What’s Driving Your Business: Emotions or Dynamic Evaluation?
Today’s business needs are constantly evolving, making it a challenge to keep pace when it comes to making the right decisions for your business. Organizations need to look at building hybrid operational models that are scalable and reliable to facilitate the course changes demanded by rapidly evolving markets and technology.
An organization must maintain a dynamic evaluation process based on reason, which requires all areas–including internal, external influences and available resources – to be in a constant state of scrutiny. The evaluation process needs to be dynamic in that it considers both the current and future needs of the business, while looking ahead at potential advances in technology, process lifecycles, as well as applications and tools. Only then should one propose strategic and tactical plans based on those needs—all within the confines of seamlessly running a profitable business that is focused on the immediate goals and objectives of the organization. Clearly, there are a lot of moving parts.
In order to keep everything running smoothly, predetermined ‘gating’ scenarios need to be defined in advance. These should be initiated upon reaching a certain threshold or trigger. Businesses too frequently falter by simply failing to make a decision—drowning in their own inability to evolve. Many factors contribute to this state of stasis —pride, lust, sloth, wrath… and, though not one of the “seven deadly sins”, fear. Fear is probably the single most crippling emotion in an organization’s demise. When it comes to making critical business decisions, the beauty of dynamic evaluation with predetermined course changes is the ability to reduce the negative impact that emotions, such as fear, often play in complex business equations.
This model requires that all manner of contingencies be considered, including staff augmentation, shared resources or outsourcing. In some scenarios, the business case might call for operational costs to be reduced or a combination of the above strategies to be implemented in order to ensure survival.
What is the right option (or options) for reducing costs and optimizing growth? The answer will depend on the influence the organization faces relative to the other aforementioned controls. It sounds vague, but with proper dynamic evaluation, the answers become clear.