Slow DownJocelyn R. Davis and Tom Atkinson offer some compelling thoughts on strategy in their article, “Need Speed?  Slow Down,” in the May, 2010 Harvard Business Review.  They describe the concept of strategic speed as one of reducing the time it takes to create value. While “reducing time” might sound like speeding up, their research results suggest the opposite.

In their research of 343 companies, the two found that, the companies that embraced initiatives and chose to go, go, go to try and gain an edge ended up with lower sales and operating profits than those that paused at key moments to make sure they were on the right track.  What’s more, the firms that “slowed down to speed up” improved their top and bottom lines, averaging 40% higher sales and 52% higher operating profits over a three year period.”

Anecdotally, just a few days ago, I chatted with a valued colleague dealing with the problems of growth at his market-leading firm, and he described a culture that was laser focused on very few initiatives and committed to moving slowly and deliberately to ensure quality. This firm intuitively gets the notion of strategic speed.

The Simplicity and Practicality of Strategic Speed for Your Business:

I love the concept as the authors express it. The notion of reducing the time that it takes to create value screams of jettisoning the undisciplined pursuit of more (Collins, How the Mighty Fall) and rails against exhortations from executives to do more, faster. It implies deliberately deciding what you will not do and carefully constructing your teams and processes to execute, learn, innovate and execute some more.

Many firms struggle with the “We’ve never met a project we didn’t like,” syndrome, saying yes to every opportunity that swims by, hoping that one or a few will hit it big. Others navigate the world shifting their business strategy to rationalize the next investment, acquisition or strategic partnership that once in place will change the game for the better.  Employees look on and wonder and then go about their work with little context for what truly will create value and how to make decisions that will help the firm move faster towards value creation.

Moving at the pace of strategic speed as I envision it, allows an organization to arm its people with context, including a crystal clear understanding of customers and their vexing challenges. The right pace allows everyone to focus on creating great customer experiences and on improving systems, services and offerings that continue to meaningfully serve and differentiate.

The Bottom Line for Now:

There are no silver bullets in business, but there are some approaches that work better than others.  If you’re looking for more from your business, you may want to consider slowing down, looking around and then choosing your next steps carefully.  And plan on stopping a lot along the way.

Enjoy the slow ride to value creation!