Few of us could have predicted the length, depth and severity of the economic crises.  Many of us thought we were immune, our strategies bulletproof and our products and services infallible.

We thought we are doing well because of 1) our own brilliance 2) we thought we were market and product  leaders 3) our service exceptional and 4) our customers  loyal.  Now the game is really getting  interesting. Those  of us  that  have  survived  so  far  need  new  inspiration,  focus and determined action to ensure that we continue to survive.

At  the  moment  we are  bouncing  between  fear  and  hope.      Fear  for an  uncertain  future  and because  humans  are  by their own nature  hopeful – we still cling to  the  believe that  we are immune to a number of possible scenarios.

There is no dispute about  the  fact that  these  are exceptional times.   No one knows when the world will go back to normal – if it ever will.  Because normal has to be redefined in the spade of world changing affects.  The obvious thing would be to prepare better for these uncertain times.

The first thing to do is to pay more attention to the future.   Consider different futures.   Talk to different people and look for new patterns emerging.  Then consider what it all means.

Then focus on two things specifically:

1.  Build and conserve critical strengths:  Decide exactly where you want to focus and understand what capabilities, competencies and assets you will require to compete.   Invest only in what will make you stronger, get rid of the rest.

2.  Build in more flexibility, resilience and agility:  This will help you to ride the waves, focus on the  activities  you  can  control,  and  outsource  the  rest. Break  down  silo’s,  rethink  your suppliers, partnerships and alliances and make sure that  none of these  locks you in specific thinking or reduce your mobility.

We are living in interesting times.  However, we have done so for some time already.  There have always been risks, uncertainties and challenges, and this time it is no different.  It is just so stupid to be fearful.  The future will be here tomorrow – be ready.

Some Essentials:

1.  Take a hard look at your assumptions.   The views that underpinned your strategy of the last few  years  are  absolute. Strategy  should be  based  on  hard  facts  and  scientific  evidence. Previous experience might blind you to new realities. What you have to do now is gather new information, scan your environment deeper  and  wider, and  ask others  what  they  see  and experience.

2.  Focus  on  different   things.        Focus  on  new  products,  new  services,  new  markets,  new opportunities, new competitors – consider new thinking and new allies – the more unconventional the better  – now is a time for new motivation and ideas – in that lies hope for the  future  – especially consider speaking to the  next generation of consumers,  customers, buyers, influencers – you might not agree with them but that is not the point.  The idea is to find new  hope  for the  future  – because  the  future  will  be  built and  shaped  by the  next generation.

3.  Make sure the current  business will support  your new ventures.   Make sure the basics still work and  perform  like  it  should.  But  rethink  and  reconsider  the  basics  with  the  new information you gained (see point number two).

4.  Deal with problems fast.  Get them off the table.  Don’t delay the inevitable.   Shorten your ‘to do’ list and make sure it only focuses on new projects, new innovative ideas – forget about old staid ways – direct your energy at the new future you are trying to create and build.

5.  Make decisions fast and at the right time.  It is amazing, but a lot of stuff will take care of itself or someone else will pick up on it.  Don’t dwell on things, don’t try to constantly fix things, be proactive, see new conversations, research new trends, keep watching, listening and learning, and be ready to act.

6.  Clarify your strategy  and communicate.   As soon as you know where you are going – make sure everyone else does too.  Focus on the priorities, not the admin, processes and systems, keep things simple and keep on doing it.  Practice makes perfect.

7.  Watch market forces.  No business operates in isolation.  Other than keeping up with the news and reading industry papers, consider reading trend reports and forecasts.

To be effective, the strategic conversation should focus on five key questions:

1.  On what assumptions were the firm’s current strategy based, and how have they changed?

2.  What basics must be managed to ensure survival?

3.  What radical things can be done to drive new growth?

4.  What must be done within, say, 30 days?

5.  What key themes must shape the strategic conversation in the future?

The future will not be easy.  But we all have an equal opportunity at it right now.  Go ahead, take the plunge – live hopeful – and create a great business.

