Can you adapt and shift gears in your daily tactics and processes without sacrificing your purpose and mission? Ironically, the principle Flexibility requires that you have both strategic and operational structures in place.
Once you position your business for growth and establish the critical parameters, you can be flexible, creative and guided by clear goals and positioned to adapt to any curve life throws you. Most of us are able to go with the flow once we are certain about what we want to achieve and where to go.
Flexibility is one of the PROFITS© principles, because being nimble challenges us to question our resistance towards change. If your positioning is correct and you have a clear strategy for achieving your goals, then moving forward can be effortless. If you find yourself resisting and procrastinating, now is the time to shake it off and investigate further to find the obstacles that appear when major change is required. Small changes are usually easier to accept.
Melanie, CEO of Environmental Inc., finds that GreenSoap faces growing global competition and disruptive industry changes. She tells her colleagues of her concern about a new competitor’s product extension that competes with her best-selling detergent line.
Her competitor, The Green Grocer Company, sells both detergent and softener in one package, underselling Melanie in the category, even though Melanie believed she produced the superior product. Melanie knew she had to take an entirely new approach to counteract the competitor’s move. A product extension or ‘copy-cat’ defense would not work. Exercising the principle of Flexibility, Melanie realistically evaluated her company and the capabilities of her people.
Because of Melanie’s commitment to flexible thinking, she was able to create a new approach to her market segmentation and rally her marketing and manufacturing teams to design new packaging targeted to this new segment. Melanie looked at the facts and as she faced the reality of her situation, she looked for areas of flexibility within her company. As a result, she made smart and quick decisions to position for growth and increased both her market share and profitability. Melanie’s flexibility enabled her to exploit an opportunity she could not anticipate. She adapted by remembering to think with Flexibility, rather than reacting immediately.
Flexibility is the PROFITS© principle that focuses our business parameters and expands our creativity. In the example, Melanie already had her business in good order when faced with a major challenge. She knew she could rely on her marketing staff and the product’s manufacturer because they shared her own commitment to creativity and flexibility. When your business is under duress, Flexibility challenges you to test its limits and your own tolerance for change. Your limitations all come out of hiding when the unpredictable occurs, and it is Flexibility, in combination with the other principles, that ensures your business will ride out any threat and continue to thrive.
