Where to

start over

By: Miguel Galván

Estimated reading time 15 min.

Although the beginning of 2021 is not a milestone towards the new normal, it can mean an intentional turning point to start over in terms of, not only adapting to the changing environment, but turning it into opportunities and value creation.

In BTConsortium we have carried out with several members of the Consortium – with reliable success – the approach that we are proposing below to make a brief stop on the way to the operation of this beginning complex year.

It is clear that 2021 will be a year where the convergence of various impacts – health, economic, social, political and technological – that accelerated in 2020, will have its climax. However, it is up to us to enter this climax to receive the impacts, or to enter as well prepared as possible, taking advantage of the lessons of 2020 and applying a proven method, to transform the Company and grow the Business.

They are three very simple steps that, framed in the Integral Business Transformation Methodology (TEI) ® of BTConsortium, we can carry out with discipline and a clear focus that allows us to take the strategy to action and action to results.

Confirming the Route

As primary as it may sound, we should not assume that everyone in the Leadership Team is clear about the Strategy, the necessary adjustments to the same product of the current circumstances and the tactical and operational priorities that must be landed for this 2021.

On the other hand, we cannot miss this opportunity to review the Strategy to ensure that the decision-making compass is current, addresses new challenges and takes advantage of new opportunities. Obviously there is a necessary operational review in the face of sanitary regulations; however, there are deeper reflections to be made regarding the future of the consumption of our product or service, implications in its value chain and new competitors / substitutes in the competitive arena. In this reflection, the digital factor enters very preponderantly, the digital differentiating capabilities that can lead us to create new opportunities to deliver our product / service or to complement our offer. These digital capabilities are not the application of technology to enable current processes; rather, it refers to the creation of new differentiating capabilities or even business models based on digital media and tools.

The impact of technology will be decisive in 2021, both in Companies, as in consumer habits, in the application of regulations, in societies and in the comprehensive transformation of various industries. We must start from the conviction that progress and impact is much faster than what we perceive or reflect on the day to day. Therefore, it is the responsibility of the CEO and the CTO (Chief Transformation Officer), to make this stop along the way.

Carrying out this stop along the way does not have to be a long, tortuous and expensive endeavor. At BTConsortium we carry out the Strategic Architecture Workshop, where in a very agile way, do this review and at the same time ensure the alignment of the Management Team as one voice.

You may also like

Strategy for 2021 Transformation and Performance

Leading the Strategic Productivity Agenda from the CTO

I had not found it because it did not exist

Transforming the Company, while we grow the business.

At BTConsortium we are convinced that a good Transformation process is actually a permanent evolution; and this permanent evolution is also aimed at growing the business in the short term, as well as transforming the company for the long term.

Because of this, we cannot fail to observe the macro and microeconomic complexity, as well as the socio-political complexity that 2021 brings. Therefore, there is no better time to start the Strategic Productivity effort that we describe in our Integral Business Transformation Methodology (TEI). An effort that is aimed at creating a culture of optimization and continuous improvement of our cost and expense base. It is a process that goes from the multifunctional and inclusive call to generate productivity ideas for the entire company, to the execution and capture of results of those with the greatest impact, going through a process of filtering, communication and recognition that causes a virtuous circle of interest of all collaborators for the optimization of the company.

Similarly, as part of the TEI Methodology, it is relevant to install the Institutional Portfolio of Projects that allows us to have discipline in those things, in addition to the operation, to which we will dedicate time, money and effort. These projects have to be only those investments that build differentiating capacities, address strategic priorities or are part of the strategic productivity agenda; the rest should be subject to prioritization, lag or cancellation. It is typical that part of the lack of agility, the impacts on the culture and the cost of the organization is caused precisely by what we call in BTConsortium the “enquehaceramiento”; that is, everyone is busy and we do not know if the time spent is really cost or value. Installing the practice of Institutional Portfolio of Projects will allow us, continuously, to have the correct visibility for making these decisions and, of course, to know if our investments of time, money and effort are the best and are paying off.

Strategic Productivity and the Institutional Portfolio of Projects are key practices to focus the organization and also to free resources for the Transformation of the Company.

You may also like

Organizational culture when we need it most

How to stabilize the changes in our operation before the reopening of activities

Discipline in Execution

Once the course is confirmed and the focus mechanisms described in the previous section are activated, we need to ensure that day-to-day execution is given with the appropriate discipline to move from the strategy to the action and from the action to the results..

In this sense, in the TEI® Methodology of BTConsortium, the practices that we cover in the Management Architecture allow us precisely this discipline in the execution and its alignment with the strategy. In particular, there are two very basic, but high-impact practices that we have to focus on and these are the following: the Executives Committee agenda and the Forums Catalog.

The Executives Committee Agenda (direct reports from the CEO) must be designed, consistent and intentional. The Committee’s agenda determines what the Company pays attention and intention to; it also determines, in cascade, the priorities to focus on by the whole organization. That is why the agenda cannot be reactive; it has to be designed since the beginning of the year. We recommend that it be structured into four main sections in which we can “keep up with the business”: People, Business, Projects and Transformation. In this way we can structure, month per month, the particular issues in each of these sections to which we must pay attention and intention to and thereby operate the Business and transform the Company.

On the other hand, the meetings or forums in the organization are a whole thing. In 80% of companies, meetings are a source of “enquehaceramiento” and distraction for employees. There are a large number of meetings, more people are summoned than necessary, time, money and effort are invested in preparing them and not necessarily all of them point to the most relevant and prior in the organization. On many occasions, the Companies report to us that the meetings consume the working day and that the “work begins at the end of the day”. That is why it is important to build the Forums Catalog. In our methodology, the practical Forums Catalog includes very simple tools to identify those recurring meetings that are necessary from those that are not, make decisions and follow up on a good management and execution discipline.

So far, these are some of the practical recommendations on where to start over this 2021 in the sense of moving from crises to creating opportunities. This is a good start, however, we must develop in a sustained and evolutionary way, the ability to continuously transform the Company to adapt it to the changing environment and transform it taking advantage of the opportunities that are also being presented.

You may also like

Evolution to Solidarity Leadership 5.0

At BTConsortium, we are here to accompany you!

You may also like

Our culture

Welcome to our Cultural DNA The rebellious sage Our identity and our culture A sage seeks truth and wisdom, beyond mere knowledge, in every situation.

Consortium members and testimonials

We have had the honor to accompany great Transformations for more than 20 years Various transformation routes, industries, moments of the Company, but all of

Introduction to the CTO

Curso Introduction to the role of the Chief Transformation Officer    Develop your skills as CTO (Chief Transformation Officer) in defining and orchestrating efforts to