I continue to be surprised by the attempts of some organisations to “keep things the same” in an ever-changing world. What a waste of energy.

Every single day of our lives we:

a) Are subjected to change; and often

b) Help influence change (either knowingly or unknowingly).

This will always be the case throughout the evolution of mankind…it is an unavoidable fact. Those who embrace change, win and enjoy favourable rewards; those who don’t typically fall behind and sometimes go by the wayside. 

Those businesses that look to cause/ influence change are typically those that operate with a mindset of “continuous improvement“. They:

  • Relish testing/ pushing boundaries to uncover new frontiers of opportunity.
  • Are not afraid to take reasonable risk.
  • Are typically the ones that make groundbreaking discoveries – which often lead to significant comparative advantages for them.

How do they work their way along a path of “continuous improvement” ? It’s actually a very simple ongoing 3 stage process:

Phase One – develop a new initiative (product/ service), validate its likely market acceptance and launch it in the public domain. As a part of the implementation, develop a set of parameters/ indices that allow for the measurement of the effect of the new initiative.

Phase Two – monitor and measure the effect of the new initiative having entered the market. Many companies now use sophisticated Business Intelligence (BI) systems to objectively measure outcomes in accordance with a prescribed range of KPI’s; in the form of: product sell-through rates, unit sales, gross profit achievement, etc.

Phase Three – using reports generated during Phase Two, review the data to understand how effective the initiative proved to be – in what areas/ market segments, and to what extent. Consequently, decide upon any modifications that are deemed justified before re-releasing the initiative (product/ service) into the market.

And guess what the next step is ? That’s right, work through the above phases again. In this way, you are refining your product/ service in accordance with what the signaled needs of target customers are…ultimately leading to a product/ service offering that enjoys a high level of market acceptance.