Next Generation  Consultants is a specialist management consultancy.   We focus on assisting business   owners   to   build  more   sustainable   businesses   and   help   them   achieve   greater profitability.  For more information visit – www.nextgeneration.co.za

A midlife crisis is the classic explanation for feelings of frustration, irritability and futility, especially for mid-career, 40′ or 50′ something, high performers. But this explanation is deeply inadequate and somewhat insulting for people who have always succeeded and aspired to make a difference. This article offers another  interpretation of the midlife crisis, where uncomfortable feelings are seen as part of the development of greater leadership capacity.

According   to   psychologists  a   ‘midlife  crisis’  can   be   recognised  by  creeping  feelings  of dissatisfaction and ineffectiveness, a lacking in creativity and enthusiasm, coupled with boredom and a confused search for adventure  and inspiration. Typically it is something that  comes as a complete surprise to the individual, although may be long anticipated by family, friends and co- workers alike. Writer Joseph Campbell characterised it thus: “Midlife is when you reach the top of the ladder and find that it was against the wrong wall.”

Unfortunately, a real midlife crisis is an existential one for which no quick fixes are possible. The confusion can only be solved by sense-making, the process by which we are able to give meaning to our experiences.  The same is essentially true for the present  economic crisis; identified as a systems crisis for which new approaches to management  and regulation are necessary.

According to economist Joseph Stiglitz, many independent observers saw the crisis coming. The only question was ‘when?’  Paradoxically, one of the contributing factors to the crisis has been the very search for adventure  and ‘risk’ undertaken  by business leaders – combined with a decreased ability  and  willingness  of governments  to  regulate  speculative  behaviour.  In  this  sense,  the psychological cause for the economic turmoil can be attributed to a collective midlife crisis of top executives and business owners. The economic crisis created  a sense of uncertainty, triggered by its complexity. Some managers  are  still in a state  of denial, but  on the  whole most  societies recognise that they face a challenge for which ‘business as usual’ no longer suffices.

The first basic ingredient of leadership is a guiding vision. The leader has to be clear about what he wants to do, professionally and personally, and must show that he has the strength  to persist in the face of setbacks and failures.

The  second  basic  ingredient  of  leadership  is  passion:  the  passion  for  the  promises  of  life, combined with passion for a vocation, a profession, a course of action. The leader who communicates passion gives hope and inspiration to other people.

The next basic ingredient of leadership is integrity, keeping commitments, doing what you say. It is the basis of trust. You can’t have trust without integrity, and it cannot be acquired, but must be earned.

Two more basic ingredients are curiosity and daring (courage). The leader wonders about everything, wants to learn as much as he can, is willing to take risks, experiment, try new things. He does not worry about failure, but embraces errors, knowing he will learn from them.

1 Source: www.midlifecrisescoaching.com – April 2009

Next Generation  Consultants is a specialist management consultancy.  Please do not hesitate to contact  us if you require specialist interventions in Leadership Development.

Globally, the Corporate Social Investment (CSI) industry is at a tipping point. In the dynamic and ever-evolving world that is CSI, determining the impact of CSI programmes is becoming increasingly important. The industry is reaching a new level of maturity – a level where the CSI department needs to take accountability for the successes and failures of the CSI programmes they undertook; a level where they need to reflect on past programmes, learn from past mistakes and adapt new strategies for the future.

There is no doubt that successful CSI programmes can have a major positive impact on communities and business performance. From a community perspective, a well thought-through CSI programme can alleviate severe health and education problems in suffering communities; it  can effectively contribute to infrastructure provision and access to services and assist government with leveraging and optimising limited resources. From the business side, effective CSI programmes build business reputation, it creates a sense of meaning and significance amongst employees and clients and it  contributes  to good corporate citizenship.  These are but some of the community  and business  impacts  and benefits from strategic CSI interventions.

