Today is tomorrow's yesterday - Dynamic surroundings

People usually act out of self-interest. But not always. They also like to help — out of moral pretension, because of their education, their religious background or simply as a gesture of compassion. An initiative or association comes into existence if many people organize themselves together to help. An even more established form of this would be a non-governmental organization. Unlike these non-profit organizations, the typical profit-organizations are driven to obtain revenue. Their right to exist are the customers, as they are giving money for products or services that they acquire from companies. The mechanism of success seems simple: The company needs to identify the customer’s needs, get organized and offer the demanded product at the right time at the right price. So far so good.

If a change in frame conditions or customer desires in the existing OLD WORLD becomes emergent, the company needs to act. Otherwise, the graph in the model below, named “sales”, will fall beneath the cost axis. A new corporate strategy, with claims to help the company remain lucrative, has to be designed. The main points of the new strategy will define the new mission. The course of change, which the company needs to undergo to proceed towards the mission, is called TRANSFORMATION.

Thus far, everything is “obvious”, comprehensible and trivial. However, I want to emphasize the element of time and the growing dynamic in the markets - to illustrate what the consequences for the goals of companies to satisfy the customer needs are. Because unfortunately the environment moves on day by day. When a company decides to include the opening up of new markets, a new customer channel, a new business model, a merger or a cooperation with a new business partner in its mission, it has to consider that customer’s needs and frame conditions - thus the environment - are also subject to a permanent change.  

And, it gets much more complex. Every organization that we want to work with to achieve our new goals has their own mission, which might be before or during a transformation. Are the goals of the cooperating organizations still congruent? Does today's plan even have validity tomorrow? 

Bottom line: To transform successfully from the old world into the new world, we need a dynamic analysis and continuous adaptation to change, which is influenced by a constant shift in the surroundings. That is exactly what our organizations need to accomplish. Only then will we be ready for our surroundings and thus ready for the future — a future that cannot be predicted.

The same mechanism applies to the earlier mentioned non-profit organizations. Although in this case the goal is not profit but, for instance, subjects regarding environmental protection, civil society, the fight against poverty, species protection and the like. Actually, it is not the customer demands that change, rather the environment and the frame conditions. Climate change for instance. As we are talking about more long-term calculated, quite general and not immediately apparent goals, those transformations get moving more slowly. Regarding profit, in this case the sword of Damocles might not have any short-term effects. Instead, you will achieve a higher acceptance in the organization or in society — read more on this in “What is a target”?