Suddenly, you’re filled with urgency and panic. What? You haven’t invested in quantum computing yet? What have you been DOING for the last year!?
It’s the business equivalent of FOMO, which at best creates a low-level organisational anxiety, and at worst becomes a waste of time and resources.
Organisations are often paralysed by their inability to leverage the insights and data they have. We ran a survey of digital and technology leaders, and 64% of respondents said they already feel like a rabbit caught in the headlights with so many conflicting priorities and business demands against a backdrop of finite resources. The endless stream of new data ‘trends’ only makes this worse.
So what’s the antidote? Well we’d recommend that in 2023, you follow a different New Year’s Resolution – to ignore the chatter, turf out the trends and focus on what your organisation really needs. The anti-trend movement!
Think of it as mindfulness for your business – taking a breath and giving yourself permission to ignore the relentless clang of new trends dropping into your inbox. Focus on what’s happening inside before looking outside. Establishing strong foundations that support great customer experiences, facilitate growth or set you up for success is the best possible way for you to start the new year.
Here’s our take on the foundations to focus on:
Being data driven isn’t just about having decent CRM (although it helps). You need a data driven operating model in which ideas are validated, intuition is amplified, and decisions are accelerated.
Ultimately, data driven organisations are characterised by curiosity and access. Provide your teams with the required tools, training and access to data sources. Then give permission to use them by fostering a culture that encourages difficult questions and challenges assumptions.
Customer insight is the foundation for great customer experience – so far, so obvious. However you’d be amazed at how few organisations have internalised that insight into an instinctive (and data driven) understanding of the customer through the value chain of their organisation or service. Ruthlessly Customer (or User) focused means:
Ruthless customer focus is just as much about what you don’t do – and the customers you choose not to focus on. It’s why universal measures like NPS have their place but can ultimately be diluting – creating a metric that rewards trying to satisfy everyone. We’d argue strong focus on who your customer is and their key drivers requires compromise on some experiences, in order to nail the services, processes or customers that will make a difference.
Agile – really? Isn’t that all so 2010?... well yes. And yet, most organisations still have a long way to go in agile transformation. While many have dipped a technology toe in the water, most remain in the shallows. To set this foundation, think less about ‘agile delivery’ and more about agility in operation – applying the principles and approaches that unlock a new way of operating:
Culture shift is the most critical element to success and yet typically the strongest barrier. The root cause is often a lack of belief or trust in the process, or too much organisational scar tissue to give up the controls that protect.
Above all else, agile is characterised by collaboration, trust and a one-team approach – without trust, there is no agile. So ditch the training courses and agile manuals, and invest in high performance coaching and collaboration.
Has this got you thinking? Well that’s good news!
We’ll be taking a deep dive into each of these areas in the coming weeks so you can start 2023 focused on the right things to help your organisation thrive in 2023. Leaving you with a clear, calm mind that’s ready to focus on the road ahead.
….and breathe.