Executive Summary: Business leaders can shape their own futures by taking a proactive approach to their strategic growth planning. For organizations to stay focused on their overall goal they must embrace a fundamental mindset shift as well as be people-focused and well aligned around the plan to get there. Along the way they will also need to carefully measure the results of their efforts, strive to ask good questions, and resist the temptation to hasten the process through oversimplification.
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A European study published in the Harvard Business Review on the future of work compiled extensive research from news articles and experts to make predictions around what progress and growth may look like over the next 50 years. As part of the research, the Belgian authors of the study sought input from tech entrepreneurs, economists, and authors/journalists. They discovered that these experts theorizing about what’s to come next fell into three buckets – optimists, skeptics, and pessimists. It’s no surprise that each of these groups had vastly different perspectives on what the future may hold, and yet amid their contrasting perspectives, the key takeaway from the article was this:
"The future will be whatever we make it. In our view, the scenarios pushed by optimists, skeptics, and pessimists are all theoretically possible. Questions like ‘will AI destroy a lot of jobs’ are thus misguided — whether AI destroys a lot of jobs or not will depend on the decisions made by people in the coming years. The question is thus not, ‘What will the future of work be like?’ but rather, ‘What do we want the future to be like?’"
It became clear that regardless of what people think may happen in the future, there is a strong element of personal agency that will shape the future far more than our speculations alone ever could. Our thoughts may not be self-fulfilling prophecies, but our actions do create outcomes. And the same principle is true on a smaller scale as well!
At the individual organization level, companies poised with a strategic plan will be able to shape their own future. So, the question your organization should be asking isn’t "What will the future hold for us?" but "What do we want the future to hold for us?"Taking a proactive rather than a reactive approach creates a shift that puts business leaders in the driver’s seat. Find out what that looks like for today’s leadership.
Embracing a Mindset Shift
Shifting away from a reactive mindset to a proactive growth-driving mindset across every facet of the organization is the foundation of shaping your future. Instead of worrying about what the economy is going to do next year or what kind of policy changes could be coming that will affect your business, focus solely on achieving your business goals. Get positioned to go where you’re steering the organization, not wherever the wind is blowing you.
Staying Focused
Of course, embracing a mindset shift requires understanding what your short-term and long-term goals are as a company. As a leader it’s critical to understand not only the methods you’ll use to generate revenue (the “how”) but also the principles that drive them (the “why”). As we explain when discussing how to use B2B principles to drive revenue, “Once you have the vision of who you are and where you want to go, then you can determine which kinds of activities will align with those organizational principles and values to best get you there.” Know what your business goals are and then take the steps to move you incrementally in that direction and don’t let anything distract you along the way!
Leaning on People
Like the Belgian authors highlighted in their research, people are the ones that will drive future change, not systems or machines. The human element is something that simply cannot be overlooked when planning for strategic business growth. Successful organizations must leverage their staff to acquire key institutional knowledge, offer first-hand experience, and gain valuable insight into prevailing perceptions to develop better offerings and reach audiences effectively. Incorporate technology, where appropriate, but do not lose your focus on people – your employees and your customers.
Aligning Teams
A key part of leaning on staff is aligning teams (especially sales and marketing teams) around the plan to facilitate cross-functional work and improve communication. Harnessing the power of individuals as well as the teams they comprise is key to keeping everyone rowing in the same direction together. For companies to control their future they can’t have siloed teams with independent and contradictory goals. Everyone must be aligned around a singular vision for the organization.
Measuring Progress
On the ocean everything looks like open water without a map, which means you won’t know whether you’re moving in the right direction or not unless you have a way to objectively measure your progress. In another recent Harvard Business Review article Angus Dawson and Katy George discuss the importance of measuring your efforts in saying, “Organizations need to be able to measure the outcomes of their actions and determine how changes in the inputs affect results. At McKinsey, we’ve developed tools that allow us to monitor our teams’ needs and performance in real time and then to hypothesize, test, learn, and adapt.” With a measurement system in place to offer feedback on its ongoing efforts an organization can strive for continuous progress toward the goal and measure its existing efforts to ensure it’s staying on course.
Being Curious
As progress is being measured and plans are being adapted, don’t be afraid to ask questions. In fact, strive to ask deep questions! Ask the questions that seem obvious (you may find that they’re not as straight-forward as you thought) and ask the hard questions too. The value of asking good questions cannot be underestimated! Ensure that your questions are not only investigative but also speculative, predictive, and interpretive to gain a full understanding of how well the business is achieving its goals already and what needs to be done next to shape the future. And then after you ask, really listen to the answers you receive with a genuine curiosity to learn.
Avoiding the Trap of Oversimplification
Of course, any discussion of how to affect a future outcome would be remiss if it didn’t include a warning about moving too fast. Too often business leaders get caught up in the idea of getting from Point A to Point B and try to get there as quickly as possible. They set a course and then go full steam ahead, trying to take the path of least resistance along the way by oversimplifying their strategic approach. The danger here is that oversimplification can cause results to fall short of expectations. If left unchecked, this lackluster performance can lead to compounding negative outcomes, which is why it’s vital to use a paced approach and put in the ongoing work needed to arrive at a desired outcome.
Organizations that take a proactive, growth-oriented approach, rather than reacting to external forces, are better positioned to shape their future. Leadership that is committed to measuring progress, asking meaningful questions, and pacing themselves will find increased success in these future-shaping efforts. By focusing on short-term and long-term strategic business goals, aligning teams, and fostering a people-centric culture in this way, companies can drive sustainable growth even in the face of an increasingly complex business landscape.
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