A recent client of mine is in a very dynamic technology based industry which
has gone through tremendous growth in the last ten years. As a result of this
and relatively low barriers to entry they are now in an extremely competitive
space with a race to the bottom on price fuelled by clients being able to
switch easily and low perceived points of difference between large established
and small operators that are new entrants. They also have the challenge of
being regulated which continually adds to their operational cost. In short,
business is tough.
In strategy sessions requested to set up and consider different ways of
competing, the group concluded with the points above and more. It was clear
that something different needed to be done and everyone agreed with this. But
when it came to spending time thinking about this change, there was a
reluctance to engage. The group agreed that 'someone' should spend time
thinking about alternative ways that they could do business. However there
were no takers.
I've seen many groups and in these situations one of a couple of things
normally happen. Somebody grabs it as an opportunity to make difference and an
impact. If nobody grabs it then the CEO will either assign it or take it
themselves so as to either drive it or persuade somebody to drive it outside
the strategy session. In this case nobody was coming forward.
The challenge of this situation is that the piece of work has unknown
outcomes. This is scary for many people. Taking on a task which is to think
about different ways of doing things can be really exciting but it is also
risky. It is undefined work, work that can easily be shot down because it
cannot easily be compared to something else. If however we stick with what we
know things are a lot safer and predictable.
To break out of the unknown we need to take risks. Risk taking implies not
knowing the outcome.
This is hard and very rewarding when it comes off.
Which is why doing the safe thing quickly gets unrewarding.
To get rewards (the real kind that we feel internally), we need to jump in.
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