What do you do if your services business is facing complex challenges that require strategic thinking?

In my experience I would do the following: - speak to my team - across all levels - speak to my clients - engage friends of the business who can provide impartial insights and perspective Then for me it's about focusing on identifying the problem. The problem will likely not be obvious, nor the first thing that comes to mind or even come out of all the interviews with different stakeholders. I like to employ the structured problem solving techniques I was taught as an Associate at McKinsey. It's a way to rigorously work through problems and solve them. It forces you to step away from targeting the immediately obvious and to look at identifying all the things you need to know, prove, disprove to thoroughly understand what is going on.

Yes, risk management has to be integral party of day to day business operations and to address this challenge effectively, there should be established a framework of indicators covering various aspects of the business. The indicators need to be supported by a monitoring system. Without necessary data collection and consolidation, the indicators cannot be effectively used. Finally, on a quarterly or half-year basis, there has to be an evaluation of outputs and outcomes. Obviously, financial outcomes will indicate where the business is going. These approaches need to be adapted to the kind of business we are talking about.

The tendency is to always say YES! Never wanting to walk away from a potential opportunity or leave a bad impression - especially with an existing customer/client. This is often the most difficult stage as it completely reliant on reviewing your entire business model/operation in a completely honest and objective manner. What can you do using current internal skills, experience, systems and processes and what you know to be beyond the organisations current capabilities? Do you need to re-train, hire, approach third-parties? All of which need to risk assessed. The damage of under-delivering are very tangible and can be very damaging to your existing brand and reputation. If in doubt, don’t - but always give it your best shot.

We have created the LOAF GenAI 24 framework for this very purpose,Through it's Stage 1, Scenario Planning and Simulation,it allows companies to assess the risk over a 5 and 10 year period,and establish a strategic plan accessing multiple LLMs through our Kunavv orchestration platform.If you are interested in seeing how this works contact q.anderson@dvcconsultants.com

Create an environment where the hard truths are spoken of and about with confidence, because your team knows that the leadership team embraces conflict. Open, honest, and informed communication are the bedrock of healthy conflict, and healthy conflict is where real progress is made.

There is no choice, bring the team in - they will know a lot more than you think about the challenges. Give people problems and tasks that they think that they can solve. Face the hard choices, and do your utmost to come through it together, your team will support if you involve and reward them. Make sure you talk to your customers - all of them, big and small, new and old. Key questions include: why do they not buy more from you, what do they actually think that your business does, what do they think that you are good at, what are you bad at. The answers may surprise you. Involve the team (from top to bottom) and use these answers to work out what you should be doing. You will have more support from your team than you think.

Engaging your team is SO critical for several reasons! 1) They'll often think of additional ideas and bring perspective you may have missed 2) Honesty and authenticity about business challenges keep it real, and help top performers become truly engaged, unlocking their best potential to help 3) People will feel more invested, regardless of the outcome

The absolute best way to assess any strategic decision is with data. The right type and level of data helps frame everything into perspective, allowing for the ideal level of prioritization and attention. - What's the right level of urgency? - How much should key team members push aside their day jobs to focus on this issue / these issues? - How much time and resources should be dedicated toward innovating the solutions? The right data helps answer all of this

In my experience the usual problem (and usually masked by management) is lack of product market fit. To fix this requires innovation and a deep understanding of your customer’s pain points.

Innovation is key, and nimbleness in action and direction are the best way to navigate challenges and stay ahead. Especially today, stodgy companies that are stuck in outdated processes are paving their own declines, and nimble companies who are innovating for today and tomorrow are constantly planting seeds for success.

Strategic change takes planning. The question of whether the change under consideration qualifies as a good strategic move requires answering a few questions: 1) What are the problems that you’re trying to solve with this change? 2) In what, specific ways would making this change solve the problems you’ve identified? 4) Does this change demonstrate change leadership, or are you simply following what your industry competitors are doing? 5) In what other ways might these problems be solved? 6) What are the things that are within your power to control? 7) Do the benefits of the change outweigh the risks? Answering these questions will provide you with the initial direction you need to decide how to proceed going forward.

Another perspective to elevating the value addition of Service businesses is to evaluate quality from the lens of the service recipients and consider their decision making factors vis-a-vis the target market you're trying to serve. It is possible to think that we know what the buyer wants when in actual fact, the expectations have moved. It is important to continuously evaluate the expectation gap by remaining in contact for feedback. By feedback I mean not just surveys. Sometimes the extra personal touch in service business is what makes all the difference. It is a tricky balance to maintain. Overall continuous improvement should be the key.

Don't get seduced by the latest shiny thing as the go-to solution to get you out of trouble. This MAY be part of the solution, but 1st do the analysis to understand the core issues, then generate and assess different option. The answer may just be fixing some basics.

Nice to look at competition too and their key success factors! Competition (from product conception, through market placement, including pricing and post service follow ups) can be a vital tool in examining area(s) that need improvements.

Think strategically about the complex challenges you face. So, take the main business objective. Look to see if any of the challenges are relevant to that objective. Work out how to solve if they add value to the objective.