All posts by terop

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About terop

Futurist and IT Strategist. Public speaker, PhD (Industries of the Future), author ("Jobs. Future. You."), teacher (IT, leadership)

Improving Business Performance

Strategic Planning, Strategy

How is your organisation tracking? Surviving or thriving? Well, think about this … applying the principles of strategic management to any size business or organisation will improve performance.

Also consider this: ‘‘Small businesses that engage in contemporary strategic management practices tend to outperform those that do not.’’

This comes from a Brighton University (UK) study conducted several years ago (2007). Even though it is not a recent study, the conclusions those involved in the research are still relevant today. One startling one was that “strategic thinking is an essential ingredient in enterprise survival, performance and growth“.

Thus, what is your view on survival, performance & growth? Do you look for new, are you just hanging on, are things going well & will they continue to go well? The theory and practice strongly suggests that it is a matter of how you treat strategy. Of what your view is of the future. Its whether or not you plan sufficiently.

Now, when it comes to defining strategy, there are three broad areas to consider:

  1. what are the products & services to be offered?
  2. what markets are to be targeted?
  3. how is competitive advantage secured and maintained?

And the process of strategic management does not need to be overly complex, but it does need to be done. The mindshift that needs to be made is moving from working in the business to working on the business.

For more, visit Dellium Advisory, follow on Twitter, connect using LinkedIn, or review my IT-centric blog.

Right All Along

Futures, Scenario Planninng, Strategic Foresight

Alongside availability bias and framing bias is hindsight bias.

Just as availability bias restricts our thinking with what is going on at present, and framing bias narrows our responses to our own perspective, hindsight bias hinders us in learning about the past.

Have you ever said to yourself – “well, I was right”. But in actual fact you weren’t. You are just “sugarcoating” history. If you will, putting a positive spin on what you said would happen.

Hindsight bias limits the possibility of improving our future judgements or forecasts, by inflating our the outcomes from our past judgements or forecasts. In other words, I have been right all along, so why improve?

By being aware of this limitation, we can improve our abilities in making right decisions. We can get better at forecasting. We can enhance our thinking. We give ourselves a better chance of considering the scenarios before us.

 
For more, visit Dellium Advisory, follow on Twitter, connect using LinkedIn, or review my IT-centric blog.

Do You Have The Correct Perspective?

Scenario Planninng, Strategic Foresight

Following on from the previous post concerning availability bias, there is another inherent bias we must be aware of. Its called framing bias.

How do you view situations? What is you standard perspective? To extend the analogy, through which window frame are you seeing the issue?

And so, to increase your understanding of a situation you need to be aware of your, and others, framing bias. To go one step further, why do you always use a particular frame?

The other side of the coin is the framing of the issue. What do you want people to see? What choices do you want the audience to make? Would you rather report on a change in terms of percentages or absolute figures? How do you want to frame that change? How do you want the audience to react?

For more, visit Dellium Advisory, follow on Twitter, connect using LinkedIn, or review my IT-centric blog.