However, many sceptics argue that CSI is nothing but  lip service and that it distracts the organisation from its core business. Critics also believe that businesses are ill-equipped to address  complex societal problems, suggesting that corporate involvement in society increases social problems rather than alleviates them.

Some projects are clearly more successful than others, but how does one know the difference between an effective CSI programme and an ineffective one? Would one know why certain programmes are more effective than others? How does one differentiate a mere  ‘noble cause’ from a truly, impactful project? And  would one know  whether  one programme is more sustainable than another? The answer lies in measuring the impact of CSI programmes on one’s business and beneficiary communities.

Specifically applying the model to each CSI programme, Rossouw discovered that it is critical for the relevant indicators to be developed, agreed and documented prior to the implementation phase of the programme. It needs to be clearly stipulated in the contractual agreement with the NGO or programme implementer.

She also discovered several flaws inherent to companies’ CSI strategies. “A poorly defined strategy will have an effect on the impact and return of your CSI programme. Your strategy must clearly state your desired impact and return. You must also be specific about your focus areas and the impact and return you expect from each focus area. Companies tend to identify too many focus areas, which reduce the overall impact of their investments”. Similarly, she highlights that sustainability objectives must be clearly defined to truly know the  impact and return of  the  programme once it  is complete.  And the  CSI  department  must  establish  and adhere  to  internal  monitoring  and evaluation  processes throughout the implementation of the programme.

Lastly, Rossouw always asks the question: have you considered the impact of the impact assessment? “I ask my clients prior to doing the assessment,  what if it isn’t good news? What if the programmes are not delivering the desired impact and return? If  so, companies must be prepared  to rethink their strategies and internal human resource structures to improve the impact and return of their CSI programmes”.

A benchmark for future improvement

By means  of a detailed, qualitative assessment of the organisation’s CSI strategy, operational approach and programme components, as well as a substantial database of existing indicators, the tool quantitatively measures the community impacts and business returns of each programme, and plots it on the four-quadrant axis in terms of its effectiveness.

This scientifically-based assessment tool will assist CSI practitioners to optimise the overall impact of their investments, both  on the community and the business, to  bring about  true sustainability and ensure  that money is not  being channelled into ineffective, fruitless programmes which cannot be measured.

Criticism against the CSI industry is not without grounds. CSI managers often pay lip service to the success of their programmes without substantial proof of their real impact on the community and other stakeholders. This is, to a large extent, due to the lack of proper impact assessment tools within the industry. In order to change these perceptions it is vital for the industry to come on board and be prepared to understand the total impact of its programmes, or the lack thereof, on stakeholders.

For more information about measuring the business and community impact of your  CSI programmes, contact Reana Rossouw on 083 440 0654 or email her at rrossouw@nextgeneration.co.za.

JOHANNESBURG – “Despite the private sector’s R50 billion-injection in 2010 into corporate social investment (CSI) initiatives aimed at upliftment, no dramatic shift in community wellbeing is evident in South Africa,” said Reana Rossouw,  owner  of  Next  Generation  Consultants  – a  consultancy  that  advises  corporates  on sustainability and social responsibility excellence in business – at the two-day Community Responsible Mining Leadership Forum at the Sandton Sun in Johannesburg.

“According to the Millennium Development Goals’ 2010 Country Report, nearly 25%  of our  population lives below  the  food  poverty  line  of  R209 –  regardless  of  corporates’  multi-billion  rand  investments  into development. This is an indication of  the severe  marginalisation our country faces. As a result, society’s growing social conscience and increasing regulatory pressure are driving companies to reassess their CSI programmes and ask hard-hitting questions about their effectiveness.

“At  some point,  one needs to ask:  if  R50 billion  is  not  lifting  people  out  of poverty,  how much will?  Are companies doing it wrong? Are the developmental challenges just too severe?  Or does the industry simply apply poor measurement techniques to gauge the impact of their CSI efforts to instigate true social change?” she continued.

