Sometimes you need to get back on track to achieve your results. Maneuverability means you know what to do when circumstances change.
However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results
Sir Winston Churchill
The challenge is to meet your goals in changing circumstances.
Scenario-based strategy
Strategy is your plan to achieve your goal. A good strategy is based on multiple scenarios. By thinking a few steps ahead for different circumstances and thinking in advance what the best approach will be in that situation.
Maneuverability thus begins when creating the plan. For each scenario, two questions are important:
1) what needs to be true and
2) what could go wrong?
Ready to tack
No matter how well we anticipate, usually something happens that we didn't see coming. An agile team will therefore continue to look for opportunities and risks along the way and continuously compare progress with expectations. And on top of that, accept in time that the hoped-for scenario might not be reality, if the numbers tell you so. That is easier said than done!
Achieve results by actively looking for problems
Most of the time we try to avoid problems. When they do occur (and they inevitably do), we must first go through a denial phase.
Maneuverability requires keeping this denial phase as short as possible. This works best if you are trained to actively look for problems and this behaviour is encouraged and rewarded in the team. This creates trust.
Manoeuverability through trust and structure
Trust also requires that the team all know and understand what is going on and what to do as soon as circumstances demand it. For this, it is good to have a simple and structured method to find the cause of a problem or gap and tackling it together.
Find and tackle problems in a structured way
The Toyota management system is a very useful source for structure in business. Although mostly applied in production environments, there are many points of reference for sales and service management. It offers a practical model for solving problems that also works well for sales and service teams. An approach to improve the maneuverability of sales and service!
The method is based on a few steps. First, the problem must be properly defined. Next, you collect and categorize relevant data. Then you get to the core of the problem by finding the root cause. And finally, you take effective measures that will solve the problem.
Using the problem solving method of the Toyota management system, a sales or service team can maneuver to stay on track for better results.
A tool to use to execute strategy effectively. A tool to use to stay on track in sales projects and in sales and service management.
If you want to learn more about my practical approach to agile and stay on track with your sales or service team, please contact me!
Recommended Literature:
"Scenario Based Strategy, navigate the future" by Paul de Ruijter and Henk Alkema
"The Toyota Way, 14 management principles from the world's greatest manufacturer" by Jeffrey K. Liker
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