Shift into high gear despite the odds.

Have you ever wondered if really your dreams are valid?

That thought came up in a conversation I was in recently. My entrepreneur friend explained he was in the process of setting his business strategy and projections for this new year but was struggling to make bold choices.

Perhaps you feel the same way. Probably in previous years, you felt more confident in setting big and bold projections for your business. But not this year. Maybe it feels like the fire you felt in your belly is gone. At least compared to when you first begun your entrepreneurial journey. If you find yourself in survival mode, you are not alone. The last two years have been tough for both small and large businesses.

No doubt, it was necessary to have adopted a survival mindset. Even then, various reports have showed that moving back to a growth mindset as soon as possible is essential. A bold and growth mindset lays the foundation to enable businesses to return to sustainable expansion. As resilient business leaders, we must emerge from the crisis stronger ready to shape the future of our business organizations.

Here are three ways you could shift into growth mode and shape your business to emerge stronger.

1. Identify growth opportunities presented by shifts and trends in your industry and location.

A Mckinsey research found that a company benefiting from tailwinds is at least 4 times more likely to rise to the top of the economic-profit performance charts compared to one that is facing headwinds. The ability to capture tailwinds created by industry and geographic trends could lead to increased profit, revenue, or growth.

For example, delivery platforms such as Glovo, Sendy and Uber eats have continued to grow significantly as they continue to tap into the growing demand for home delivery triggered by pandemic lockdowns.

The question then is, how do you tap into industry trends to strengthen your business? A good starting place is to assess how the landscape is changing. Notice the changes or events whose outcome may affect your business. The change could be something industry-specific, such as new regulations, or as broad-reaching as artificial intelligence technology, or nuanced as consumer behaviour. Then gauge the nature of impact for each factor, or how you may take advantage of the change. For example, how can your business challenge traditional ideas using artificial intelligence, take advantage of cloud technologies……or even adopt blockchain technology?

Other big picture perspectives could include evaluating compliance requirements that may have come up and which affect your industry. For example, regulation on fuel could affect a manufacturer that needs fuel for production.

Also, pay attention to your customers. How could your business respond to the trends around how their behaviour is changing? These include pandemic-induced changes such as work from home, contactless delivery, and increased use of technology.

Looking forward, what is the likely future of your industry? How can you adapt to or leverage that expected future? What is your competition paying attention to?

Paying attention to the surrounding shifts will help to broaden your perspectives, help you identify opportunities and also highlight any potential blind spots.

2. Reinvent yourself by adjusting your business model.

Alex Osterwalder in his book The Invincible Company observed that at the core of successful businesses is not just great products and services, but profitable, innovative business models. Businesses that seek growth opportunities while improving their existing business models are successful in beating disruption.

For example, banks in Kenya, such as Equity bank and Kenya commercial bank adopted agency banking as an alternative to traditional bank branches. This helped them reach underserved customers and also minimized operational costs. As a result, they reported growth in deposits and profitability.

Adjusting the business model could similarly unlock value in your business. Here there are many aspects you could revisit. For example, could you adopt new models/channels of distribution? Could you expand your customer base in any way? How else could you monetize your products/services? Who could you partner with in your ecosystem? What about introducing a new type of value proposition say by combining unique elements?

If you consider that a business model includes the entire system and activities you have designed to create value for all stakeholders, then to adjust your business model, you will need to take a step back and apply big picture thinking. And right there is the advantage because it allows you to compete on more than just price and the product itself. Adjusting your business model increases your odds of withstanding disruption and of breaking into substantial growth. To Stay on top of the game, maximize opportunity, and overcome disruption, constantly improve your business model.

3. Increase the agility of your organization.

According to another Mckinsey research, companies that ranked higher on managing the impact of the COVID-19 crisis were those with agile practices more deeply embedded in their enterprise operating models. The agile practices invariably resulted in much-needed agility, adaptability, and speed.

One way to increase the agility of your organization is to adopt the principles behind the various agile techniques (Such as Kanban, Lean, and Scrum) and fully embed them within the operating principles of your business organization. Some shifts you could consider include embracing simplicity, being customer-centric, increasing your ability to learn by adopting experimentation, and transitioning from a traditional command-and-control structure to a flatter, more flexible, team-centric model that cultivates collaboration.

Transitioning to a more agile organization will improve the productivity of your teams, increase the engagement of your employees, better the performance of your business, and overall enable your business to adapt quickly to changing conditions. ?

Since we live in a state of continuous uncertainty, businesses need to increase their resilience to maintain their competitive edge.

The choices you make for your business today will determine how well it thrives in days to come.

Go beyond incremental thinking.

Dare to be bold in the vision and choices you make for your business this year.

Take measures to reposition your business for the future.

Darkness doesn’t last forever after all.?