Businesses used to be ‘closed systems’: impervious to external forces. What a pleasure this must have been for business owners: a smaller, predictable universe to operate in where surprises were few and disruptions were minimal.
Not so today. A business feels like a tiny vessel being buffeted by high winds and stormy seas, thus creating the strain that most CEOs and leaders have come to endure.
These external shifts bring about internal shifts for businesses, and each business experiences these shifts differently.
Some change. Some quicken up. Some have to evolve. Some need to change direction. Some need to get smaller.
This master-state, as I call it, often goes unseen. The ‘gaze’ people have for their business’s master state is often clouded by near-term operational pressures that hide or mask what is truly going on in a business. Which renders the CEO blind to this fundamental change in shape or size that is being called for.
The master-state has to be looked for. It likely won’t reveal itself easily and might need to be sought out. Some, like rationalisation, for example, are more obvious than others. If there’s no money to pay salaries, the business must reduce itself.
But the others are more subtle and require greater excavating.
- A business that lacks societal relevance and which is swimming against the tide of emerging societal norms
- A business that no longer appeals to its people
- A business whose product has become outdated and no longer excites customers
- A business whose culture no longer enables the business and might even be disabling it
- A business that has run out of energy
These are the sort of problems that won’t show up on a balanced scorecard. In fact, a fintech business I am working with at the moment looks very much like it’s succeeding and is in good shape. However, all my conversations with the CEO tell a different story. The business is on a slow, almost imperceptible decline and needs the CEO to re-invent the very nature of the business. This conclusion was only arrived at by excavating the true master-state of the business – a conclusion we drew only after hours of discussion and a number of processes that I ran with her.
On the positive side, once this was revealed to the CEO, her energy clicked in, her ambition was re-catalysed, a new and promising pathway forward was created and the business was suddenly imbued with excitement and energy that was not there before. New things are being created and old things are being cut away.
Right now – today – your business’ master-state is playing out. You might be working hard and you might be doing the right things as part of your typical practice. But you might be fighting against a larger force that you don’t yet see, which is going to make for hard going.
Look closely. Ask the tough questions. See things with new eyes.
You might just find that recognising your master state is the beginning of a fruitful next chapter that transitions your business – and yourself – from staid to vital.