Why are some of the basics de-prioritised in business but are often the key factor in failure if they are missing?
The problem:
You would not build a house if you did not have a solid foundation to start with. You need to ensure that there is something in place to build off, grow and expand. If not then there will be countless reworking, endless costs and potentially some form of failure on the way. I see this so often in businesses where there is naturally a huge focus on delivering a great product and service, leading to growth and expansion, but there is a need to keep sight of some of the basic business activities which often gets deprioritised.
The impact
The basics of data, processes and communication style has a huge impact on the experience that customers and employees have when interacting with your business. Therefore when these activities in a business start to show cracks, the efficiency degrades, analysis and insights become confusing and ultimately the agility and growth is reduced.
The focus and solution
Most of the companies that I work with have built to a level where they have challenges understanding what is going on and being able to see where the real opportunities for improvement are. For instance getting better information on how the business, its people and its activities are doing and therefore providing insight that is actionable. But often in order to do this what are the things in place that can provide that information.
Asking the questions:
- What is my intention or what am I aiming for?
- How is this measure linked to what we value to most and our Strategy?
- What measures am I looking for to drive the behaviour or actions?
- What data do I have?
- How is it organised?
- Filling any gaps and a plan to get there
Without the majority of your foundations in place your journey may not be as smooth as expected with more time being spent looking back, unpicking and trying to get many people to understand the problem before you can move forward.
Therefore addressing these underlying challenges provides clarity and confidence in your foundations which transfers across all your activities, increasing your agility and flexibility to adapt quickly and improve customer, market and employee experiences.
For further information then please contact me for more information at info@neilaldersonltd.co.uk