We have written before about the problem with how business strategies are created today.
It’s worth repeating this shocking statistic: 93% of a company’s employees do not understand the strategy.
While every company has a different way of developing its strategy, the least effective strategies often result from:
🚨 Lack of alignment
🚨 Too much focus on short-term goals
🚨 Inadequate tracking & analysis (i.e., is your strategy actually working??)
🚨 Lack of follow-through
🚨 Lack of ownership
🚨 Lack of engagement from employees with the strategy
🚨 A gap between the leaders and executors of the strategy
Overall, we believe that every strategy will fail if your people are not included in its development or if they simply do not believe in it.
So, what’s the solution?
Transforming strategy
Coined by Harvard Business School professor Clayton Christensen, “disruptive strategy” is a business strategy that – you guessed it – disrupts the existing market by offering innovative products and services.
According to leaders in the tech industry, the most disruptive companies are:
💥 Amazon
💥 Apple
💥 Alibaba
💥 DJI
💥 Google
💥 Netflix
💥 Airbnb
💥 Microsoft
💥 Facebook
💥 Baidu
The creation of personal computers and digital cameras are also more classic examples of disruption. While digitalization is the primary driver behind most innovation today, Christensen notes that it’s not only tech disruption that is changing the way we live and work, but business model disruption.
It might be easy to write off disruption as a phase in the modern business world, or even just a buzzword. But, we’re here to say that disruption is essential for accelerating sustainability.
Disruption for sustainability: How to disrupt your business strategy
Whether it’s identifying new customers, creating new value propositions, or leveraging the transformative power of new technologies, the not-so-big secret to disruptive strategy is to think differently in order to challenge the status quo.
This is why we believe that disruptive strategy is crucial to making companies more sustainable. Business models need to move from exploitation to exploration. In other words, what got us here won’t get us there.
But, we know this is easier said than done. As a starting point, we often present the following three questions to our client companies:
1️⃣ How much time does the CEO spend on innovation?
2️⃣ Where does innovation “live” on the org chart?
3️⃣ Are you killing 9 out of 10 innovation projects in their early stage?
More broadly, organizations can follow these philosophies to push for disruption:
🔭 Embrace experimentation: take risks, don’t be afraid to fail, and think outside the box!
💝 Be customer-centric: build key relationships with the people you aim to serve in order to give them what they need!
🪩 Think differently: see opportunities in the obstacles and foster a culture that encourages people to challenge the status quo!
Disruptive strategy is not easy, but it is a powerful tool for companies looking to not only create a competitive edge, but also to save the world!
👉 Are you ready for disruption? Reach out to us today if you need help developing a disruptive strategy to accelerate sustainability!
