Company leaders will not be stepping into 2012 with the
same basis of hope they took into 2011.
A year ago, the widespread observation was that things
could only get better ..."we've put the worst of the global
financial shock waves behind us so it's time for a return to new,
sustainable growth".
Today, we know that for most companies this has not been
the case.
Even allowing for the addiction of most finance writers
and 'expert analysts' to headline negative news (post GFC
paranoia: "I won't get it wrong again"), there are not a lot
of indicators around the world to excite us about the near term
market outlook.
Yes, in Australia we have some of the best numbers in the
world on critical economic measures, but....
- Will 2012 be the year that the Euro
implodes?
- Will the US have an implementable plan to
get unemployment heading down and its debt burden under
control?
- Is China really starting to
stumble?
The eventual answers to these questions, and more of
the recurring themes, may not have an immediate direct
hit on our markets. But they sap confidence, play on the
reactions of governments, hang over the decisions in Boardrooms ,
and close the wallets of consumers.
This is not a planning period uplifted by evidence of
hope.
BUT...The positive reality is that there will be
winners. There always is. Just as there will always be
losers.
So what will it take to win in 2012? What
should be the key points of focus for CEO's and their senior
management?
What actions will put your company and brands into the
limited spaces of business and consumer confidence
?
What will it take to be in the 2012 winners
circle?
In setting the business compass for the year ahead,
we see 6 stand out essentials:
1. Simplify the business structure and the story to the
markets
In an ever increasing world of complexities, with
associated 'noise' and crowded minds, clarity is king and
simplification is the keystone.
With simplification comes efficiencies of process and
focus of impact. Stakeholders 'get it '. Employees understand
the goals. Customers hear you, and the markets give it their
vote.
We have seen too many over engineered businesses resulting
from attempting to play on too many fronts. Market downturns
put panic into decisions. Lots of questions with lots of
answers ... ("one of them will fix it ").
We have witnessed the stifling of decision making through
over structured organisations where the primary goal appears to be
the moving of the problem to someplace else.
Accountabilities are blurred and costs get lost. The
delivery of real consequence is either delayed or
derailed.
Time for a New Year's resolution... Forget the 2011
"coodabeens" that have been lost in translation, and pull a
much tighter focus on the 2012 'must
be's'. Focus is the critical discipline of
the time.
2. Stop believing that
innovation is the magic solution to growth and that innovation
is all about about technology and 'think tanks'. Don't confuse
innovation with invention (and understand why the business believes
that innovation is needed)
Innovation can deliver breakthroughs. But it is much
more about a state of mind in a business, top down, that commits to
finding new ways to do things better, smarter and makes sure they
can be executed.
Innovation goals have to be realisable and relevant for
where the business needs to go. Perhaps more telling is to make
sure that the cry for innovation is not because winning in the
existing competitive battles is too hard (or the capabilities are
short of the task).
Companies that fail in the base business have not earned
the right to succeed with innovation. Saying in the Annual
Report that "2012 will be the year of innovation" is setting
the company up for a fall if the hard yards of
implementing any new ides is not built in to the
organisational and cost planning.
3. Deconstruct the silos. Silos are the enemy of
competitive fitness. They are built to serve egos and are at
odds with any sound business architecture.
They thrive in financial services organisations. Telcos
are proven breeding grounds.
Duplicated and complicated processes are the obvious evidence.
But what really costs the business is the impediment silos create
in trying to connect with customers.
Show us a business with silos and we will readily find
frustrated customers (and suppliers).
If 2012 is going to be another tough one to win and hold a
profitable customer base, you are in a handicap event with any sign
of silos.
4. Embrace the power of collaborative thinking.
Understand how the concept of co-creation can bring companies
and customers together in a way that delivers internal performance
improvement and competitively smarter marketing
impact.
Tapping into the mind of the buyer, user and consumer of your
products or services has been a periodic event at best for most
organisations and spasmodic (problem driven) interrogation in the
most common practice. Questions and answers....often one way
communication.
Constant dialogue and sharing of relevant thinking between
company people across all levels, customers and performance
influencers, is a very different thing. Different as in
powerful.
Methodology is available. Executional know - how is growing.
Results are delivering winners.
5. You can't ignore social media . And its place
in the success of your business has to be understood at the top,
and managed where the impact matters.
Social media brings good news and bad news. It can reach
customers and prospects in a way never possible with the known
mainstream media. Effectively and highly efficiently.
It has given word of mouth a megaphone.
But it can blow ill winds of information and influence at the
speed of a storm, and that is where management has to be on
constant alert.
This is no passing fad, albeit overheated in its exploding
application. Getting the right advice on what it means for your
business, what leverage it can create, and how you control it
before it controls you is not an option. It has to be a 'must
be' on the 2012 priority list.
6. Demand more rigour in understanding the minds, moods
and relevant behaviour of your customers.
There is no doubt that reading the likely response of
customers to marketing initiatives is more difficult in the
prevailing world of mixed economic signals and faster moving
social change.
The concept of a mass market has long moved on and the
ability to target customers with more precision is a given.
Yet we still see market research being used as the 'dip
stick' tool that it might have been when clustering consumer
segments was basic and reasonably reliable as an aid to decision
making.
The world of 'insights ' arrived earlier in the 2000's,
but unfortunately more in job title than in rigorous and
creative diagnosis. Second level information and
research 'findings' masquerade as insights when the urgent need is
deeper digging for the behaviourial signals that can give a
competitive edge.
The tools, skills and experience to do the digging may
take some probing to see that your business is properly equipped to
deliver what is needed. More critically, the demand for insights
that you can rely on to build your strategies and programs must be
strong and clear.
As we remind ourselves every day, customers deliver the
cash flow. So you had better know them better than ever in these
times of fighting for a bigger share in the slower spending
markets.
There is an underlying common element in these observations.
It is the interface between the lack of confidence among
consumers and the signs of confidence coming from companies and
their brands.
In each of the issues identified, there is a real opportunity to
build confidence with all stakeholders with the right plans and
actions.
Confidence is contagious. Over confidence sends the wrong
signals. Lack of confidence, or signs of uncertainty sap the
confidence of the potential customer.
Great contemporary brands build-in confidence.
No one buys an Apple product with a latent doubt about its
ability to work, to deliver on its expectations. Nobody hits
the Goggle icon with nervous doubts about the brand's capacity to
find the answer to their search.
Consumers will not make a purchase of a branded product or
service if they sense that the company behind the brand is unsure
of its value or its promise.
So for 2012, add to focus, consumer understanding, and
collaborative creation.... a dose of measured confidence
around the aura of your business and brands.
Kevin Luscombe is Chairman of Growth Solutions
Group