Rossouw  is of  opinion that  the  CSI industry has reached  a tipping point. She believes the  heightened requirement by business and regulatory bodies to know the direct impact of CSI on beneficiary communities and the measurable return on investment for a company is steering the industry to excellence – away from simply spending to adhere to legal requirements and social guilt.

“There are several best practice examples emerging in multiple sectors across  South Africa. The mining industry, specifically, invests approximately R1.5 billion of the country’s total CSI spend in the communities in which they operate.  Best practice case studies, specifically with regards  to small- to  medium enterprise development, indicate that mining companies are making a significant difference to the lives of the people who are affected by their operations. Unfortunately there are still too many ineffective examples,” she said.

Delegates at the Community Responsible Mining Leadership Forum said they benefitted greatly from the best practice  guidelines  to  measure  community  impact  and business  return  on investment,  which  Rossouw provided. The  single most  important aspect she emphasised was  the  importance of  measurement  and evaluation to know and understand the impact and return of programmes.

“CSI stands for corporate social investment, not corporate social giving. The  word ‘investment’ by default implies that there must be a business return. The days of ‘feel good’ programmes are over. Boards want to know how CSI will benefit business. Similarly, regulatory requirements demand proof that programmes are making a substantial and notable difference to beneficiary communities, and these must now be encapsulated in an integrated report”.

Rossouw  highlighted  the  importance  to  support  and promote  projects  with  a  specific  relevance  to  an organisation. “The development focus area  and the  core  business needs of  the  organisation must  be integrated and aligned – in that lies true sustainability”.

She also shared practical tips for CSI practitioners such as the provision of operational support to NGOs to enable effective service, the critical significance of  stakeholder engagement,  social baseline studies and employee participation, and the value in strategic CSI communication.

“Organisations have entered a new era of doing business in communities to whom they sell their products and services and on whom they depend for their own future sustainability and profitability. CSI forms an integral part of the sustainable organisation of the future. This means that CSI practitioners must critically evaluate where they are, and where they are heading to ensure that they implement best practice programmes which give them a competitive business edge,” Rossouw concluded.

Next  Generation  Consultants  is  a  specialist  management  consultancy.  We  have  assisted  numerous companies developing CSI strategies and in particular measuring the impact and return on investment of CSI projects, programs and interventions.  For more information, visit www.nextgeneration.co.za

A recent study – “Nice Girls Just Don’t Get It” examine why women often don’t break through as leading entrepreneurs.

Women are leaving corporate companies at twice the rate of men (according to a study by Cheskin Research).  No longer willing to devote their time and energy to employers who won’t meet their needs, they’re starting their own businesses where they have more flexibility and opportunities for unlimited income and upward mobility. Or do they?

The U.S Women’s Chamber of Commerce reports that the overall revenues captured  by women- owned businesses hovers around 4%. Compare that to the 28% captured  by private firms owned by men and 64% captured by publicly held companies. Only one in five women-owned businesses nets more than a million dollars annually.

Relying on old messages they learned in childhood about  behaviours that  were appropriate for little girls, some women who venture out on their own miss opportunities and overlook the ways in which they can grow their businesses. We refer to these women as “nice girls.”

The Nice-girl syndrome has been the downfall of more than a few women’s enterprises — but it doesn’t have to derail yours.

We’ve identified five traps that can keep women entrepreneurs from achieving their full growth potential — and antidotes for overcoming them.

1. Unclear vision, strategies  and tactics. Nice girls often start  their businesses with energy and passion but no concrete vision for where they ultimately want to be, how much they want to earn, and the size to which they aspire to grow. They hesitate to reach broadly for fear others will think they’re too cocky, and are so busy “doing” that they fail to put time into planning.

Antidote: Define your future. It may sound simple, but it goes beyond a vague statement of being successful or rich. Your vision for the future must have teeth.  Until you envision what you want and articulate the people and processes needed to achieve it, you’ll likely march in place.

