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One of the issues we have identified from the first round of data collection with the case study organisations taking part in Shaping the Future, our major investigation into sustainable high performance, is that of maintaining an appropriate balance between the demands of the short term and developing robust long-term plans. In the current economic climate many of these organisations are experiencing a number of pressures which they have to respond to. However, they are determined to avoid knee-jerk reactions which will compromise their long-term strategies towards a vision for sustainable performance.
To test this issue further we put together a short poll for those practitioners who have signed up to our website to receive regular updates on the research. First, we asked them what are the key challenges facing their business in the short term. Their answers broadly fell into three categories:
- financial - maintaining cash flow, securing credit
- resource - doing more with less, keeping costs down
- growing new business, looking for new income streams, winning new business, innovating new products.
Sixty per cent of the respondents thought that these challenges would also have an impact on their medium to long term strategic plans.
However, what is most interesting is that their response to these challenges is not just fire fighting; they are looking to the long term to ensure that their response will also equip them to maximise their potential for success once the economy starts to recover. So, for example, they are looking at multi-skilling of staff and simplifying processes to enable them to respond more quickly to changing customer demands. They are investing in innovation and manufacturing capacity to ensure they will be able to offer the highest quality at the lowest prices and engaging with customers to ensure their products will meet demand.
In summary, it seems that many organisation are using the current climate of economic challenge as an opportunity to review themselves and ensure they are building the capabilities to enable them to manage change and adapt and innovate responses to a very different market place.
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