This week’s focus: I’m coming to the conclusion that the UK no longer has a summer. Instead, over the past few years, an extended, blustery and showery spring has moved seamlessly into a prolonged, dry autumn interspersed with flash floods. The same thing seems to be happening this year – there have been less than a handful of days where the temperature has exceeded 70F and we’re only one week away from the summer solstice!
The business environment has followed a similar trend. Gone are the calm, sunny seasons where your sales and profitability is guaranteed, and you can confidently forecast your markets and your success. Nowadays, you must, instead, constantly battle the prevailing winds and be ready to react immediately to changing conditions.
That is why so much business planning is a waste of time. It is far more important to build an organisation that can operate at pace, respond rapidly to new opportunities and quickly flex resources, than it is to spend your time filling in endless forms and attending endless meetings to create a 12-month budget and plan that will be irrelevant by the end of the first quarter.
Which kind of organisation do you lead – one where you seek budgetary and planning perfection, or one where you’re ready for whatever the Great British weather will throw at you?
Off The Record: Four Seasons In One Day by Crowded House
Even when you’re feeling warm
The temperature could drop away
Like four seasons in one day
© Stuart Cross 2013. All rights reserved.