Strategy as an anchor in times of uncertainty
In a time characterized by many unknowns and by uncertainty, it is difficult to assess whether and how quickly developments will progress. Assumptions that were actually considered safe and set suddenly start to falter. Especially now, logistics companies need a clear strategy that provides orientation.
As an entrepreneur, you need this orientation to give your team direction. What is certain is that customer requirements will change. Therefore, it must be clear to you and your employees where the journey is heading – if this is not the case, the company is always forced to react ad hoc. They lose the possibility to design strategically and are forced to always react at short notice to what is happening in the market. Active participation and self-design is then no longer possible.
Two cornerstones of the strategy for logisticians
Therefore, two important cornerstones are needed with regard to the future and the strategy of your logistics company. First, a clear picture of where you want the business to go. And secondly, a detailed idea of what your future assumptions are and what the world (business world and your industry) will look like tomorrow. These two aspects must be intertwined and compatible with each other. Only in this way can the strategy be truly future-proof. This is the only way to simultaneously design and meet future market demand.
The path to a clear picture of one’s business in the future is anything but trivial. The questions of what you and your team can and cannot expect depend on many unknown parameters. Many points remain open. It is a difficult task for you as an entrepreneur to develop the strategy for the future of logistics. In search of answers, everyone gives you a different one. So, as an entrepreneur and strategist, you can’t help but develop your own assumptions about the future of logistics.
Putting the strategy on a solid foundation
It is important in this process that you critically question yourself and your assumptions – if this process happens intuitively, our assumptions about the future are always too strongly influenced by our experiences and preferences. Then our thoughts and experiences of the past virtually colonize our ideas about the future. The result would be weak assumptions with little foundation.
How can it be better? You can reduce misperceptions by systematically challenging your assumptions and bombarding them with all the trends that will shape the logistics market of the future. Thought models can also help you become clearer about how change happens.
The FutureManagementGroup trend system contains over thirty trends that you should consider in your strategy.
Assessing the speed of change in logistics
A good contribution to more clarity can also be the discussion of assumptions in your team. If you ask your team about the big changes, the big trends in the next 10 years, the answers are probably still very similar. But then when it comes to the speed of change. So around whether these trends will be relevant to your business and strategy in two, five or eight years, opinions will vary massively. It is important to bring these different assessments to the surface Then check whether these opinions are based on good arguments or are burdened by outdated ways of thinking.
Follow these links as well:
► The Future Strategy Program for SMEs
► Free video crash course THE FUTURE OF YOUR BUSINESS
► BUSINESS WARGAMING for robust business and future opportunities
► KEYNOTES by Pero Mićić for your employees and customers
Have a bright future!
