We all know about it. We all should do it. Before everyone else does it. Before everyone else is where we want to be. Before they take over the world and we are left behind. Do what?
Feeling anxious reading that “Firms with the right strategic foresight capabilities outcompete the average by a 33% higher profitability and a 200% higher market cap growth.” (Rohrbeck, R., Technological Forecasting & Social Change (2017)).
Or ask, do everyone understand our where we are headed and why? "Of the executives who should implement strategy, only 8% are able to say which of the company's key strategic priorities are. The worst thing is that only 13 % of the management team can tell the direction of the company." (Kauppalehti, article based on Maarika Maury's thesis work (2016))
Stay relevant!
How do we need to change on our strategy then? Or should we change it? How do we know what decision are the right ones? All the buzz-words, trends and understanding of market landscape changes, making a clearly stepped roadmap for the strategy and link it to what is around us. And to engage the whole company with it and make sure that everyone understands it!
When one big foggy thing meets another big foggy thing we have a huge foggy².
It feels kinda scary and hazy at the same time...
Remove the haze
I admit that I have felt it a bit scared to find out too much what is happening in the world in general. It's easier to start planning the future by focusing on what we are good at and build on that. Though that is simply too narrow outlook: maybe the things we are good at aren't relevant within 5 years! Maybe the world is changing in a way that if we want to be successful in it we need to pivot to another direction! If you don't follow up the market landscape, you will miss these early signals of change.
Today I would say that don't be scared. No one can predict the future, we can all just make the best educated guess what might happen.
Take action and start continuously working on and understanding the future. Take a look around. Use the ready-written trend research material or create it on your own or do both. Start the work as a project group, or just with management team - focus on the "then what" - what it means for your business. Choose a suitable tool and have all the trend data in one place, engage people and collaborate to build on future.
Keep your strategy alive and breathing, make adjustments and new goals based on your foresight based on future trends, link your findings to the strategic roadmap that you have done! And let your crew participate and collaborate! And have fun with it!
Remember all you need to do is to start, the rest will come if you have persistence.
