What do you do if your long-standing business strategy is no longer effective?

“The Only Constant in Life Is Change.”- Heraclitus Recognize the need for change, Be ready to change , learn and accept new perspectives in business !!

First, you need to be open-minded. Most professionals and companies struggle to admit the change is needed and the consequence is the death of the business. After that, you need to collect all data available about consumer behavior, products, sector, fails and customer's recent feedback, to have a complete diagnosis. Avoid perceptions and stick to data! Knowing the gaps, you should organize brainstorming with your team to pave the roadmap to change. In my opinion, it's important to involve senior and middle management to avoid change's antibodies in the company.

I think in today's world, it's critical to be prepared that the strategy needs to continuously evolve with the market. Even while creating a strategy and a framework for monitoring, there should be checkpoints to evaluate the relevance of the strategy to ask whether it needs minor updates or a major revision

Analysis of data should be done by keeping in mind third party view and feedback from respective stakeholder. Purely reading numbers will cloud your judgment and may result in making biased decisions. One also has to analyse the data to depth but not get caught up in the detailed and long study process. A paralysis of analysis has to be avoided. Strategies are meant to be evolved from time to time to meet business objectives.

Capturing clean and accurate data is crucial, but without considering different perspectives, you risk cherry-picking data that supports your bias. Before analyzing collective data, ensure you have understood diverse narratives and perspectives. This approach allows you to uncover the most accurate story your data is trying to tell. By broadening your viewpoint, you enhance your ability to make informed decisions based on a holistic understanding of the data.

Pienso que el cambio es el único medio de supervivencia de las empresas. El cuestionario continuo de los procesos actuales y búsqueda de nuevas tecnologías disponibles te mantienen fuera de la zona de confort. La herramienta más usual y práctica es la exigencia de mejores márgenes, radios, ventas o la combinacion de ellos, son buenos precursores

Data is a vital parameter in adopting the changes. Real time analysis of accurate data will help in anticipation of market trends. Once you understand the trends of the market, you can comfortably adopt the changes.

Most companies cannot afford to hire people to gather, track, and analyze data. Small business owners can feel left in the dark when they hear about large corporations having "war rooms" to help monitor and discuss data to make better strategic decisions. Small business owners can outperform larger companies by speaking directly with front-line workers, customers, and competitors. They can use these direct insights into how the market is changing to quickly adapt while a larger company is still collecting data and rethinking its approach. You can stay close to your target customer and move fast.

Your team are your stretgic eyes and ears on the ground. Often strategic shifts are flagged by team members well before anything is done to address strategy. A strong leadership team talks strategically and tactically regularly. This allows concerns to be flagged early. Having a great strategy is critical. This means a dispassionate leader who is not wedded identity-wise to the strategy but tracks progress and flag issues early. When it's time to formally review the strategy (usually annually) involving teams across an organisation enables crucial shifts to be noticed and addressed. One last tip - build a 'living strategy'., This means that if it's 'just not working out as planned' corrective action can be taken sooner rather than later

The LinkedIn article indicates that the third step should be to engage your team. I think otherwise. Your connection with your team must be an ongoing weekly and daily conversation. Understand what they see at the front line and per department. As a leader, it must be a priority to build open dialogue based on trust in what is going on in their world, challenges with operations, customers, and anything that might be changing in their world.

Yo no estoy de acuerdo en la posición donde involucrar el equipo aparece en este articulo. En mi vivencia involucrar el equipo debe ser realizado en el primer punto, una vez que tenemos equipos de alta performance y equipos que se incomoden con las situaciones ellos son los que te van a mostrar el túnel a seguir. Escucharlos desde el principio es una buena practica del líder, esto generará un mayor comprometimiento con las estrategia generando mejores resultados.

Siempre es necesario consultar con el equipo, y si consulto, acepto y si acepto me adapto al cambio. Muchas veces los jefes piden feedback, pero al darlo, lo cuestionan a uno, poniéndolo en un lugar bastante desagradable.

Team selection is critical. Involving all team members is not the right approach. A cross functional team is necessary. Identify the cross functional team members who are directly involved in the job at hand to seek their inputs and approach to solve the problem.

Here are some recommendations to consider when exploring alternatives in your field. Firstly, consider adapting your business strategy, operations, and products to the consumer trends of your clients' profiles. A simple survey of a sample of your customer base could yield a lot of valuable information. Secondly, it is necessary to study market trends. Moreover, you can examine your competitors' services and products and incorporate some of their successful strategies into your business. It is not mandatory to copy them. Finally, create a strategic planning cycle with actions that measure the implementation of your business strategies over a specific period, such as a five-year plan with annual reviews.