2. Unwillingness to leverage connections. In an episode of “The Apprentice,” the challenge was to sell cupcakes, with the team earning the most money winning the task. The women created a plan to sell the most cupcakes. The men picked up the phone and called friends willing to pay $100 to $1,000 per cupcake. Who do you think won? The women actually worked harder, but lost. Nice girls are great at building relationships, but not so great at using them to their advantage.

Antidote: Understand and honour quid pro quos. Inherent to every relationship is a quid pro quo — something in exchange for something else. When you do favours or go out of your way for others, you earn capital that can be cashed in when you need it. Ask for what you need from the people in your network you have served well. Don’t be naive. It’s the way to win your game.

3. Difficulty creating boundaries.  One of the primary reasons women leave corporate  jobs is so that they have more control over their time. What many soon learn is that others perceive them as “unemployed” rather  than  “self-employed” and encroach on their time, space or both. How does this play out in the life of a woman business owner? Friends expect her to be available for lunch in the middle of the day now that she’s “free.” Spouses want her to take over more of the home chores. If you’re a nice girl, you may have difficulty setting boundaries around your need to spend time on your endeavour.

Antidote: Define your workday, week and space. Don’t  be apologetic about  telling friends  you can’t join them for lunch because  you’re working, or asking your spouse to pick up his own dry cleaning on the way home from the office. The more clearly you define the parameters  of your work, the easier it will be to let others know where the boundaries are.

4. Diluted messaging.  In an effort not  to sound  overly aggressive, nice girls water  down their messages to the point that  others  have difficulty understanding what they are saying. They are unable to clearly state their company’s mission or concisely explain why others should do business with them.  Using more words when fewer would do, apologising before  offering an idea, and inappropriate  smiling  are  but  a  few  of  the  ways  in  which  women  fail  to  come  across  as authoritative and self-confident.

Antidote: Get to the point. Short sounds confident. Cut your communications by 25%.

5. Work/life imbalance.  The No. 1 question women ask us is, “How do I  create  more balance between  my work and my personal life?” When you are creating a start-up, there  is no balance. The most you can do is integrate the things that are most important to you.

Antidote: Avoid perfectionism, ask for help and be realistic about what you can and can’t do in any given time period. Mary Kay Ash, founder of Mary Kay cosmetics, had her children pack makeup in the garage — but they did it as a family. And look where it got her!

Recognising the nice-girl behaviours that hold you back, and acting to counter them, will help you realise your entrepreneurial dream. I know because I’ve been there and done it.

Next Generation  Consultants  is a specialist management consultancy.   We have a passion  to help and assist women entrepreneurs to grow their businesses exponentially.  If you need more information – visit www.nextgeneration.co.za

Whether  you’re trimming  your operation  to streamline  your successful business or save your recession-affected enterprise, consider these tips.

Not every business suffers during a recession. Some industries even  thrive because  they  are recession-proof. But many others  experience reduced  revenues  and lower profitability, even as the economy slowly recovers. But regardless of which side of the downturn you are on, you should downsize, tighten procedures, control expenses, and hold on to profitability as best as you can.

The idea is to take out the cleaver instead of the  surgical knife and cut deep,  deeper  than  the revenue reduction may require. Overcutting, some may claim, with unnecessary layoffs is taking advantage  of the  downturn  to  lose excessive employees and  reduce  overhead  — making the business leaner and  meaner  at  the  cost of employees. In reality, it is making  up for years of unnecessary growth and development, cutting out the fat and leaving the meat.

Cut your payroll, workforce and overhead. If your efforts are focused on getting better, not getting bigger, you will be around a lot longer, irrespective of the economic climate. Focus on training, incentives  and  teamwork,  all  of  which  contribute  to  greater  productivity  without  increased overhead  and payroll. Batten down the hatches  and market like crazy. There’s a smaller pie to divide up than there  was during flush times, but you can get a larger share than you had even before downsizing.

Downsizing a business is a difficult task and rife with dangers to your business and your team. Here are half a dozen major stumbling blocks to avoid in your downsizing plan.

