Interesting article in Fortune about managing chaos featured these interesting approaches to addressing your business challenges in what is an increasingly unpredictable world:
Tough talk: Force a conversation on how the company will have to operate differently to be successful not now, but two years (or more) out. This keeps navel gazing and self satisfaction of today’s successes at bay. I’ve referred to this as having Crucial Conversations, which is also the title of a book to which one of my former graduate professors contributed.
Yellow flags: Pay close attention tro what your sharpest, most mobile (those who can change suppliers easily) customers are doing. They act as an early warning system. That is, while it is possible to set up barriers to customer churn, ultimately these factors (sticky applications, etceteras) will merely slow the stampede. A few months ago, I finally changed banks even though I had established CDs, safe deposit boxes, checking, savings, online banking, direct deposit and a host of other services with them. The hassle postponed the move, but did not eliminate it, as I was finally irritated enough with high fees and poor service (and a non-committal response from executives to my complaints) that I took the time to make the adjustment.
Remodel early: Start changing your business model when you are most successful. See my earlier post from January: “The time to repair the roof is when the sun is shining.” (JFK)
Abandon yesterday: Maintaining what no longer works draws resources away from the job of creating tomorrow. Any decent financial planner knows that there is a time to abandon all hope that your holdings will rebound. Create a storyline: Your company’s past, present and future is a story: articulate it as such to all stakeholders!
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