Many people just don’t have time to think about the steps that need to be taken to manage business evolution velocity.
Business processes that were stable and delivering value 5 years ago are now outdated. Decisions made two years ago are obsolete. This means the job of the c-suit is in a moment of flux. Having to revisit decisions made only six months ago to ensure validity.
The critical point about velocity is; it has a direction. Being the fastest doesn’t always help. The biggest question, and opportunity, is “Which is the right direction?” And, as this direction is changing, due to stakeholder opinion, “I need a system which shows me which decisions need to be revisited”. So, any future focused company will need to have some key attributes to stabilize, grow and survive. I believe some of these attributes will be:
- Flexibility – a system that can identify when a project, investment etc needs to be stopped.
- Agility – the company needs to identify and understand its core future strengths, not the strengths of the past.
- Innovate – capturing and acting on ideas. Adapting existing company knowledge and using it effectively.
- Opportunity driven – having a strong foundation and framework on which extended risk appetites can be supported. Not embedded in creating risk and compliance protocols.
- Transparency on your vulnerabilities – timing of investments and actions, understanding the future and not the past, decision velocity has hurt many companies and, as a result, funding has been ineffective. The direction of the decision, understanding where we need to be, is vital.
Regardless of whether you’re a large or small company; high-tech or commodity player. Change is happening. Helping you transform needs only four basic elements
- Facilitated discussions with directors, c-suit, operations etc to understand where you are and give insight into where you need to go.
- A clear understanding on decision timeframe and timeline so that windows of opportunity can be captured, and projects stopped if the market has gone.
- A management control tower that gives transparency on where, in the production process, value is created but also project valuations based on current market prices.
- A continuous review process.