Can your company think on its feet?
It seems contradictory, but to run a tactically agile business you must have repeatable and reliable processes established.
Having a solid structure to work from, means the occasions where you do have to think on your feet are more likely to produce positive outcomes. It stands to reason that perfected systems and staff with high confidence levels (the results of a set approach) are better equipped to improvise.
Planning is always preferable to devising on the day; however, there will be occasions where this isn’t possible…
A limiting mindset – Working it out at the end
One way to deliver more predictable and desirable results is to have pre-agreed targets from the outset. This ensures more objective review between the relevant parties, as the activity progresses.
There are three ways you can embed this:
1. Set your metrics – Know how you’re going to gauge success. What numbers do you need to see to prove this project has achieved/is progressing well?
2. Deciding to stop – Agree a cut-off point, where the investment involved is no longer worth it. This might seem negative, but is essential to prevent waste.
3. Removing emotion – By having the important conversations at the offset, you won’t feel so attached and protective as you might further down the line. Later, subjective decisions can become messy and leave some people feeling hurt.
A missing element – Minimum viable products
Another tactic for stopping waste of time, money and energy is to create an early version of your product or service to test the waters.
Before you have sunk countless hours and blown your budget, I would recommend assessing whether your service or product will be well received. It might be the case that one of its features is faulty, or it simply doesn’t match the market appetite. Again, it is good to determine this early on, so the people involved in development don’t feel either disappointed when it is underperforms or aggravated that they have wasted months producing it.
For effective testing, the best people to ask are your loyal customers. This has a number of benefits including making them feel like an important part of your organisation. As well as this, they are the most qualified to judge whether this product or service will land well; they are well versed in your company values and what your ideal market will respond to best. In one scenario, you receive positive feedback with some constructive criticism to improve your latest project. In another, you decide to go back to the drawing board, or even abandon the activity altogether. Whilst the second is of course less desirable, it is better this is discovered early than late.
A different perspective – Strategy vs. tactics
Strategy represents your long-term plan, where you want to go. Tactics are still forward-thinking, but constitute shorter-term projects and actions that work towards this long-term objective.
Whilst your strategy would generally remain unchanged to give your business a consistent direction, your tactics could alter more frequently to ensure more successful outcomes. For example, you may need to pivot your approach due to a change in market conditions or new trend. What’s important is that your organisation possesses the ability to switch tack if needed.
I would encourage my clients to adopt a proactive approach, that works towards anticipating possible disruptors. However, bumps in the road can occur, so taking reactive action shouldn’t always be dismissed. It can be far more costly to resolutely stay on one path than to pivot and find another.
As with many things in business the debate between strategy and tactics isn’t black and white. Find your perfect balance between sticking to the game plan and producing a moment of magic out of nowhere.