My strategy hasn’t worked yet. Should I push on?

Dear Aunty B,

I read Rick from yesterday but I have the opposite problem.

My great strategy hasn’t worked yet and I feel like an idiot, especially as I have to push it through staff who expressed reservations from the beginning.

I could say it was the market but it was also bad timing, a complex sales process and I got talked into it by an excited supplier who wanted to sell more product and probably took it to market too early.

I could keep pushing because it is showing some signs of success but my staff are not really behind it and it would require a big push on my part to champion it.

When I read those inspiring case studies that are always full of people pushing against the tide and succeeding I feel like fighting on. 

But this morning I feel like giving up and I feel like I need a few words of encouragement from you to keep going.

Can you shed any light?

In The Dark,
Tassie

Dear In The Dark,

Gee. You are all over the place.

First I get a matter of fact description of why your strategy hasn’t worked. Good. Understanding your mistakes means you don’t make them again.

Then suddenly you veer widely off course, rabbiting on about entrepreneurs who have swum against the tide and succeeded.

Keep your rational hat on your head In The Dark. You can tip it so that it sits at a cocky angle but that’s it!

Now ask yourself the big question. If you persist is it a battle worth winning? What is your long term goal for the business? How does it fit in with that? Will it give you great strategic advantage? Is it going to give you market share and make you a shitload of money?  What is it going to cost the company if you keep battling on?

The next thing to think about is chess. Are you a chess player? What is the first rule of chess?

I am not sure either but here is the second rule. Stepping back is not a sign of retreat. It is smart. So is signalling to your staff that you got it half wrong.

I often get it half wrong, but my staff know it is their job to take the half-baked idea, give it the smell test, see the genius within and refine it – or make me dump it before it sees the light of day.

Gather the staff members who were unenthusiastic at the beginning. Tell them the strategy has not met your expectations and ask them to work with you on a plan to see if you can uncover a better idea.

My bet? At the end of that session you will come away with some new ideas that will be the beginning of a new direction.

And keep reading inspiring case studies but focus on the bits where the entrepreneurs admit they made a huge mistake, backtracked and then forged ahead.

You will find an example in almost every story.

Be smart,
Your Aunty B