Building Your Organization’s ‘Winning Strategy’

With the advent of cloud-technology and increased connectedness, organizations can spread ideas and utilize talent around the clock; allowing concepts to become reality much faster and cost-effectively than ever before. This phenomenon has created a rise in competition, ranging from small startups focusing on a niche problem, to major corporations creating strategic partnerships to achieve their goals.

This rise in competition challenges organizations to reexamine their teams, structure, and values to focus on both sustenance and innovation. This pressures large organizations to continue delivering and small firms to grow and capture market share, forcing companies to proactively search for opportunities to add value and compete in an increasingly fast-paced marketplace; challenging company culture and agility.

While all organizations are seeking to build a ‘winning’ culture, to do so, they must understand how this differs from a culture of ‘not losing’. Although the distinction is clear conceptually, putting this into effect in your organization is not always as simple; yet, can make all the difference.

Here are a few tips to understand the difference:

• Developing a ‘winning strategy’ focuses on what can be... then scales ideas back based on the market environment. If you know your market and trust your people, trust the innovation that can come from them.
• Align your KPIs with company objectives and changing market demands... to drive toward a goal you’ll need to understand and continually reevaluate what will get you there.
• Understand the limits of competition – use competition as inspiration, not a playbook... companies that develop as a reaction to competitor innovation are limited by what is, not what can be. By the time you’ve come up to speed, you’re behind, as the competitor is exploring the next innovation.
• Invest in your people... empower and encourage your team to understand the market, history, trends, and industry best practices. This holistic understanding will help your organization avoid tunnel-vision and understand what success in the industry currently looks like.

Building a ‘winning strategy’ is no easy task, behind the scenes this means developing a winning team, process, and culture. However, in the business atmosphere of today being intentional with your organization’s vision and communicating that vision is the difference between success and staying the course until the course is too late.

Ignite Consulting helps organizations plan, deliver, and sustain innovation & change; equipping and training teams in industry leading collaboration tools, assisting with project implementation, and creating more collaborative workspaces.