It's essential to analyze successful practices of other companies and adopt innovative ideas for your business. Embrace creativity and willingness to take risks, as trying new strategies can fuel business growth and attract a fresh customer base. Experimentation is key. Keep an open mind to emerging trends and be willing to pivot when necessary. By staying adaptable and continuously seeking new opportunities, your business can remain competitive in an ever-evolving market landscape.

A trial solution on sample size is necessary to get approximate results. Depending on the type of problem such solutions can be tried where stakes are low in trials.

Competitive Analysis: Conduct a thorough competitive analysis to understand what strategies are working for your competitors. Identify best practices and consider how you can adapt or improve upon them for your business. Market Research: Invest in market research to uncover new trends, customer preferences, and potential gaps in the market. This data can provide insights into alternative strategies that might resonate with your target audience.

One thing I've found useful is to take a global view, don't just look at what's going on in your immediate area and competitor set. The metaverse, social media and a world online has made the world efficiently smaller, and that gives you the ability to see what similar organisations to yours are doing anywhere in the world. Use this perspective to grow and develop your own business.

Pilot Programs: Start with pilot programs or small-scale implementations to test the new strategy in a controlled environment. This allows you to identify potential challenges and make adjustments before rolling out the strategy company-wide. Phased Approach: Implement changes in phases rather than all at once. This approach helps manage resistance to change and allows your organization to adapt gradually. Clear Communication: Communicate the changes clearly and transparently to your team. Explain the rationale behind the new strategy, its benefits, and how it aligns with the company's goals. Address any concerns and ensure that everyone understands their role in the implementation process.

Mudanças já causam desconforto, mudanças bruscas causam estragos que podem se tornar irreversíveis, em havendo a necessidade da mudança, a habilidade em implantá-la vem do líder, o time precisa absorver da forma mais leve possível.

Toda e qualquer mudança de posição e rota merece ser analisada com muita atenção. Uma análise minuciosa de risco deve ser feita sempre! O formato gradual de mudança de rumo, sempre possibilita uma reanálise para melhor alinhamento!! Vale a pena ir em etapas

A abordagem gradual permite uma transição mais controlada e bem-sucedida para a nova estratégia. Planeje cuidadosamente a transição, preparando a equipe. Implemente em etapas, iniciando com um projeto piloto. Monitore resultados e ajuste conforme necessário antes de expandir. Mantenha comunicação aberta e o envolvimento da equipe. Consolide a adoção da nova estratégia antes de expandir.

Gradual implementation has its place for sure. Some changes take time and adjustment depending on the organization. That said, don't take for granted some changes that are better taken effective immediately. Sometimes the wasted time not changing has a burden. This is the calculus that you must make in implementation.

Every business strategy should be reviewed in regular intervals, and adjusted according to new needs, changing market environments and new business conditions. This does not mean that your goals necessarily have to change. It's just the way you achieve them that may need to be adjusted. Naturally we are assuming that you and your team have a clearly defined goal and that it is communicated up and down the ladder. It can be scary to set goals (you will be in a bind to achieve them) but it is liberating to set goals and invigoration to check them off as "done" one after the other. It does wonders for team spirit!

When evolving a strategic direction, you will always know what success, the end point, looks like. But between the "A" of the idea, and the "Z" of success, mark out clear benchmarks along the way, and review regularly without being afraid to change course and think again if you're not meeting those benchmarks.

Always do a gut check. This is applicable in a lot of scenarios, even project development. Do a gut check with your team, partners, industry leaders, investors, mentors - whoever applicable in order to make sure that what you're doing makes sense. If it does, keep going. If not, adjust as needed. And don't forget about your internal gut check and instincts. Engrossed in your own projects, industry, or business - one can often forget the instincts that you have honed above the average players. Don't take that for granted. I find that my gut is almost always leading me in the right direction.

Consistently tracking the outcomes of your new approach is critical to ensuring its effectiveness. At Tru, we set up regular checkpoints to evaluate the performance of revised strategies. For example, after implementing a new marketing tactic, we analyze key metrics such as customer acquisition costs and engagement rates every month. This ongoing assessment allows us to identify what’s working and where adjustments are needed. By maintaining a vigilant approach to monitoring, we can make informed decisions quickly, ensuring our strategy remains aligned with business goals and market conditions, ultimately driving sustained success.