Marginal gains can make big differences

WE’VE all been there.

- 

Every January, founders have the same temptation namely that this will be the year they reinvent the business.A new strategy, a refreshed brand, a restructure, a new system or a new set of targets all sounds bold and decisive and gives everyone in the organisation a sense that momentum is returning.

The problem is that reinvention can quickly become a distraction from the work that actually drives performance and is far less glamorous such as tightening the basics, removing friction, and doing the right things consistently enough that results improve month after month.

Most businesses don't stall because they lack ideas, but because the day-to-day engine is running with too much waste in it. Leads come in but aren't followed up fast enough, quotes and proposals drag because nobody owns the next step and customers raise the same issues repeatedly because the business fixes symptoms rather than causes.

As a result, delivery becomes inconsistent, quality varies, and margins quietly leak through rework, inefficiencies and poor handovers with management time getting swallowed by meetings that create activity but not progress.

When those are the real issues then “reinvention” often becomes a way of avoiding a simpler truth namely that the business doesn’t have a strategy problem but an execution problem.

That doesn’t mean reinvention is never needed as sometimes the market moves and the business model no longer fits and we've all experienced customers that change how they buy, competitors who undercut the business, technology altering the cost base, or regulation — shifts demand. Equally, change may be the only way forward if the business has grown but the operating model hasn't kept up with decisions stalling at the top of the organisation, accountability unclear, and delivery varies wildly