When the marketplace begins to shift, organizations also start to shift. This adjustment and being agile are very good things for allowing the business to make the appropriate changes to take advantage of a marketplace shift or stay in control when the shift moves against the business’s strengths. These adjustments should be aligned with the organization’s Core Purpose, Core Values, Core Principles, and strategic objectives.
More frequently than is potentially valuable to the business’s bottom line, organizations drift into various other non-core strategies just because the new shiny options present themselves and someone thinks it’s a great idea to pursue them. Or, as JKL Associates likes to frame these challenges, just because you think you can does not mean you should. In some industries, when project-focused, these drifting opportunities are called scope creep. The annual business plan is the project for the year, and the elements that are outlined in the plan give the organization its greatest chance of success. Yes, those plans need refinement as new data becomes known, but adding completely new elements to the plan without revisiting the impact those items have on all the other moving parts adds chaos to the plan.
A few years back, when the pandemic shut down business as usual, much more radical changes were not just needed but were the difference in survival or exit from the marketplace. This is not the normal course of business realignment. A significant market adjustment was required, and those businesses that were flexible and made key strategic decisions sustained the challenging times. These were not times when much analysis of the current business plan was considered. Survival took over, and shifts were made. We are well past those times, so that mode of operation needs to be put on the back burner, only to be brought back out when survival is in demand. On a more daily operational model, business leaders need to remain aligned with their business’s core elements.
This week, in your leadership-level review of the organization’s progress toward 2025 success, take a deeper look into the various elements that might have drifted into the organization’s plans. Sometimes, they are very difficult to see if you just glance over the business operations. Sometimes, they were not even intentional shifts but more of a shortcut or different path elected by an individual or department to improve their own results. Still, they did not consider the upstream and downstream impact of their shift in operation. Over time, just because you think you can does not mean you should comes into play. This comes back as other problems to the business, and people start scratching their heads as to why this or that is different.
When an organization operates according to its core purpose, values, principles, strategies, etc., the operational flow continues to move with consistent, positive momentum. The data points used to monitor progress can then identify proper adjustments based on data rather than good hunches.
Looking for a system to align your organization for record-setting results? Call JKL Associates at MI (313) 527-7945 or FL (4307) 984-7246.
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