If your company is experiencing rapid growth, that success could derail your business strategy. Overcoming growing pains and adapting your business plan to recognize new challenges are important if you want to avoid a plateau and continue to experience growth.
There are many reasons why measuring adaptability in your business plan and strategy is essential. Here are a few examples:
To make sure your business plan is effective - A good business plan shows how your business will perform over time. It should include projections for sales, profits, etc. This makes it easier to predict where your business will be in the future.
To see whether your business is growing or shrinking - You need to have a clear picture of how much revenue your business generates each year. If you don’t know how much money you generate, you won’t know if you’re progressing towards achieving your goals.
To compare your business with other companies - You might want to see how your competitors are doing. Or maybe you want to learn from others. Either way, you need to know how successful they are.
To gauge how well your marketing campaigns are performing - If you’ve done a great job on your marketing, then you want to find out how well it’s working.
You might want to determine which products or services are most popular. Knowing this information will allow you to focus on those areas when planning new projects.
How Do you Measure Adaptability?
There are different methods you can use to measure business adaptability.
‘What if’ quiz
For any start-up business, the most important question is “What if?” You can use this question to test your business’s ability to adapt. Ask yourself the following questions:
- What would happen if our product didn’t work?
- What would happen if the market changed?
- What would happen if there was another competitor?
Exploration
Another way to measure adaptability is to thoroughly investigate a topic.
When you explore, you look into different ideas. You may find out that one idea isn’t the best. Or, you may discover a new idea. Either way, you’ll be able to adapt.
When and how often should you measure adaptability?
Businesses often struggle to adapt. They tend to stick to a certain path. But, if you want to succeed, you need to be flexible. That way, you can take advantage of opportunities as they arise.
Here are some examples of when you should measure adaptability.
- Every time you launch a new product
- Whenever you add a new feature to your website
- Whenever you hire someone new
- Every time you make changes to your marketing strategies
In addition, you should measure adaptability at regular intervals, such as once a month.
What does adaptability mean for your company?
Adaptability means that your business is flexible. You’ll be able to change as needed. You won’t have to worry about making big decisions based on outdated data and you’ll always know exactly where you stand.
This also means that you’ll be prepared for anything that happens. If you’re ready for whatever comes your way, then you’ll be better equipped to handle problems.
As long as you’re willing to adapt, you’ll never run out of opportunities.
How can you improve adaptability within your business?
There are many ways to improve adaptability. Here are five suggestions on how to make your business more adaptable:
1. Make sure your strategy is relevant
Your strategy should help you achieve your goals. What worked in the early stages of a business often changes with growth and success. If you don’t adapt your strategy, your business could stagnate.
2. Keep up with trends
If you want to stay ahead of competitors, you need to stay current with trends. These trends are constantly changing and evolving so, as a business leader, you’re responsible for staying current.
3. Be open to new ideas
Being willing to change the way you do things is a key success factor. It also means having an open mind about what others think of your idea or strategy.
4. Stay on top of changes in your industry
Changes in technology, market conditions, or regulations all affect your ability to succeed.
5. Take action immediately
If something isn’t working, you need to act quickly. Often swift action is more cost-effective than letting a problem grow over time.
Challenges facing business adaptability
Businesses face several challenges when it comes to adaptability. Some of these include the following:
- Lack of data makes it impossible to make informed decisions.
- Poor communication leads to misunderstandings and can slow down your progress.
- Lack of time, especially when you’re busy running your business, means you can’t think through every detail.
- Unclear goals can lead to confusion in your staff and result in a focus on the wrong priorities.
- Unrealistic expectations can lead to disappointment and low morale in your staff.
Business Goals
A business goal is an objective that you want to reach. It’s usually related to revenue or profit but it’s also good to consider other ways to measure success.
You might use a business goal to define how you plan to grow your business. Or you might use it to describe how you plan to meet customers’ needs.
You should plan to set both short-term and long-term goals in your business.
- Short-term goals are specific milestones that you want to hit within a certain period of time. These goals tend to focus on one aspect of your business. For example, they might relate to sales, marketing, customer service, or product development.
- Long-term goals are often used to describe the direction your company plans to take over the next few years. It could also be a goal you know won’t ever be attained but you want to continuously strive towards. Improving customer satisfaction by measuring something like a Net Promoter Score is an example of a long-term goal.
How to Achieve Business Goals
Developing a business plan helps to have a clear vision of where you want to go. A good business plan should help you achieve this goal.
- Set clear objectives for each part of your business. This helps you keep track of what you’re doing.
- Ensure you have the right resources in all areas of your business, including financial, staffing, equipment, training and business planning software like StrategyX.
- Focus on what matters most in your business by establishing the right priorities and understanding what needs to happen next to achieve your goals.
- Be realistic about how long it will take to perform each task and don’t expect to get everything done at once.
Check out the virtual business planner in StrategyX to see how easy it can be to kick-start your business plan.
Adaptation Strategies
There are several ways you can adapt as your business changes. Here are some examples:
- Experiment with new ideas. Trying something new is an important part of innovation. If it works, great! If it doesn’t, you can learn from the experience.
- Look at different options. As you scale and grow your business, you may need to update your strategy. For example, you may decide to bring in a partner instead of operating it alone.
- Upskill and reskill your team. If your business is changing, chances are your staff will need new skills. Empowering your team with additional training is a good way to adapt your business to growth or changing business conditions.
Importance of scoreboards and dashboards
Without data, you don’t know whether you are meeting your goals. Data also allows you to make decisions based on facts. Having scoreboards and dashboards lets you see, at a glance, where you need to focus your attention.
A good dashboard makes decision-making easier. Most importantly, scoreboards let you know if you’re winning or losing.
Business growing pains
Growing pains are inevitable. But they aren’t necessarily bad. In fact, they can help you improve your business. Here are three reasons why growing pains are helpful:
1. They help you learn
Learning is an essential part of running a successful business. When you grow, you’ll face new challenges. And those challenges will teach you many valuable lessons.
2. They give you time to adjust
Sometimes, it takes time to adjust to changes and you shouldn’t feel rushed. As long as you’re working towards continuous improvement, consider the adjustment period a necessary and productive part of business growth.
3. They set you up for future success
Your business needs to change as you grow. Even if you’re making small iterations, a mindset of continuous change and innovation will help to future-proof your business.
Adapting due to government regulations
Your business may be required to change the way it conducts its operations at the request of a governing body. There are two main ways governments regulate businesses: through legislation and regulation.
Government legislation
Legislation is written law. Laws tell businesses what they must do. For example, insider trading laws govern how a company manages their publicly traded stock. Tax law changes all the time and businesses must respond to these changes.
Laws are usually passed by a legislative body within the government and are often updated over time. New laws are also added.
Laws can be made at different levels of government including national, state, county, regional, city or shire.
Government regulation
Government agencies can set regulations, standards, or guidelines that help businesses comply with the law.
For example, the European Commission publishes the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), a Data Protection Law Enforcement Directive and other rules concerning the protection of personal data.
When a company wants to collect personal data from a person living in the European Union (EU), even if they’re operating outside the EU, they must comply with these standards.
How to make adaptability part of your business strategy
Adaptability in business planning and strategy is essential. It allows you to change business direction quickly and experience maximum growth.
If you want to start a business or operate a successful business over the long term, you need to know how to adapt. If you don’t, your chances of failure or stagnation increase dramatically.
No matter what, you should always keep an open mind; that way, you can learn from mistakes.
For more information how to make your business adaptable for long-term success, get in touch with StrategyX.