Carpe Diem
This time of year, I spend a significant amount of time with clients framing their business strategies for next year. In the midst of those discussions, invariably the executives turn to a comparison of their competitors and how they might gain ground on the front-runner (assuming it is not themselves).
While this may seem like the right
conversation to be having, it is exactly the kind of thinking that will
lead to remaining an “also-ran”. Targeting where your competition is
today ensures the focus of your efforts will not lead to competitive
advantage. By the time your company “arrives” at where leading
competitors are today means they will likely have already been left
behind. A perfect example is the automotive industry where the big
three have continually tried to mimic Toyota and Honda in an effort to
catch-up and gain market share. The good news is we do not need to
repeat the gory details here for you to get the moral of that story.
My
advice is always the same – shoot for beyond where your competition is
today and focus on leapfrogging the current front-runners. This may
seem intuitive, but it is not always that simple to see when you are in
the heat of surviving a recession and determining how to reignite
growth at the same time.
While giving advice is easy, I admit
that the actual “how” is not so easy. After over two decades of working
with organizations to improve, grow and thrive there are some common
elements that have emerged:
- First – Benchmark companies outside of your own industry for their approach to gaining competitive advantage. Examples – a hospital system that benchmarked Ritz-Carlton, an online retailer that benchmarked a computer manufacturer, a benefits management firm which benchmarked Nordstrom and Southwest Airlines and a cable company that benchmarked Toyota. The idea was to find concepts and ideas that could be integrated into their strategic thinking to accelerate market advantage.
- Second – Leverage business intelligence to discover what your customers think. Connecting the voice of the market and the voice of the customer to those best of breed companies outside of your industry will provide a visionary roadmap for achieving competitive advantage.
- Third – Once the roadmap is defined don’t minimize the amount of effort that is required to realize it. Often senior leaders believe that because they say it, the changes will automatically be done. This is never the case and active, engaged and sustained execution-focused leadership is critical to success.
- Finally – Take an integrated approach to transforming the organization. Very often an organization will grab onto a single method or tactic, such as Lean Six Sigma or business intelligence, and attempt to apply these tools in isolation. The array of methods deployed must be integrated with the overall business management systems and culture, what we refer to as the operating system and social architecture. Take into account the implications for People, Process and Technology.
Fortunately some of the best opportunities for radically driving change and catapulting an organization to the front of the pack come about in difficult economic times. And the current business climate is no different. Winners will take dramatic approaches to overtaking competitors or distancing themselves from the competition. Now is the time to adopt a bias for action, leverage tools and methods from outside your respective industry and provide exemplary leadership to drive the transformation.
Keep climbing!
