Survival dynamics

Few weeks ago, I made reference to upending markets which are gradually becoming the make-up of the world economy. Coming home to Nigeria, there is tremendous pressure on demand and supply. Hitherto unexpected shifters are pushing price ceilings. Citizens are looking for substitutes because the “size of pocket” (SOP), capacity of purchasing power has been drastically dwindling.

I suggested in my write up on Strategic Partnering “that no matter the challenges, leaders must ensure survival of our organisations and tap aggressively from our wealth of ideas and experience.

Ideas are critically important now. Ideas and other methodological features must move us forward.

We must achieve an edge that will make all the difference. The features of our products and services must incentivize customers to patronize us. We must increase customers’ willingness to pay. We must “blow” past our rivals, consolidate and even capture additional market share. We must, with a sense of urgency, earn brand loyalty and appreciate employees for organisation’s stability. Employees (our associates) have joint responsibilities with the leaders to ensure company’s survival, boost progress and ensure prosperity. They must play vital roles in sustainable development and exhibit optimum resilience. The imperative for keeping companies afloat is a collective responsibility. We must collaborate and jointly add value for survival and growth. Let us be enthusiastic about contributing our best in these “troubled” times.

We must segment for real time dynamic marketing and orchestrate a never-seen-before customer journey.

This is the time to reignite motivation and accountable engagement in the workplace. Refocus on company’s vision and encourage employees to reconnect with the “why” behind their jobs and the fact that their values really matter. We must rally behind our organisations’ purpose and create new attainable goals as well as clear team and individual employees’ deliverables, check and prevent micro-management and engender trust and freedom to perform “at our best”. There is also a need to provide and encourage relevant skill development and growth programmes. There must be maximum improvements in all perspectives. Let us critically use objective metrics to gauge improvements and performance.

Today, I want to briefly discuss some dynamics for survival and growth. Business Continuum Analytics teaches us how to fall back on available and very useful data in our organisations to generate creative ideas, creative solutions, revamped internal team processes, better collaboration, accountability and ownership as well as enhanced team dynamics.

This model uses deductions, predictions and conclusions from known truths (date) about organisations’ sequences and integrals.

Credible and “organisation-owned” data can be used to re-invent organisations from “costly” complacency in the face of serious challenges. This model jolts individual employees as well as teams from the attitude of “this is how we have been doing it”. You are forced, with credible data, to objectively and critically look at the impact of your contributions to performance and whether you have been exceptional or laid-back. It also “exposes whether the performance management architecture is aligned to the performance management systems and results. Are employees relating efficiently to KPIs and strategic objectives?

This compact and connected metric model is in four (4) layers: Descriptive, Predictive, Predict-ish and Prescriptive.

Descriptive analytics, according to David Caughlin, is a snapshot of what happened in the past. This includes, HR metrics, variance and range in turnover as well as other information on the Balanced Scorecard dashboard.

Predict-ish analysis is the next level. It examines what will happen in the future based on the snapshot of the past. It draws inferences from the available data and makes conclusions. It identifies gaps and notes shortcomings.

This layer brings out statistical results from inferential statistics. It draws very valuable conclusions and inferences. It identifies what may not fit well and what may not work well.

While descriptive analytics lays good foundation for the organisation to work on, the predictive level tells us what to expect (tomorrow) in view of known and credible facts. It is the compact “learning and training data” and very useful for future modelling and simulations.

The make-up of Predictive Analytics is in two phases. Phase one consists of past data, enabled model and results. This two-phase multiple-set model with its mathematical and computational features, predicts future turnover with specific conclusions on engagement and performance.

Fourth and most advanced level of the continuum business analytics, is the Prescriptive Analytics. The phase showcases the application of identified value-adding predictions and execution of the actions.

The Business Continuum Analytics jolts organisations to be alive to the challenges of the harsh economic environment and enables as well as guarantees survival as well as growth.

Mckinsey Strategic Horizon Model will also add value to the continuum analytics. To survive and grow, organisations must take another look at the value discipline framework. We must deliver operational excellence, especially in the areas of customer intimacy and maximum sales through commercial efforts.

Strategic alliances are an additional success strategy. We must urgently put this in place and combine “strengths” in order to achieve corporate goals despite the prevailing tough challenges.

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