Is It Time to Pivot Your Strategy?
Written by: Bill Dolan, CMB, AMP
Today, more and more financial institutions are facing increased challenges, coupled with continued fluctuations in the market, and a real sense of urgency, so when setting your strategy, asking the smart questions becomes a primary leadership skill and knowing the right questions to ask can advance your strategic decision making. To boost your strategic decision making, ask yourself these questions:
What’s known? The best decision-makers today begin by analyzing and examining their purpose and asking themselves just what they want to achieve and what they need to learn to do so.
What if? Asking yourself these types of questions helps you, your Board, and your management team to reframe problems and explore outside-the-box solutions.
Now what? Leaders need to assess their core of talent, capabilities, time, and other resources required to determine their course of action.
What’s unsaid? This question is tough because it deals with frustrations, tension, personal reservations and hidden agendas that can push decision-making off-course.
When all is said and done, being a strategic thinker boils down to three key competencies: intellect (how do you think) planning (how do you plan) and action (what do you do).
Intellect. Assess your organizations and department’s current context both internally (culture, purpose, processes, etc.) as well as externally (market trends, industry trends, customer behavior, the competitive landscape, etc.). When you are comfortable, share your insights with your team and key stakeholders. And finally, look for novel approaches to the problems as well as the opportunities you have identified.
Planning. Having a strategic mindset entails the ability to constantly focus and refocus on your resources, as well as having the courage to make the tough decisions and the willingness to ensure that your use of resources aligns with your goals and objectives.
Action. Preparing a strategy is just the first step but how you implement your strategy will determine your success. Implementation boils down to and depends on collaboration and execution. To deliver your message, be ready to listen for feedback when it arises and most importantly, keep your team on track by measuring their performance along the way.
If you are thinking of pivoting your strategy these days, don’t be so quick!
As a manager, keeping your team sharp and adaptable is essential. Pivoting your strategy can be hard, real hard, and can be either a right move or a major misstep.
Before taking this type of step, ask yourself:
Is poor execution the real issue? Make sure your team has the right skills, the commitment and the training to properly execute.
Are you reacting to outside pressures as stakeholders can sometimes be very impatient, and their anxiety can produce unnecessary and counterproductive changes. Are the issues they raise valid or misguided? Don’t be afraid to resist making changes just to appease them if your strategy is well-founded and progressing as it should be.
Finally, watch out for the new shiny penny! Don’t allow a new opportunity, new ideas or the latest technologies distract you, because they are always arising, and can at times be very tempting to pursue. However, when a compelling opportunity does present itself, carefully weigh whether it will help you reach your goals more efficiently. Diverting your focus and resources may not be worth the potential risk.
At SCA, we work with banks, credit unions, and mortgage companies of all types and sizes. Our strategic consulting team of lenders and mortgage bankers have 40+ years on average of industry experience along with the battle scars associated with some of the most challenging lending cycles of our time. Still, they were successful in adopting and leading the way with the right plans needed to push their proven strategic expertise to some of the most successful and profitable institutions today. Let SCA bridge where you are and where you want to go. We’ll work with you and your executive team to design and implement realistic plans that can flex with change and build a sustainable plan for future growth, volume and profitability.
Want to hear more? Let’s talk. Contact Bill Dolan, Director, at (617) 694-2617 or by email at: Wdolan@scapartnering.com.
