Never before companies have had the potential to test their limits before being at the brink of a collapse. They were facing increasing disruptions from all directions, such as increased volatility, digital disruption, increased regulation and geopolitics, pressure from public spending, manufacturing economics, energy dynamics and variable growth rates. However, the truth is that, in this pandemic scenario, many companies are in a unique position to allow the emergence of achieving a new competitive advantage before being disrupted.
In the previous article, I explained what strategic transformation is, what the advantages are, what factors indicate the need for strategic transformation and the role of consultancy. In this article, I will explain why mindset change is imperative and what are the first steps to achieving an extraordinary future through strategic transformation.
Why is changing the mindset imperative?
It is true that maintaining the stability of companies during this turbulent period has been a great challenge, a challenge that even the leaders haven’t faced and overcome in the past. Whether they can change the pattern of the history will depend on the choices they make today.
In this new normal, companies that best adapt and innovate will prosper and dominate, while those that cling to the past will be left behind. Companies may choose to be afraid of losing what they have built and fight to defend it, but this is a battle that they will undoubtedly lose. Clinging to the principles and beliefs that sustained them, seeing those constant and unchanging forever, will simply accelerate their breakdown. Resistance to change, inertia or indifference are not an option. They are the path to insolvency. The path they follow will depend on today’s choices.
Alternatively, companies have an incredible opportunity to strategically change their businesses and create a new, more prosperous and resilient model to create value for shareholders and this decision needs to be made before financial problems compromise the ability to innovate and compete. While change is inevitable, growth is optional. It is a choice. They can choose to create an extraordinary future and this is the beauty provided by the smart decision to implement a strategic transformation.
What are the first steps towards an extraordinary future through strategic transformation?
Some initial steps are necessary to decide on the implementation of a transformational strategy. The first step is to accept that the best time to consider a transformational strategy is not when there is already a serious financial problem with companies.
The second step is to remove the blindfold from their linear, mechanistic and isolated mentalities and try to understand the speed, magnitude and non-linear nature of the appearance of this new normal. Linear thinking is not only useless, but also dangerous, because it only leads to think that change will be slow, controllable and will require minor adaptations to the existing system and the new normality. The space for innovative possibilities, which represents the full potential of business prosperity, remains hidden.
The third step is to understand that a successful strategic transformation requires a joint effort on several fronts, as it is not usually a single specific area of the organization that is transformed, but the business as a whole. In fact, over 80% of organizations that have been transformed have accomplished more than one type of transformation. For this reason, it offers positive results from the beginning, reinvigorating the company’s growth mechanism and lastingly, as change is a continuous process.
Finally yet importantly, leaders can be managers in times of crisis or turnaround, but to change a company from good to great, they need to create conditions that facilitate that change and growth. The main reasons why executive teams under deliver are: lack of clarity of purpose, individual personalities, internal competition and team structure. Because of this, companies must require the support of a consultancy specializing in transformational strategy to avoid the common pitfalls. Companies will be able to understand the problems they are facing under the new light and will be able to project the transformational strategic changes necessary to evolve.
DSI Partners is the transformational strategy consultancy of your choice. We have mastered the art of transformational strategy combined with the art of digital transformation, creating the right conditions to promote exponential changes and growth for your company. We are prepared to guide your strategic transformation initiatives across Latin America.
