The pandemic changed everything, and not just temporarily. The way people look at success and the future has changed as well, and it’s affecting businesses. Relevance is a quality that leaders formerly tended to overlook, but the new business landscape is making it a key driver of business strategy. You may have the highest profit in the industry, but if people realize you are harming the environment, or exploiting your workforce, suddenly a new perspective cuts the relevance of your competitive advantage.
Many business leaders are now looking beyond short-term financial performance and focusing on sustainable value creation. If you need to switch gears for an uncertain future where people demand more from the businesses they patronize, you can use this four-step framework for strategy rejuvenation.
Stakeholder collaboration
The first step is staying connected with stakeholders. Innovation requires organizational agility and resilience, the ability to bounce back from setbacks, and embrace continuous change. Innovation and inspiration are what keep stakeholders connected to organizations.
Conscious communication
You need to be consciously delivering specific messages to differing groups of stakeholders. To create and expand on meaningful relationships with various stakeholders, your communications must address their specific needs. Digital tools are a big help in this regard.
Sustainable value creation
If your company is resilient, one of the best things that you can do is share that resilience with others. You grow more resilient if you are able to strengthen your supply chain, other partners, and stakeholders. Creating a stakeholder-centric organization is a big part of maintaining relevance and driving competitive advantage.
Conspicuous action
We need to consciously choose the way we stay connected through contributions to our stakeholders. And then we need to adjust the level of visibility of the actions. You should not jump on every single issue that is in vogue at the moment, but choose appropriately for your business model.