Six biggest downsizing mistakes:

Mistake 1: Underestimating  the severity and length of an economic downturn

Be stone-cold realistic. Acknowledge immediately that  this is not a trend  that  will soon reverse itself. Our economy is severely damaged, and growth will be slow.

Redesign your company based on a realistic evaluation of your worst case. Protect your core, the most profitable parts of your business that make up most of your volume and serve most of your customers. Identify your top customers and make certain you are satisfying their needs. Reduce your debt in the face of reduced revenues. Not getting small enough quick enough is a short path to disaster.

“Nothing is more important than revenue. If you have to make a choice on where to spend money, always default to activities that directly relate to an increase in sales. If no one is coming through the front door, it does not matter that you repainted the walls.” — Jeff Bogensberger, online game developer

“The most important lesson I learned this year is that the next step in growth for a small business is not [to go] from one full-time person to [hiring] another  full-time person. It’s not realistic to double in size like that. Instead, the next step is to delegate work and tasks, whether through part- time help, interns or experts such as accountants.” — Meghan Ely, wedding consultant

“I’ve learned that I have to value my time and work; if I don’t, my clients won’t either. … And I’ve learned to budget my time carefully and make time for fun.” — Kimberly Gauthier, photographer

“2010 was a train wreck. But like all wrecks, the pieces get picked up and the trains do run again. The best lesson is that things are getting better and that now is the time to prepare for it. Invest in new capital equipment, inventory and staff so that when the stats show a huge uptick in consumer confidence and spending, you will be ready to meet the pent-up demand for goods and services.”

— Alan N. Canton, insurance agent

Good advice, straight from the front lines. Thanks to all who participated, and a prosperous 2012 to all.

Next  Generation   Consultants  is  a  specialist  management  consultancy.          We  have  assisted numerous  businesses  to grow exponentially  and organically (even in tough  times).   For more information, visit www.nextgeneration.co.za

It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the most responsive to change. — Charles Darwin, c. 1809-1882

What Resilience Looks Like . . . Resilient people . . .

•    View problems and challenges as opportunities

•    Learn from their mistakes/failures

•    Succeed despite their hardships

•    Seek out new and challenging experiences

•    Don’t let anxiety and doubts overwhelm them

•    Have a sense of humour and realistic optimism under stress

•    Don’t feel shame or depression in the face of failure

•    Transform helplessness into power

•    Move from being a victim to being a survivor

Why We Need Resilience @ Work:

•    Rapid changes in our environment

•    Multiple changes occurring simultaneously

•    Pressures to do more with less

•    The need to play multiple roles, wear multiple hats, and satisfy multiple customers in our jobs

•    Work/life balance OUT of balance

•    Greater workplace diversity—with diversity comes differences . . . which can lead to conflict

•    Changing job descriptions

•    Increasing pressure to achieve higher levels of performance

•    Outsourcing, downsizing, and the fear of job loss

•    Project overload

•    Loss of control over our work

•    Uncertainty about the future . . .

•    Because change is constant . . . It’s how we respond to it that makes the difference

Don’t take things personally:

•    Nothing others do is because of you

•    What others say and do is a projection of their own reality

•    When you immunize yourself against the opinions/actions of others, you won’t become a victim of needless suffering

Leadership in an Age of Uncertainty . . .:

•    Leadership is distributed

•    Leadership is personal and developmental

•    Leadership is a process to create change

•    Leadership develops over time

 Whatever you do will be insignificant. But it is very important that you do it. — Mahatma Gandhi

Next  Generation  Consultants  is a  specialist  management consultancy.      Please contact us should you wish us to engage with you on customised leadership development interventions.

www.nextgeneration.co.za

As consumers  batten  down the  hatches  and the  global economy slows, senior executives and business owners confront a more profoundly uncertain business environment than most of them have ever faced.

Uncertainty surrounds not only the downturn’s depth  and duration—though these are decidedly big unknowns—but also the very future of a global economic order until recently characterised by free-flowing capital and trade and by ever-deepening economic ties.

