Rethink Your Quick Wins: Building A Sustainable Business

The world today moves at breakneck speed, so it’s easy to get passed by and ignored.

That’s why quick wins are so critical. Sadly, the pursuit of quick wins often leads to failure because they are often pursued without a full contextual or cultural understanding. Examples might include a business that begins without fully understanding the needs of its customers or its marketplace.

You might be thinking, oh come on, businesses take all of this into account! A quick look at the mile-long list of failed companies proves otherwise. Researchers have determined that marginal results are more often the case. Consider these statistics: one of ten businesses will make it to year ten, and of those that do, only one of those ten will make it to year 20. There is an enormous gap between the excitement of starting a new business versus building one that will be sustainable into the future.

MarketCues’ research has found the benefits of achieving quick wins is powerful because they demonstrate to staff, customers, and vendors the business is moving in the right direction. A quick win builds confidence that the company will quickly get to where it needs to go.

We have found this is particularly true of businesses that are going through an organizational development transformation. Quick wins produce the luxury of time for leadership to address the more difficult challenges.

There are several tips we offer to clients in transformation, and they are relevant no matter the size or type of business they are leading:

• Keep the “Big Picture” in mind and address issues that can be solved quickly within this context;
• Don’t overreact to criticism knowing it will surely come;
• Don’t fall prey to what we call the “One and Done Syndrome” that wants to pick one thing to harp on throughout the year;
• Provide engaging leadership opportunities for everyone, not just those with big titles;
• Don’t jump to conclusions. Make sure you have all of the facts before you change anything.

This approach to quick wins has many positive benefits, but as you can see, implementing them requires careful leadership to ensure what is accomplished is perceived to be a true win by employees and customers alike.

Tom Wants To Hear From You!

Tom Marin is the Founder and President of MarketCues, a national consulting firm focused on planning and driving both strategy and strategic growth programs. The firm’s expertise, scope and knowledge help clients solve complex problems by creating simple powerful solutions that deliver results. Follow MarketCues on Twitter. Tom also welcomes emails, new LinkedIn connections, calls to 919.908.6145 or visit www.marketcues.com.

Note: If you are a printing company or product/services company serving the print-media market, and would like to be considered for a feature in this blog, please contact Tom Marin for an interview.