By Pamela S. Harper and D. Scott Harper
As we prepare to enter the New Year, our gift to you is a checklist of tips you can immediately apply to accelerate your company’s agility and innovation leadership.
Directions: As you read through the list, put a star next to the tips that could potentially have the biggest impact on taking you and your company to the next level of success. Revisit this list on a quarterly basis to assess progress, and make adjustments as necessary.
- Don’t wait for the “right” time to transform. As the business environment continuously evolves, your organization needs to be in a state of constant transformation as well in order to keep pace and respond to new opportunities. Now is the time to begin identifying and addressing the innovation, leadership, management, and organizational issues that will enable your company to move ahead of the pack.
- Focus on top priorities. Trying to do too much too fast can actually slow things down. Focus your organization on the top three priorities that best serve your company’s vision and mission.
- Build a portfolio of productive alliances & outsource providers. Remember that CEO and senior executive expectations for both parties need to be transparent before committing to the relationship, and at all stages thereafter.
- Increase agility by considering multiple options before committing to a course of action. While sometimes the most obvious choice is the best answer, other times “Plan B” or even “Plan C” might be more effective under the circumstances.
- Establish clear metrics for success that are easy for everyone involved to understand and refer to on a daily basis. Involving others in setting these metrics will often increase the relevance and value of the metrics as well as increase the level of stakeholder commitment.
- Uncover assumptions about problems and opportunities before taking action. Remember, there’s always more to the story. Ask questions such as “What else could be causing the problem?” and “What are the downsides of this opportunity?” Support your answers by also asking, “What evidence supports our conclusions?”
- Regularly update your company’s risk management plans. Succession plans, continuity plans, etc., can rapidly become outdated as internal and external business conditions change. Commit to regularly reviewing and updating your company’s contingency plans as well as to periodically assess small as well as large scale changes in the environment that could signal a need to shift direction.
- Use training wisely. In order to reinforce the use of new knowledge and skills back at work, determine if responses in addition to training may be needed. Areas could include addressing staffing, resources, policies, and other elements of culture that impact behavior and performance.
- Increase transparency of communication. The more that others can readily observe the connection between words and actions, the more credible you will become, which leads to greater trust and productivity. [Click here for a checklist of possible stakeholders].
- Maintain a “keep adjusting” mindset. As the Greek philosopher Diogenes said thousands of years ago, “Nothing is permanent except change.” Creating an environment for your company that encourages constant inquiry and expansive thinking will greatly increase your organization’s ability to actually adapt to new realities and keep moving forward, regardless of the business environment’s twists and turns.
If you have questions regarding any aspect of applying these tips, or would like to discuss how you may best use them, contact us.
