Can your company survive and thrive in today’s evolving business environment?

In recent years, we have encountered unprecedented challenges – from Brexit to the COVID-19 pandemic (leading to new ways of working), the war in Ukraine, the Israel and Palestinian conflict – and now a change to a Labour government after14-years Conservative rule adding to ongoing pressures in businesses and economy. This has added to the business community’s challenges including severe staffing and operational disruptions, rising energy and fuel costs, scarce raw materials, and the dilemma of how (or when) to pass increasing costs onto the consumer. With the Labour government in power, businesses should proactively adapt to new policies that may affect their operations.

Businesses must swiftly respond to VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous) environments, aiming to not just survive but to thrive and by staying ahead of the competition bringing stability. Lack of adaptation has already led to some companies disappearing. Your business may manage to survive in the short term, but for how long?

Are business leaders providing the best solutions to cope with the new normal? Many companies may be caught unprepared and are experiencing significant problems due to weaknesses in their management’s approach to change. Businesses should anticipate potential changes (e.g., shifts in taxes resulting from government changes) and ensure they have strategies in place to manage these adjustments effectively. This would call for the urgency and efficiency in developing flexible strategic planning

Can organisations survive and thrive in today’s evolving business environment using a more holistic approach? Is it possible to offer stability in ongoing changing environment? There isn’t a ‘one size fits all’ solution. Every organisation is unique and will respond to challenges and change in a different way. There are many concepts that can help organisations consider and reflect on their future (for example, looking at systemic thinking or organisational culture), but let’s look at four in particular: strategic thinking, technological upgrade and digitalisation, leadership in change, and spotting the opportunities.

The business should promote strategic thinking within all areas of the organisation. Strategic thinking here extends the definition and encompasses the ability to use critical thinking to solve problems by future planning.

Businesses have a tendency to lose their flexibility over time, which can lead to an inability to react to change – a structural inertia. If an organisation’s structure has become cumbersome, this may result in decreased levels of organisational mobility, making them increasingly static and, ultimately, bringing the life of the organisation to an end. So, for organisations to survive in a VUCA environment, they need to understand the market and the scope of the organisation; they should take an agile, results-oriented approach to enable emergent strategies to meet business objectives in the long term.

Developing flexible strategies and creating adaptable business initiatives are essential. These initiatives should be capable of being quickly modified in response to new market conditions, governmental policies, and business trends. By maintaining this agility, organisations can stay ahead of the competition and ensure sustainable growth and success

Consider:

• Why are we unable to respond to challenges promptly?
• Can we simplify our procedures?
• Are our processes/work orders streamlined in the most efficient way?
• Do we really need to have so many meetings?
• How can we enable sustainable business?
• How can we develop flexible strategic planning?

Act sooner rather than later!

The pandemic has undoubtedly increased the speed of digital transformation. To survive, organisations have to not only adapt to both technological and environmental conditions but also remain up-to-date and invest in opportunities to advance these. Technologies that we previously approached with fear and reservation are now our most important tools: digital services (such as click-and-collect for shopping), remote working (enabled by video platforms), contactless payment, telehealth, and distance learning. On an individual level, this has been a steep learning curve for all of us. It has become apparent that organisations need to align all their business processes with digital transformation and be able to offer a range of technical capabilities.

In addition, knowledge-based outcomes have become crucial. No longer is it enough to merely produce or service something efficiently, it has become essential to acquire the knowledge of how to do this to the highest quality. In this sense, organisations that increase their innovation, entrepreneurship, research and development efforts, and also update their operations into flexible and fast structures, can transform themselves into multifaceted organisations.

Evolving and volatile environments can pose opportunities as well as threats. Recent events have highlighted that organisations cannot be complacent, they need to adjust to this new heightened sense of flux and be prepared to continually manage transformation. They should embrace change and see it as a chance to develop new approaches, processes and management styles – to flourish and thrive in a turbo-charged, fast-moving business environment.

Managerial and leadership competences should not be ignored in unpredictable business environments. In light of the lessons the pandemic has taught us, leadership has undergone a radical change and the definition of an open, sincere, transparent and inspiring leader has emerged. Change, adaptive, emergent, digital and transformational leadership styles have particularly gained importance if businesses are to thrive and remain competitive.

Despite the continuous evolution of the business, leaders must ensure a certain level stability by consistently communicating what remains unchanged, clarifying each individual’s contribution to the change, and encouraging employee voice and engagement. This approach is vital to align employees with the organisation’s goals and fosters a collaborative and resilient business culture.

A leader should:

• Be sincere, consistent, empathetic, adaptable, and able to manage hybrid teams while showing humility.
• Create strategies to survive and thrive, and continuously develop skills.
• Focus on innovative approaches to integrate knowledge, technology, and AI into business practices, while investing in green technologies.
• Stay informed and engaged with government policies and business discussions.
• Evaluate gaps in the market.
• Enable a durable and flexible structure without straying from a customer-oriented strategy.
• Communicate to provide stability and security during times of change.
• Encourage continuous improvement.

Managers and leaders need to identify the change areas, inspire others (so that the team are on-board with change), spot resistance and most importantly celebrate the outcomes with their teams. They should motivate employees to support the organisation’s vision and encourage agility during periods of growth, disruption or uncertainty. While doing these they should pay attention to their own well-being and mental health as well as pursuing the same for the employees by offering a healthy work/life balance, and creating and maintaining an inclusive work environment.

This article is one of a series exploring the challenges of business transformation.

Visit Improvement Leader Apprenticeship | Managing Business Transformation to read more and discover how Henley’s apprenticeships can drive strategic change and improvement.

More in this series

• Are psychopath leaders stifling sustainability and business transformation?
• Data doesn’t have to be big to be clever! Why small data is a change agent’s best friend
• Business transformations – why you need to change your mindset to change your fortunes
• Many boards are abdicating their ESG responsibilities – they need to wake up to the realities of sustainability
• Transforming for sustainability