Charting a course in a world of uncertainty can be daunting. Yet, with the right approach, it's possible to devise a strategy that navigates the unpredictable. Discover four steps that can guide you in crafting a resilient plan amidst ambiguity.
Uncertainty can be an opportunity
Handled correctly, uncertainty gives organizations the chance to expand beyond the boundaries of their current business, potentially in unexpected directions.
- Companies need a different approach to devising strategy, one that relies less on looking at what the company can do and more on imagining what it could do and doing whatever is necessary to make that possible.
How to Rethink Strategy
Take a strict customer view
- Instead of drawing up endless customer profiles, companies should consider what individuals want to achieve in a specific circumstance
- Involve the entire organization in the strategy development process
- The process of devising and revising strategy should be continuous
- Define the ultimate outcome, then adjust and adapt the strategy
Identify the best options
Define what success looks like for the process in question, then run the new solution in parallel to the existing one.
- Abandon the existing process completely if the alternative solution outdoes the incumbent one
- Only do things for which you can answer yes to both questions. Everything else you either outsource by means of partnerships or acquisitions, or you spin off.
Find the big question
The big question should be one that stretches your business to expand its value creation.
- Ask customers what problems they have encountered and then work constantly on solving those issues.
- Ask other stakeholders for new ideas, too – investors, government bodies, local communities, and employees.
Look to the Skies
Companies get bogged down in their own capabilities, fixating on what they currently do rather than how they can do it better
- Joerg Esser, PhD
- Encourage businesses to look to the skies, to open their minds and play with seemingly ridiculous ideas in a fun, creative way
Break it down
Break down the big strategic question into subsidiary questions relating to different parts of your operations or business process
- This allows you to anchor the strategy-devising process within the organization and open the door to inspiration from outside your own industry
- Ask the teams why it’s not possible
- Better still, taking an idea that everyone thinks is ridiculous and going for it is a fun, almost playful process
Generate ideas
Look for strategic ideas.
- Inspiration can come both from within the organization and outside it, by looking at what top performers in your own industry and elsewhere do
- For example, the fashion industry renews its collections more than 12 times a year, as opposed to the two seasons as used to be the norm
