In Uncertain Times, Be More Adaptive + Certain
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March 24, 2010 1:00 PM
An inventor with WhatIf Innovation, Arjan Polhuijs, recently highlighted the lessons he and his colleagues have learned from helping firms innovate during uncertain economic times. In his view, market uncertainty creates unique opportunities to innovate.
Not every company sees it that way. Some will try to control their destiny by cutting costs, firing talent, and killing projects without tangible returns within 12 months. They tend to be weakened in the long run by this approach. Others hunker down, putting their fate at the whim of a market recovery. Lacking a clear vision, such firms tend to frustrate their stakeholders who gradually lose faith that they can do anything to affect results.
Firms who seize the opportunity to innovate tend to thrive: "they use the gloom in the air as a catalyst for change." They adapt, adeptly.
These findings add an innovator's resonance to Victor Cheng's findings about what firms have done, in past downturns, to achieve rampant growth during recessions.
Cheng found that successful firms create new ways of seeing through their 'fog of uncertainty'. They framed their appetites for change with new sensing processes for figuring out what the heck is going on and what to do about it. They informed their efforts at re-invention by: creating new mechanisms to detect what customers are doing and need; shrinking decisions cycles; and iteratively testing new ideas.
Uncertain times create opportunities for incredible growth, triggered by informed adaptations to new market conditions. Astute firms and visionary leaders know it. They're connecting the dots between an appetite to try new things, and lessons on how to do so without betting the farm.
Originally posted on Informed Innovation in B2B Sales Productivity
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