When the quarter is coming to an end, your CFO is pointing out that your burn rate hasn’t been reduced as predicted and you’re running out of operating capital unless you can get this financing closed now, and your sales team is hemming and hawing about the lack of revenue coming in, it can be hard to find the time or the mental clarity to think about the importance of long term strategy.
These are the times when strategic deficiencies are most apparent, and when it is most critical to address them.
At the most general level, companies struggle for two primary reasons:
1. They spend too much of their time and resources trying to operate under the wrong strategic framework, or
2. There is a lack of cohesion between the strategies that have been outlined and the ability / willingness of every member of the organization to fulfill the tactical projects required to meet that strategy.
To use a travel metaphor – Some companies fail because they have the wrong map, and they try to follow directions long after they should have realized that the map they have won’t get them where they want to go. These companies need to get an accurate map before they can even know where they are, let alone what their next moves should be.
Other companies have the right map, but when they come to a bridge that is down, they realize nobody in their party has the equipment or expertise to repair it. These companies need to develop or hire the expertise that will be required to bring them around the obstacles they’re facing.
Unfortunately, many public companies compound their difficulties by retreating into a reactionary mode that mistakes motion for progress, and never address the larger strategic issues that are the heart of their difficulties.
And that’s a shame, because in the area of strategy even small changes can make big differences. As a favorite saying of ours goes, “Little hinges swing big doors.”