Constantly surprised by changes in your industry.
Even the most diligent leaders get caught off guard every now and then by unexpected events in their markets or industries. But if you find yourself getting surprised by internal and external events on a regular basis, the best you can hope for is playing catch-up with the market leaders.
Lack of focus.
With increased complexity comes more choices, and I see many companies struggling to decide where they want to go and which opportunities they want to pursue. Until you get very clear on what winning looks like for your organization (so everyone can focus and prioritize), complexity will always win out.
These symptoms manifest themselves in many ways: lack of clarity around customer wants and needs, difficulty in developing successful new products and services, false starts and do-overs on important strategic initiatives, constantly changing directions midstream, and poor execution of just about anything and everything you do.
The solution?
When hit with too much complexity, take a moment to pause and evaluate what is happening in the world around you. Challenge your beliefs and assumptions about your customers and markets. Focus on opportunities to add value to your customers in new and better ways. Develop initiatives that support leveraging those opportunities, and get everyone in the organization clear on achieving them.
Like it or not, complexity is here to stay. What do you plan to do about it?
Holly G. Green is a board member of the Chairmen’s Roundtable, a nonprofit organization of senior executives providing pro bono strategic advice to midsized businesses in San Diego. She is also the CEO of The Human Factor Inc.
