Long-term goals can come in many forms. Are they financial goals? Personal goals? Societal-impact goals? Fuzzy goals? These have always been important to me, but they are even more so now that I am working with companies that may be stalled or are looking to take the business in new directions. The risk of taking a “new direction” is unsettling, to say the least.
When defining goals, it is important to consider intellectual capacity, available capital, and vision. These three areas all play a critical part in achieving any goal.
Top Change-Inducing Trends
At Simon Associates, we recently completed an “Emerging Trend Report” based on what we’ve been seeing from the field. In summary, here are some of the trends that are relevant: Blue Ocean strategies work. The book Blue Ocean Strategy has sold over two million copies since its publication in 2005. More organizations in more fields are adopting this approach. Reinventing oneself to try to compete where you believe the “business” will be or, developing new markets, is critical. Blue Ocean thinking makes you think in that context.
Culture change has become a big area of concern influencing organizations in many industries. Organizations need to become nimbler in order to effectively adapt to change, which requires organizations to operate with a common culture. Adopting a common culture made my previous organization more effective, and now as a consultant, we are seeing clients in health care, manufacturing, and education taking a closer look at their culture to ensure effective operations.
Health care is in turmoil, and this will affect all of us. Have you tried to plan for the future, understanding what the health care costs will be for your organization? How will reimbursements be handled, and what services will we continue to provide to employees? The ability to understand what is important to your employee base will be critical to maintaining a responsible cost base and employee satisfaction.
Entrepreneurs are required. It does not matter if you are a large organization or you are in the middle market. No matter the segment, you need entrepreneurs. You need people who are thinking out of the box and tackling complex problems with innovative solutions. Unless you find them, you will not be able to innovate and keep up with change.