A  few months  ago, the  only challenges to this global system seemed  to be external ones  like climate change, terrorism, and war. Now, every day brings news that makes all of us wonder if the system itself will survive.

The task of business leaders must be to overcome the paralysis that dooms any organisation and to begin shaping the future.

One  starting  point  is  to  take  stock  of  what  they  do  know  about  their  industries  and  the surrounding economic environment; such an understanding will probably suggest needed changes in strategy. Even then, enormous uncertainty will remain, particularly about how governments will behave and how the global real economy and financial system will interact. All these factors, taken together,  will determine  whether  we face just a few declining quarters,  a severe  (continuing) global recession, or something in between.

Uncertainty  of  this  magnitude  will  leave  some  leaders  lost  in  the  fog. To  avoid  impulsive, uncoordinated, and ultimately ineffective responses, companies must evaluate an unusually broad set of macroeconomic outcomes and strategic responses and then act to make themselves more flexible, aware, and resilient.

Strengthening these  organisational muscles will allow companies not only to survive but also to seize the extraordinary opportunities that arise during periods of vast uncertainty.

What we know:

Stuff is not  working well.   We have tried lowered interest rates,  which meant  cheaper  credit, enormous  bail out packages, injecting capital in new projects – but it is not working.  We have

More resilience:

A crisis  is a chance to break ingrained structures  and behaviours that  sap the  productivity and effectiveness of many organisations. Such moves aren’t a short-term  crisis response—they often take a year or more to pay dividends—but are valuable in any scenario and could help a company survive if hard times persist. Although employees may dislike this approach, most will understand why management  aims to make the organisation more effective.

This may, for example, be the time to destroy the vertical organisational structures,  retrofitted with ad hoc and matrix overlays that  encumber  companies large and small. Such structures  can burden  professionals with several competing bosses. Internal battles and unclear decisions are common.  Turf wars between  product,  sales, and  geographic managers  kill  promising projects. Searches for information aren’t productive, and countless hours are wasted on pointless e-mails, telephone calls, and meetings.

Experience shows that streamlining an organisation to define roles and the way those who hold them collaborate can greatly improve its effectiveness and decision making. When jobs must be eliminated, the cuts mostly reduce unproductive complexity rather  than valuable work. When a company redesigns roles and responsibilities to improve cooperation among functions and reduce duplication of effort,  talented employees generally are  more  satisfied in a more  collaborative workplace.

In fact, many functional areas  offer big opportunities: greater  effectiveness, lower fixed costs, freed-up capital, and reduced risk. This could be the moment to redefine and reprioritise the use of IT to increase its impact and cut its cost.

Other companies could seize the  moment  to control inventory; to re-examine their cash flow management,  including payments and receivables; or to change the mix of marketing vehicles and sales models in response  to the rising cost of traditional media and the growing effectiveness of new ones.

As  customer  preferences   change,  competitors  falter,  opportunities  to  gain  distressed  assets emerge, and governments shift from crisis control to economic stimulus, the next year or two will probably produce new laggards, leaders, and industry dynamics. The future will belong to companies whose senior executives remain calm, carefully assess their options, and nurture  the flexibility, awareness, and resiliency needed to deal with whatever the world throws at them.

Next Generation Consultants is a specialist management consultancy that focuses extensively on business development and growth.  Please do not hesitate to contact us if you feel we can add value to your future business growth strategies and opportunities.  www.nextgeneration.co.za

By now it should be clear – we are facing a tough time – and even tougher times ahead.

All  business  owners  are at the  same  time  - at the  same place  and it  is very unfamiliar. The business strategies we have crafted previous – all of which has brought us to this point in time – is not working as the world around us have changed so much.  The products and services we have sold  over  time  is  not  making  as  much  money  as  it  used  to  and  the  skills,  capabilities  and competencies  we have built  over time  – is certainly  not providing us with  ways and means  to tackle this great uncertain future.

