Peter Haingwedja
Businesses that thrive during uncertainty are those that have eagle eyes to identify critical opportunities within their macro-economic environments. Internal positioning is one of the core critical elements that help organisations create competitive capabilities in order to navigate all economic volatilities.
Strategic business positioning can be achieved by restructuring and re-alignment of key success critical resource factors such as human capital (skills) and efficient re-deployment of financial resources into key strategic areas of business operation that are value driven.
Top leadership must clearly identify key success factors, as well as threats that are likely to impact business operations, and develop a tailored robust strategy to mitigate any potential risks to the business.
Senior leaders will need a high degree of inspirational leadership to influence departments/divisional functions about the strategic intent of the business and gain buy-in across all functional sectors/structures.
Identifying key skills needed to move an organisation forward, both internally and externally, will be fundamental to people placement to fit for purpose and hire for success, thus engineering organisational transformation during uncertainty.
Once all obstacles have been identified, management must develop a balanced scorecard to help the organisation track its progress/performance and cascade it to various operational channels.
Market analysis plays a crucial role in managing trends and competitors’ analysis by identifying new entrance/new customer demand and provide a tailored solution to different market segments which help the business to thrive and record a new level of success during unfavourable or turbulent markets.
While addressing new market abnormalities, it will also be necessary to review organisational policies in order to fit the current operating environment. This helps the business to stay relevant today and tomorrow – however, due diligence should be taken when reviewing operational company policies to avoid any compromise to organisational values and compliance objectives.
It is always of paramount importance to consider a realistic objective/target during uncertainty, as this will help the workforce to accept responsibilities with a positive mindset and be extra motivated to achieve a significant target.
Achieving good results in an uncertain environment always requires an extra high level of accountabilities across all functional areas of business operations. Teams and individual contributions must all be considered when giving performance appraisal, rewards or feedback to the deserving individual or teams that go the extra mile to ensure organisational success.
Good leaders are those who recognise contributions and the importance of achieving a certain result in particular conditions and show high empathy for those who have been involved in achieving outstanding results under very challenging environments.
When people hear this acknowledgment, they feel highly appreciated which also stimulates their morale to again go the extra mile, thus encourage a consistent performance and help the organisation to thrive in the midst of uncertainty which is deemed very crucial for the organisational stability and profit sustainability of any business.
*Peter Haingwedja is a Business Strategist, a holder of a BA Finance Management and MBA specialised in strategic leadership and employee performance. The above opinions represent his own views and are not necessarily those of his employer or any associate. Peter can be reached at email: mfongokongo@gmail.com