race throughout the season is different. The car itself will perform differently depending on both the track and the weather conditions on the day, and the crew will need to adapt according to the conditions.
Figure i.1
When we apply those three principles to a business, we can see a clear correlation to core enterprise functions and challenges. The principal represents the leaders within the business, the people who make those big decisions, keep one eye on the big picture, and make sure that the company is moving in the right direction. The crew is the broader teams, the people on the ground who make things happen. When they are all aligned behind an organisation's vision, great things happen and progress begins to accelerate.
The season is the external environment that will have an impact on not only how the business performs, but also on how the team functions and performs in different situations. The season is the one element of the pyramid that the business doesn't have total control over. What any organisation can control, however, is how it responds to its environment. This becomes a game of agility, where the businesses that learn fast and adapt quickly survive, and those that don't, die.
You need to have all three components of the pyramid in place and working together in order to achieve progress. Without all of these components, your business will struggle to successfully turn motion into progress.
If you just have the principal with the season, but the crew is not aligned and engaged, you create fatigue. You will only have a short amount of time to build momentum and achieve your goals before you run out of energy.
Figure i.2
If you have the principal setting a clear direction of travel and the crew aligned behind them, but no awareness of the season and external environment, this leads to obsolescence. You won't be creating and delivering the products or services the market, and your customers, need.
Figure i.3
Finally, if the crew is responding to the season and working within the external environment, but is doing so without any leadership or direction from the principal, what you are left with is chaos. There won't be any coherence in your activities and progress will stall.
Figure i.4
What many organisations are aiming for is what we discussed at the beginning: the principal setting a clear direction and communicating the big-picture vision; the crew aligning with this vision, buying into it and being given autonomy to work toward that goal; and the organisation as a whole being aware of and having the ability to adapt to an ever-changing environment. The ideal state is to find a balance among all three themes.
Figure i.5
“The economy has fundamentally changed. We've moved from a world with digital to a digital-first world; and there's no going back. Digital has become the way for people to connect, work, learn, and be entertained and the imperative for digital customer engagement has never been greater. Every business must understand their customers to deliver personalized digital experiences.
“The brands that win this race will have hands-on leaders who are open to change, a culture built around trust, rapid decision making and action, as well as a dedication to innovation and learning. Most of the evolution we have seen through COVID-19 has centred on transactional needs, be it the global pivot to online shopping or the rise of digital finance. However, brands must also consider how these unprecedented times affect people at the cultural and emotional level.”
Paul Robson, President of Adobe International, Adobe
There are no silver bullets
If you have picked up this book hoping to find a silver bullet that will solve your business' problems, we're afraid we are going to disappoint you. Harmonising these three themes takes time, effort, and a great deal of motion. What we are sharing in these chapters, however, is aimed at helping you uncover how to translate your motion into progress and become a more adaptive organisation in the process.
Each part of this book covers topics related to that component of the business ecosystem. We begin in Part One with leadership, which comes from the principal. Without a clear direction of travel, you may meander aimlessly or go in circles, so setting that North Star is an important starting point. You also need to know how to measure your progress. Without clear measurement of the right metrics, you can't see how far (or not) you've gone and are therefore in danger of slipping back into a cycle of motion.
In Part Two, we move to your team and organisational ecosystem, including its culture. This component involves not only aligning your crew behind your vision, but also how you can support your team members to contribute to that progress, deliver on your goals, and do so in a way that draws on their strengths. Autonomy is one of the key concepts here, but this has to come with clear guidelines and a definitive North Star.
Finally, we explore the enterprise environment in Part Three, which is represented by the season. These are the events that you have to manage and adapt to as a business, but they are ones that are outside of your control. For example, the economy, political upheaval, global pandemics, and even the weather impact organisations of all sizes and in all sectors. This is not only about navigating challenges, but also about spotting opportunities and knowing when and how to take the shot that can significantly accelerate your progress.
Uncovering your starting point
You and your organisation are on your own personal journeys, with your own starting point. At the end of several of the chapters, we have provided a link to a series of online exercises that will help you to understand what stage you are at, what direction you may need to move in, what changes you may need to implement, and where you can find support.
Use these resources to help you apply the lessons from this book in your own business. Our aim is to help you understand how you can turn motion into progress, and to clear any rocking horses out of your boardroom.
Working towards meaningful transformation
We live in a world where competition really can come from anywhere, and businesses have to be able to rapidly respond to threats and adapt to change. Organisations must evolve multiple strategies and use these abilities to build and maintain persistent relationships with their customers. So, business transformation tends to be at the top of most large corporate agendas, to modernise businesses that have fallen behind in some way and need to rapidly play catchup.
In many cases, there is also a customer experience transformation (CXT) happening to meet the fast-shifting needs of customers, who today are empowered and in control. CXT is the combination of data transformation
