always evolving into something new andexciting. Does your business have the strategic agility to survive theworld-wide recession of 2008 and onward? Intelligent business ownersunderstand the importance of modifying business strategies to embraceinnovative ideas and survive.
For example, businesses that once operated from U.S. based callcenters found that outsourced work to overseas call centers saved a lotof money and was a sound business decision 7 to 10 years ago.
Customer service became difficult simply because of the language barrier.Unhappy customers would move to another business that hired nativeEnglish speaking employees.
More recently, the same U.S. based business may have come to realizethat the work outsourced overseas is better and more easily managed by employees working from their home office. Even though the businessesmay pay higher wages to home-based workers than they would to overseasemployees, overhead was cut dramatically.
Taking the opportunity to hire and train employees who could effectively handle customer servicefrom their home office relieved the stress of expensive building upkeep and other bills involved with operating from a large brick-and-mortar business location.
Customer service and retention are up because more workers arenative English speakers and the communication gap isn’t a hindrance to customers when they call for assistance. Strategic skills and competentbusiness planning worked hand in hand to save the corporate world once again.
That was just one tiny example of how successful strategic planningcan see your business through even the toughest economic troubles. Businesses around the world search for the perfect employees to fittheir needs.
Smart CEOs and general managers embrace the idea of hiringpeople who are innovative thinkers and will help implement the ideasthey propose. Tactical and strategic thinkers help businesses succeedand grow, no matter the economic outlook world-wide.
What is Strategic Agility and Why is it Important?
Strategic agility is the ability to transform knowledge competencyinto innovative ideas; the ability to successfully reinvent businessesover and over again. Business, like everything else in life, isever-evolving.
In order to succeed at any type of business, you musthave the flexibility, strategic skills and competent business planningto change as needed. No single marketing plan will work forever.
Take a look at some of the most well-known businesses over the last100 years. Would the soda companies be successful today if they hadn’tchanged their look and tastes over the years?
Imagine for a moment if Coke didn’t take their businesses world-wide. Their success wouldn’t benearly as obvious as it is today.
How Change Drives Growth and Success
Business is a game you learn as you go. Not one single CEO can saythey haven’t learned a lot on the road to success. Business colleges doa great job preparing you for things that may happen, but the abilityto really strategize and plan ahead aren’t something you can learn in school.
Common sense, innovative ideas and great business competencycreate strategic agility; the ability to grow and change your businessinto something that will last. Change is imminent, embrace it and letit guide your business strategies.
Look to the future by learning from the past. History repeats itselfand as long as we are able to recognize and learn from the mistakes offailed businesses of the past, we will continue to grow and succeed.
Don’t let short-term success blind you to the long-term effects of anybusiness decision you make. Always be willing to change and grow!
Strategic Agility, Flexibility & Speed
These four ideals, above all else, can help ensure a successfulbusiness. Strategic agility is much more than the ability to adapt tochange. You must also know how to respond to change with strategicvision and competent knowledge.
You must understand when it is time todump old business strategies and recreate new ones. Move on fromexisting competencies and create your own business rules. Focus onhiring people with who are good at creating new and different winningbusiness strategies.
Flexibility and speed often go hand-in-hand to create the idealworkplace. Most businesses only welcome new business ideas from uppermanagement. Why? Because those are the people who have earned their wayto the top; they’ve been to top notch colleges and are well-educated.
Unfortunately, sometimes education isn’t enough. Some of your bestbusiness ideas may come from employees from anywhere in the company.
Start by asking your management teams, as well as the executiveteam, to help by creating new and different ideas or present potentialbusiness plans. By allowing innovation to come forward you openyourself and your business to a whole new world of trendy andpotentially wildly successful business ideas.
Daniel Lock Consulting
‘Helping Leaders build great organisations”
(C) Daniel Lock. All rights reserved.
