How do we hit our short term targets whilst putting resources and energy into winning the future?
Focus on most potential
HIGH
P
E
R
F
O
R
M
A
N
C
E
HOLD
Drive efficiency
Develop fresh thinking
MANAGE
Get internal alignment
Set a deadline to fix or exit
GROW
Be visible
Develop an on-site strategy
INVEST
Develop a clear contact strategy
Set input KPI's on a quarterly basis
LOW
POTENTIAL
HIGH
PLAY AUDIO
The best commercial organisations proactively manage and enjoy the tension between closing out the business they have today whilst resourcing future opportunities.
The key to this is:
-
Being ruthless about the clients you spend time on
-
Matching the right people to the right client opportunities
-
Getting everyone to focus their time on things that make impact
Sounds simple, but within each of the above are some tough decisions to be made, if you are going to move away from always focusing on the short term.
The key decisions you need to make are:
-
What you measure people on – you can change behaviours quicker than attitudes
-
Which clients you work on that are either unprofitable or make your teams unhappy – and put a deadline against when you are either going to fix that client or decide to no longer work with them
-
How to ring fence the right resource to be constantly working on future relationships, no matter what pressure delivering today is bringing
-
How you create a mindset that's focused on doing a fewer bigger things better
What's in it for you and your teams to engage in working this way? You have more consistent revenue, you have a longer term pipeline, happier clients and therefore a happier team.