Many business owners and senior executives cling to ‘tried-and-tested’ plans that without trade-offs and rapid adaptation, will fail in changing markets. To achieve objectives and hit growth targets, business profiling that identifies thinking and decision-making patterns within your organisation is essential.
In a nutshell, strategy can be deliberate (created with intention), emergent (apparent after-the-fact), or deliberately emergent (created with intention but apparent retrospectively); and in competitive environments, the co-existence of both is required. Sound confusing? Let’s break-it-down. To improve the chance of a strategy succeeding, you need to know the ‘profile’ of your business, that is – how decisions are made, when they are made and who must be consulted. Depending on your ‘business profile’, different ‘types’ of strategies have a greater chance of success. Here’s the low-down….
Profile 1: Are you a classic organisation?
As a classic organisation, you see the world and predictable and repetitive and emphasise early planning. You apply patterns from the past and adopt a rational, deliberate process that seeks outcomes that maximise profit. A heavy top-down approach may limit your perspective to senior management, impacting profitability.
Profile 2: Are you a systemic organisation?
As a systemic organisation, you engage in heavy planning, apply a deliberate process and seek outcomes other than just profit. You have a strong focus on social systems and the perception of ‘justice’ makes individual perspective very influential. You prioritise society and culture, however a doggedly collective perspective may impede growth.
Profile 3: Are you an evolutionary organisation?
As an evolutionary organisation you require minimal planning: in your view, market volatility negates its usefulness. Patterns emerge retrospectively, and success is driven by differentiation that leads to profit. While perspective empowers market competitiveness, a limited focus on internal resources may impede long-term success.
Profile 4: Are you a processual organisation?
As a processual organisation, you focus on outcomes other than just profit and engage in minimal planning. Focused on learning and core competencies, internal perspectives are maximised and external position in the market minimised. Internally focused, patterns with cognitive bias likely thrive in your organisation, leading to group think that impacts profits.
How did you go? Did you recognise your business type? Knowing how your business operates and makes decisions is key to identifying and applying the right strategy. If strategy is selected with consideration of organisational strengths and weaknesses, sustainable competitive advantage is all but assured.
Need help forming a strategy? Stuck on how to improve ROI and want to derive more from your business? Contact SGR today.