The question is – in order to plan for 2012 we have to ask some very pertinent questions.

Some of these include:  As business owners – what are we focusing on in the next 12 months, what capital will we need, what skills will we need, how can we surpass and outwit our competitors, and how can we survive and grow our businesses beyond 2012.

I always  had this firm belief – there  is stuff I know and therefore  this historical knowledge has stood me in good stead.  But facing a third year of economic decline and a continuing recession I have to admit that  lately I have been thinking – there  is now more stuff I don’t know and more importantly – I don’t know how to gain knowledge, skill or understanding to 1) motivate myself to keep on growing the business 2) guide my decisions daily on big strategic questions like capital investment and asset management,  or 3) how to deal with smaller issues like marketing, sales, and new market and product development.   The choices are so many!

To survive  and thrive, firms must do more with less – and at a blistering pace. Yet the notion of three- and five-year plans is alive and well, and too many executives still think they’re safe when they’ve crafted  long-term visions and flowery mission statements.  There is no question – they need to think hard about the future and to know as much about it as possible. But perfect insight is  impossible.  And  for  all  the  efforts  companies  make  to  cover  themselves  by  considering alternative scenarios and creating contingency plans, surprise is the only certainty.

The fact is things change. Stuff happens. One event – the collapse of a major firm, an earthquake in Taiwan, the launch of a 700Mz Pentium chip, a switch in a nation’s banking laws – triggers many others. In the blink of an eye, today’s sure thing becomes tomorrow’s disruption.

The future does not unfold in a straight line. As James Burke shows in his book The Pinball Effect, scientific discoveries  are  usually the result  of a zigzag process in which one finding becomes  a catalyst for others, and in which breakthroughs  from various disciplines careen off each other to inspire new insights, new experiments and new ideas.

Recent writings in chaos theory also underline the random nature of life. Yet for all this evidence, and despite the fascination this “new science” holds for business people, most managers still stick with their tried – and thoroughly discredited – methods of concocting strategy.

They not only use planning models that  were designed for a different time, they also plan as if events will unfold as predicted.

Planning is attached to the budgeting cycle, so they tend to do it once a year with progress reviews at six-monthly or maybe three-monthly intervals, or whenever else they can spare time from “real work”.

Clearly this doesn’t make sense in a world of continuous, frenetic and unpredictable change.

A further error is that managers put off hard decisions because they’re not sure what lies ahead. But management is about making choices in the absence  of perfect information. And just as no punter can afford to back every horse in a race; neither can companies chase every opportunity.

Resources must be aimed where the risks are lowest and the potential payoff is highest.

Like it or not, managers have to lay bets. They have to commit to this investment or that. And as companies like  Microsoft,  Apple, and WalMart,  Sony know, the  smartest  thing  to do in these chancy times is to place lots of reasonably small bets. That way, you get to probe the future at minimal cost, and hopefully wind up in roughly the right place at the right time and with the right offering.

To stand  on the  side-lines  and speculate  about precisely  which way things  will pan out is the height  of stupidity.  It  offers no learning  experience  and does not lead  to the  development  of capabilities. Companies only grow when they venture  into the  real world and test  their mettle against living, breathing customers and competitors.

For all these reasons, strategists need a wake-up call. They need to deal with the world as it really is, accept  the inevitability of surprise, see the value in modest  experiments and realise that  the best way to get to the future is by actually going there.

Executives today must ensure that their strategy making has three outcomes.

First, it must result in new business models offering new value to tomorrow’s customers. Second, it must result in action. And third, it must develop the “strategic IQ” of their people.

These three objectives can all be met by involving people in high-level strategic conversations, by encouraging them to think, by challenging them to test the limits of what’s possible and by setting extraordinary goals and tight deadlines.

Most of the companies I work with now make strategy in 30-day chunks. They’re moving into the future at lightning speed, learning as they go and making rapid adjustments  along the way. Call this strategy as tactics. Or call it practical strategy. Whatever the term, this is likely to be the way of corporate life in the future.