Although everyone in business takes a slightly different approach when it comes to enterprise management this can largely be broken down into two categories: pro-active or re-active. Pro-active management can be incredibly effective and tends to be the approach of choice for many of the world’s most successful business people. If you’re currently stuck in a reactive state it may be worth reassessing your strategy to integrate more pro-active elements.
Pro-active or re-active – what’s the difference?
Very simply the two can be defined as follows:
1. Reactive. You are constantly on the back foot dealing with events as they happen to you, being influenced by others’ actions and allowing what you can and can’t do to be defined externally.
2. Pro-active. You are aware, and in control of, what is going on around you and take positive steps to set your own course.
A pro-active business strategy
The foundation of a pro-active strategy is being committed to understanding and educating yourself about the ongoing changes that affect your market. Knowledge is power and those enterprises that are run with this in mind are much better prepared to deal with change and take advantage of opportunities. There are some very obvious benefits to a pro-active approach to business, including:
• Greater awareness of your market, new ideas and innovation, which leads to more efficient allocation of time and resources
• A more streamlined approach will free up money and time that can be invested back into the business to stimulate growth
• It’s much easier to define a clear and achievable strategy via a pro-active approach
• The business will be more versatile and flexible if it is being run pro-actively and will be more resilient when problems arise
• Business decisions are well informed, researched and prepared for and not made in a rushed and stressful way in response to external factors
A reactive business strategy
A reactive approach is often defined by an insular view and general ignorance about the business and/or changes taking place in the market, as well as the opportunities that exist for expansion and growth. For example, as opposed to planning an IT upgrade well in advance of the point at which the business really needs it, the reactive approach means that an IT upgrade is forced because existing, out of date infrastructure is negatively impacting on productivity. Reactivity could also be a failure to prepare for the potential impact of incoming change in the market, such as the introduction of the GDPR in 2018. Lack of preparation can lead to chaotic and expensive “fire fighting” that damages productivity and limits growth.
Although it takes work, a pro-active approach is always the better strategy when it comes to business planning. It necessarily requires an awareness of the market in which your company operates, the incoming changes, environmental factors, policy and strategy affecting it, as well as what your competitors are doing. However, the insight that this can generate, and the strategic planning it can support, make that effort ultimately well worthwhile.
