Keeping One Eye on the Horizon
And the other hand on the wheel.....
Or as Jim Morrison from the Doors sang long ago: Keep your eyes on the road and your hands upon the wheel.
The ability to think strategically about the future while simultaneously focusing on running your business profitably today is one the main traits of successful and growing companies. It’s sort of an exercise in duality in terms of working On and In your business at the same time.
I often encourage company owners, presidents and senior executives to spend more of their time “working On their business rather than In their business”, because this is the approach that forward-looking executives must adopt to successfully lead their respective teams.
Following are a few suggestions to begin thinking in this dual fashion:
On the Horizon Actions:
Two key actions need to be taken to ensure your company has one eye focused on the horizon:
- Establishing a Compelling Vision to pull your company forward
- Innovating with products, services, markets and processes to drive profitable growth
Vision is one of the least understood and most overused expressions in management today. A vision is nothing more than than a thoughtful look at the company 10 years or more in the future. It represents what your company aspires to be based on preserving its core values and what you do best while stimulating positive change in all other aspects of the company to enable it to move forward in a progressive manner. Jim Collins has written extensively about why and how to develop a compelling vision, take a look at his website to learn more: https://www.jimcollins.com/
Innovating with the products your company sells, services it provides, markets it serves and processes that are used is the other side of the coin in terms of working on the horizon. The key action in this case is to anticipate the emerging needs of your customers and apply your company’s knowledge and experience to develop products and services that meet unmet, and sometimes unrecognized needs. Don’t expect your customers to tell you what they need, it’s up to you and your team to be creative and innovative in developing next generation solutions that your customers may not know they need and will pay a premium for once they do. This is what Disruptive Innovation is all about, it allows your company to “disrupt” the markets you serve and particularly your competitors. Clayton Christensen is one of the true thought leaders in the area of Disruptive Innovation, learn more here: https://www.claytonchristensen.com/disruptive_innovation.html
Hands on the Wheel Actions
To be successful and be able to spend some of your time on the Horizon looking for opportunities to grow, your company obviously needs to have its ducks in a row today to stay profitable and pay the bills. The focus in this case is on:
- Business Fundamentals,
- Execution and Discipline
Business Fundamentals
Execution and Discipline represent your company’s commitment to getting the right things done for the right reasons. Setting goals and objectives and measuring progress is a critical skill set when it comes to disciplined execution of your plan. Here are a few suggestions on what to do:
- Understand your most critical priorities for the next two years, boil them down and rank them and then pick the most important 3 - 5 and convert them into initiatives with team leaders, timelines, milestones and metrics. Focusing on the most important actions and making sure you make progress on them is the heart of Disciplined Execution
- Following Dr. W. Edwards Deming’s project management approach of Plan, Do, Check/Study, Act/Adjust (PDCA). Understand that any plan you develop is a continuously evolving and adapting process. The PDCA approach is deceptively simple yet incredibly powerful, learn more about the Deming Cycle here: https://www.balancedscorecard.org/thedemingcycle/tabid/112/default.aspx
To wrap-up this discussion, think more about how this dual approach to planning and execution would benefit your company. Consciously focusing on the future and what’s on the Horizon, will enable you and your team to think more strategically about the future. At the same time, focusing on what it takes to continuously improve your business today is critical being a sustainable and profitable business. Keeping your eyes on the horizon and your hands on the wheel will help your company grow and prosper now and in the future.
Charlie Alter owns Bentbrook Advisors LLC based in Sylvania, Ohio. He specializes in Growth Strategy, Innovation and Coaching and can be reached at calter@me.com visit https://bentbrookadvisors.com/ for more information on his business advisory practice.
