Humans hate change. We value consistency. So my decision to pivot our business has not been easy. Over the next week I will use this blog to detail our strategy and pivot. We will cover the new business model, product strategy and distribution strategy. Then, over the next 6 months you can follow along and see how we fair against our new direction. This post will focus on how to manage communicating a pivot.
All great businesses have great communicators. Entrepreneurs require significant support and and resources to launch businesses, and acquiring that support requires credibility. That credibility is given by the media, investors, stakeholders and customers. It is mostly earned through delivery of a great product or service, but a business also gains credibility through storytelling. Businesses must weave the problem, solution, plan and goal into a compelling story that people don’t have to decipher themselves. It almost needs to be self evident; explainable in 20 seconds. Money and enthusiasm always follow a compelling narrative.
So when a business decides to pivot they are at real danger of destroying this narrative. A pivot is often necessary though! Pivoting improves the chances your company will succeed. There are numerous examples of companies pivoting into success. Twitter, Yelp, Slack and Youtube are all examples. In our pivot at boomering, the process of the pivot will conserve resources and allow us to learn more about our customers and the new technologies we can use to serve them. (Artificial Intelligence tools). We’ve also realised our initial plan is flawed, and we need to change that.
As I mentioned though, people don’t like change. We crave consistency. So what do you do if you need to communicate a pivot?
You need to tie the pivot to your initial vision. And in order to do this, you can’t pigeon hole yourself too early. Your initial vision needs to be big enough that there is room to manoeuvre if you require a pivot. Build a broad narrative at the beginning, something that allows many different approaches. Think of Salesforce’s “democratizing digital transformation,” or Mircosoft’s “modernizing the workspace.” These allow Beinoff and Nadella plenty of space to change. Nadella did it by pivoting to the cloud, and Beinoff has been able to build a behemoth of different verticals while remaining true to his vision. Your shareholder can’t argue if you are still pursuing your mission and vision with a passion. What’s more, your employees won’t feel betrayed. It’s a smart strategic decision you’re making. The objective remains the same.
Finally, you need to move quickly. If you have decided to pivot, do it. Do not gradually shift into the new strategy. That will just burn resources and dishearten employees. Be passionately precise about what your new goals are, and then execute on them. Most stakeholders will get behind you if they see you are still passionate. Do this aggressively, while remaining humble. Head down, it’s time to build again.