What to do when you're struggling for clarity in a sea of issues and challenges

I’ve been seeing a lot of this lately and it’s intensely frustrating for the leaders involved.

They have a stack of strategic initiatives, ideas and opportunities to generate significant growth for their businesses but are missing the mark when trying to pinpoint the top priorities and get everyone on the same page.

Seems odd doesn’t it. That’s what leadership should be about, shouldn’t it?

Well, what if you were grappling with these challenges:

• Lack of team expertise in the areas of growth being pursued
• Missed forecasts
• Lack of knowledge about commercialising innovations to propel the next phase of growth
• Team is checked-out – a new Gallup report says 77% of employees are disengaged at work – imagine how your customers are feeling…
• The feeling of running out of time while running uphill – triggered by AI, technology evolution, poor productivity or just the beginning of a financial year in the middle of a calendar year
• Struggling to generate deal flow and opportunities
• People struggling to get in front of enough decision makers
• Decisions are sloooooooow
• People are hiding behind their computers or WFH and are averse to interacting with their peers
• And your business went offline in the CrowdStrike outage and now you have a major business continuity issue to work through - all of which costs money, rather than generates it.

This requires a rethink.

It also requires the wonderful clarity of a first next step.

Consider this question:

What is the first next thing you need to do to bring about action in the challenge you’re struggling with?

Is it:

1. A team/leadership workshop to nut out the opportunities, clarify the key priorities and create a game plan for the quarter
2. An advisory board or small working group of people with the expertise to advise on and execute strategic ideas, make decisions, create movement and outcomes
3. A plan to reinvigorate your team so they can re-engage with your customers
4. Team brainstorms to bring innovative ideas to light and get people excited about what’s possible

Just like successful entrepreneurs, successful leaders are always learning and thinking about better ways of doing things.

Pivoting to focus on sales and customer outreach can be a crucial step towards creating opportunities and initiatives that will foster the next phase of growth for a business…

and its survival.

For most businesses, the thing that will keep them growing is understanding their customers better and motivating their people, not another strategy day.

This doesn’t have to be a big complex strategy, it's just your first next step.

Would love to hear what you’re seeing and doing in this space.

Nina

PS. I'm talking about this because we're working with a number of clients at the moment to help them work through these issues and get the clarity they need to set their businesses and teams up for a phase of phenomenal growth in FY25.

We'd love to see your business thrive too.

PPS. You can also get advice on engaging your market and motivating teams in my eBook. Download it here now - Strategies for Growth in Uncertain Markets