A lot has changed for everyone over the past two quarters, and as the economy continues navigating its reopening process, I think many of continue to be surprised by just how much things have really changed.
- Consumer mindsets and expectations have changed
- What is socially acceptable has changed
- Government oversight has changed
- Educational methods have changed
- How businesses will and will be allowed to operate has changed
In a nutshell, the COVID-19 pandemic has effectively changed many aspects of our lives; and this will force many organizations to completely rethink and transform their business models.
Historically, organizations that have been most successful at transforming themselves have had the following traits and competencies.
- Initiation – Desire and willingness to find new ways of doing things with a bias for action
- Information – Purposeful collection of input and feedback
- Interpretation – Ability to insightfully process and synthesize information
Let me expand on each of these.
Initiation
The world’s most innovative organizations (i.e., Netflix, Apple, Amazon, Salesforce, W.L. Gore) have strong learning cultures and are always looking to start something new – or do things differently (better).
They don’t seek “new” for newness’ sake, nor do they seek change for change’s sake. Rather, these organizations are quite purposeful about evolving in the pursuit of new uncontested revenue and profit sanctums.
Initiation requires a commitment to learning, and perhaps more importantly an openness to being wrong as well as a willingness to fail.
Initiation is often the ingredient that differentiates really good organizations from truly great organizations.
Information
Innovative organizations have an insatiable appetite for the right kinds of Information.
They place a priority on the processes for collecting, ensuring, managing, democratizing and preserving timely, high quality (accurate) Information.
This Information will span from macro consumer and economic trends; detail about their specific industry and their competition; developments in related and/or adjacent industries; proprietary consumer, customer and employee feedback related to the effectiveness of the firm’s current activities; and internal business performance / operational metrics.
Interpretation
Interpretation is about Analyzing, Evaluating, Scrutinizing, Synthesizing and thoroughly Comprehending the totality of an organization’s Information.
Innovative organizations have a never-ending list of questions, as well as abilities to answer them.
These questions commonly begin with:
- Why is / did…,
- What about / if…,
- How might / else…
And, initial answers are almost always met with even more questions and further analysis.
Firms with high Interpretation IQs have a passion for wanting to deeply understand what their Information is telling them about their current business model, as well as what opportunities might exist under different scenarios. And these organizations have a commitment to continually elevating their Interpretation capabilities.
Moving forward
Our current crisis has dealt many firms the Initiation hand. That is, there is no doubt that they have to change – and in some cases, a lot.
The key to successfully transforming your organization is not only to have the desire and willingness to change, but also the competency to successfully move forward in a very different way.
If you are deliberate and thoughtful about how you Initiate your business transformation efforts, and you are aware of your need for Interpretation supported by Information, I am confident your organization will among those who helps to create and thrives in tomorrow’s bright new-normal.
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