As we come to the end of Summer, 2016 many business leaders are focusing on closing this current 
year strong, at the same time they are planning for 2017. As part of my role helping organizations develop their leadership skills, I spend a lot of time with leaders who are trying to hone their capabilities and apply new skills to deliver the best business results. Very often, I find well-intentioned leaders overusing the skills of strategic planning, data analysis, understanding customers, and understanding trends. As Advantexe teaches in our Business Acumen learning journeys, these are great skills to have and should be used every day to maintain a competitive edge and remain successful. The challenge, however, is spending too much time on the things right in front of you and not enough time listening to the faint weak signals of your business ecosystem that will impact your business in the near future.
These weak signals are being broadcast to us via social trends, technological trends, environmental trends, and political trends. For example, while the idea of driverless cars may seem like a quaint-never-going-to-happen idea, Uber last week committed $400 million to it, while others like Ford, Volvo, Apple, Tesla, and Google are making big bets as well. The potential impacts of driverless cars could disrupt several major ecosystems including automobile manufacturing, car rental companies, energy providers, insurance companies, healthcare, and even liquor companies within the next 10 years. If you are in any of these direct or indirect industries, are you reading the weak signals and planning for the disruption? Probably not. A lot of smart people don’t see or care to see the weak signals until it’s too late and that inability can lead to major disruptions that change the world. All we have to do is think back 10 years to 2006 and the beginning of the global subprime financial crisis…
So in August, 2016, what are some of the practical skills organizations and leaders can develop to create an environment and culture that hears and sees the weak signals? Here are three tips to think about as a leader and to share with your teams:
Stop thinking so internally!
One of the biggest mistakes leaders make is creating an environment that focuses too much on the internal; emails, processes, structure, operational efficiencies, and sometimes customers. Innovative companies that focus on external drivers are more successful in the long run because they are able to hear the weak signals. Uber, Apple, Tesla, and Amazon have cultures that encourage their employees to think from the outside in.
Suggestion: Integrate into your employee development discussions a suggestion for everyone to think more externally. Give assignments and ask for reports and suggestions on improvement from an external perspective.
Set time to look for and listen to silly ideas that make no sense
This tip doesn’t read well, does it? Look for silly ideas that make no sense? Dedicate time and encourage people to challenge the status quo and listen to trends, ideas, and other information that doesn’t fit your strategy or current way of doing things. Challenge the known and look for the unexpected.
Suggestion: Assign a rotating team member to provide an external “Weak Signals” report every month at a staff meeting. Be sure to encourage reporting on ideas and things that don’t have relevance today.
By way of example, I encourage everyone on my team to play with Pokémon Go! Even though we develop computer-based business simulations, what can we learn from this technology tool that can be integrated with what we do?
Monitor social media
It may sound a little passé in today’s advanced world, but do you know what is happening and trending on social media? What is being said about your company? Your people? Your products and services? What are they saying about your competitors? What new and aggressive products are being piloted that could eventually disrupt your business ecosystem?
Suggestion: Invest in some basic social media technology that reports back what and when people are saying about you and your competitors. Leverage the weak signals into competitive advantage.
