2023: An Infantry Marine’s Thoughts

2023 - Plan for Variability: An Infantry Marine’s Thoughts

Some organizations have yet to finalize their Operating Plan for 2023. Good & Not Good at the same time. The good news is we still have an opportunity to assess how much variability you’ve baked into your 2023 Operating Plan.

Why? Success in ’23 will come from an appreciation that there is no one perfect strategy for delivering world-class SaaS results. A constantly moving world with shifting market dynamics requires a philosophy combined with a strategy that aims to be "In the moment and one step ahead". Toss in a shift in investors focus from "Grow Baby Grow" to "Slow is Smooth, Smooth is Fast". While capital efficient growth should have always been the idea, this too will be an identity crisis for many SaaS organizations. Variability will certainly be present so planning for it now is your superpower - and in your control. ?

The Marine in me would suggest:

“No OPLAN ever survives initial contact”.

Below are a few areas to consider as you finalize your OPLAN and factor in variability.

3 Actions to Account for Variability:

1.???Recruit/Retain High-Agency members for your team. High Agency is about finding a way to achieve the results you’re looking for, without waiting for conditions to be perfect. High Agency contributors push through in the face of adverse conditions or manage to reverse the adverse conditions to achieve goals. Hire & create a culture that rewards high agency.

The Marine in me would suggest:

“If it’s silly but it works, it isn’t silly. Work the problem”

2.???Build 3 Plans: Planning needs to be based on a guiding framework for dealing with variability. Multiple plans require every team to understand the puts/takes as the business operates in ’23. Organizations who plan for variables, move with urgency and purpose. They’re constantly open to evolving their approach, tactics, and focus as the situation warrants. These leaders inspire the entire organization to push limits and evolve.

The Marine in me would suggest:

“Murphy’s Law - The easy way is always mined”.

?3.??Make Communication Deliberate: Publish a guide on “Effective & Responsible Communication”. Who, what, how, when and where we communicate. As in the military, in life, and certainly in business; being deliberate in how you communicate creates clarity, drives efficiency, and means being considerate. “How do you mean Justin?”. Here’s an example: GitLab Communication | GitLab A lot we can all learn from GitLab .

The Marine in me would suggest:

“Never draw fire; it irritates everyone around you”.

Be cautious about feeding the “old” systems/processes that aren’t working in the new reality 2023 brings.?While there's many other areas to improve, update or iterate on in 2023, these were just a few that we often overlook. The goal here was to bring levity to what will be a difficult 2023. Meeting the challenges ahead will require a culture that supports execution, while recognizing and rewarding other attributes including agility, teamwork, and high agency. ?

Move with urgency and purpose. Don’t delay in implementing the measures you and your team will need to find the success that awaits you. As leaders, we can’t implement them too early. Let's go on the offensive in 2023 and make it happen!

Have questions? Have a request for a topic to be covered in the future? A "hard charger" who just wants to say “Hello”? Just reply in the comments or email me at [email protected] and let me know.?