What do you do if your industry is rapidly changing and you need to make strategic decisions?

 

1

Assess Trends

2

Gather Intel

3

Innovate Constantly

4

Engage Staff

5

Review Regularly

6

Diversify Options

1 Assess Trends

To stay ahead in a rapidly changing industry, you must first understand the direction in which it's moving. This means conducting a thorough trend analysis. Look at emerging technologies, evolving customer preferences, regulatory changes, and competitive dynamics. By identifying these trends early, you can anticipate market shifts and adapt your strategy accordingly. Remember, the goal is not just to react to changes, but to proactively shape your strategic response in a way that leverages these trends to your advantage.

 2 Gather Intel

In a volatile business environment, information is your most valuable asset. You need to gather intelligence not just on your competitors, but also on customers, suppliers, and technological advancements. Use this data to create a comprehensive picture of your industry landscape. This can involve customer surveys, competitive analysis, and staying abreast of industry reports and news. The insights you gain will inform your strategic decisions, helping you to tailor your offerings to what the market needs and wants right now.

 

3 Innovate Constantly

Innovation should be at the heart of your strategy when facing a rapidly changing industry. This doesn't necessarily mean inventing something new; it could be about reimagining existing processes, products, or services. Look for ways to improve efficiency, enhance customer experience, or enter new markets. Foster a culture of continuous improvement within your organization where creativity is encouraged and rewarded. By making innovation a routine practice, you'll be better equipped to adapt and thrive.

 

4 Engage Staff

Your employees are your frontline observers and can provide invaluable insights into where your industry is heading. Engage with them regularly to gather their observations and ideas. Facilitate an environment where staff feel comfortable sharing their thoughts and where cross-departmental collaboration is the norm. This internal knowledge pool can be a goldmine for identifying potential strategic pivots or innovations that could keep you ahead of the curve.

 

5 Review Regularly

In a dynamic industry landscape, what worked yesterday may not work tomorrow. Therefore, it's crucial to review and adjust your strategy regularly. Set up a schedule for periodic strategic reviews, where you can assess the effectiveness of your current approach and make necessary adjustments. This iterative process ensures that your strategy remains relevant and responsive to the ongoing changes in your industry.

 

6 Diversify Options

Finally, don't put all your eggs in one basket. Diversifying your strategic options can provide a buffer against sudden industry shifts. This could mean exploring new markets, developing alternative product lines, or even considering strategic partnerships. Diversification helps mitigate risks and gives you multiple pathways to success, ensuring that if one avenue closes due to industry changes, you have others to pursue.

The case of the troublesome homograph

 

Confusion sometimes arises in our non-profit governance and management work where a word we use is assumed to have a particular meaning, but actually another meaning is intended. I think a case can be made for that to be the case with regard to the terms “business use case” and “business case“.

Here the word ‘case’ is used four times, with at least three (and arguably four) separate meanings:

1. an argument or proposition
2. an instance or example
3. a business process
4. a governance decision-making tool – a particular type of argument or rationale.

Polysemes and homographs

Polysemy is the capacity for a word or phrase to have multiple meanings
Polysemes are words possessing multiple meanings
Homonyms* are words that sound the same but have different meanings
Homographs are a subset of homonyms, describing words with the same spelling but more than one meaning e.g. mean/mean
Homophones are a subset of homonyms, describing words that sound the same but which have different spellings and meanings e.g. see/sea

Confusing narratives with arguments

We usually use the words adjacent to a polyseme or homograph to discern the particular meaning intended. e.g. legal case, brief case, case study, upper case, case load, hopeless case, etc.

When reading or hearing the terms “business case” and “business use case” however, that method could mislead us. While these two terms share two words, they refer to quite different things. As illustrated in the first chart below, a business case is essentially an argument or rationale for proposed action or inaction. A “business use case” however, is a description of processes used by actors to complete a task, usually in a digital environment. (Hence, ‘the case of the troublesome homograph‘.)

A related example of similar words being used for different purposes focuses on the word ‘story’. The use case is sometimes confused with a user story, and that in turn can be confused with the storylines method. The following chart seeks to further differentiate these, by outlining the steps and stages involved for each. (While at opposite ends of these charts, it is worth noting that the storyline method can be used to present a business case.)

Context and Meaning

While it is widely recognised that truth is a relative concept, it remains true that the words we use need to hold specific meanings in our work context. Otherwise, misunderstandings will occur, leading to risks that could have been avoided by adherence to standards, including nomenclature.

In another time, the difference between a narrative, a description, and an argument seemed clearer. While there is an important role for descriptions, and narrative approaches in many aspects of non-profit governance and management, directors and managers cannot rely on those methods for effective decision-making. Argument and evidence-based reasoning are the right tools for that job.

(*Not to be confused with Houyhnhnms. A fictional race of intelligent horses described in the last part of Jonathan Swift’s satirical 1726 novel Gulliver’s Travels. According to Wikipedia, Swift apparently intended all words of the Houyhnhnm language to echo the neighing of horses.)

https://polgovpro.blog/

Tools for Basic Process Improvement. Decision Making Tools

 

https://balancedscorecard.org/bsc-basics/articles-videos/process-improvement-tools/