There are many reasons why a company may want to pivot. As the Covid-19 pandemic demonstrated, making major changes to a business’s operations may be the only way to ensure its survival.
However, there are multiple factors to consider when making these changes, including how they will affect your employees, the company vision and the overall bottom line. Neglecting to assess these elements could make or break your company during a precarious time.
To help, 14 members of Forbes Business Council shared what they believe to be an essential element or step of a successful company pivot and why each is so important.
1. Perform A Pre-Mortem Analysis
When implementing a pivot, leaders should perform a pre-mortem analysis to maximize the chances of success. This can be achieved by first imagining the new plan has failed, then working backward to determine all possible causes of failures and finally determining ways to avoid or at least minimize those points of failure. The company pivot can be decided based on the acceptable level of risk. – Fabrice Testa, Maana Electric
2. Consider The End Goal
Change will always come and can be a great chance for a company to pivot. But with any change, everyone within the organization must know and understand the “who, what, when, where and why” of the pivot to ensure success. People love working together to improve on the business but must also have a clear picture of what that looks like and what the goal or end state of that pivot will be. – Michael Lee, FinDec
3. Build Anticipation
In many cases, big company changes are confidential until they can be announced. But, if you can help build anticipation for growth in a way that mirrors a new Apple release, you can start to build excitement where normally there might be fear. When there are opportunities for everyone to participate in positive changes, perceived negative changes can be managed more easily. – Emily Dodson, Fairfax EggBank
4. Strengthen Your Team
Change is a tricky thing. It’s challenging for teams, but it can also be an exciting and motivating challenge. A company can successfully navigate these times through unity and a strong executive team guiding them. I’m lucky to have an incredible head of operations and we both have a strong pulse on personnel, especially when things are changing, to ensure the team is still inspired and dedicated. – Emily Blair, Emily Blair Media
5. Effectively Communicate
One essential element to implement any kind of change successfully is communication. The ability to clearly and effectively address your team members allows them to grow with the ideas of change. While change is scary, it’s also exciting and being able to get everyone on the same page, which is arguably the most important step. – Bill Lyons, Griffin Funding
6. Develop A Clear Strategy
A clear strategy has to be developed to define, plan, execute and maintain the change by leveraging the key principles of organization change management, referring to John Kotter’s Accelerate. Also, along with HR, the change needs to be supported by the executive management. Finally, there has to be a clear plan to handle employee objections, communication breakdowns and other objections. – Biju Chandrasekharan, ByteWave Digital Inc.
7. Ask Why
Leaders must articulate the “why.” We are often mired in the context and forget that it is limited for the rest of the organization. This context is the foundation for the “why.” We must choose to bring them along on the journey. It’s like looking at a map and acknowledging where we have come from, where we are, where we need to go and why. This is a vital element of mastering a successful change program – Barry Marshall, P5 Collaborative Consulting, LLC
8. Prove Yourself As A Leader
According to John Maxwell, a leader is someone who knows the way, goes the way and shows the way. With this, a leader must have proven himself over time to his followers. So all that will be needed is the deployment of clarity of purpose via communication in the process of transitioning. – Abimbola Olayinka, GALPARENTING PLACE
9. Remain Transparent
Communication and transparency are key. When making changes to your organization and planning a successful company pivot, employees will likely have many questions and it’s important to remain transparent and prioritize communication. Keeping employees involved, answering their questions and listening to their ideas will keep them engaged and make them feel like they are part of the process. – Peggy Choi, Lynk
10. Consider The New Norms
Pivots do not always result in optimal business outcomes. A pivot must align with the company’s capabilities and reinforce its strategic direction. While brand loyalty is pivotal to organizational growth, it is not enough. The company must take into account the new norms, such as remote work, enhanced technologies and quick turnaround time to increase its long-term viability and competitive edge. – Loubna Noureddin, Mind Market LLC
11. Over-Communicate
Over-communicate at every opportunity. Explain not only what the company is doing but why. Plainly articulate the future state of the company and outline the vision and the three priorities (not five or 10) that will enable the organization to achieve that vision. Communicating this is essential to implementing a successful company pivot. – Richard Steel, Parsec Ventures
12. Develop A Clear Vision
It’s important to have a clear vision that helps everyone understand the pivot. Without a vision, it’s impossible to develop a plan and without a plan, it won’t be a successful pivot. So get clear on why you are doing it and how it ties to your vision. Then communicate, communicate, communicate. – Kerry Siggins, StoneAge
13. Expect The Unexpected
Assuming time has been spent on planning, accept that there will be obstacles and embrace that you don’t know what you don’t know. The success in a pivot is measured not in the completion of planning but in how the business deals with the unexpected. A pivot with a focus on embracing and successfully navigating the unexpected makes for a better experience and culture for positive change. – Alex Argianas, Arginias & Associates
14. Look At The Data
Lead with data. If it’s time to make a company pivot, take a close look at the data and let that highlight your best path forward. In today’s digital world, you should have no trouble accessing data and forecasting information so you can make defensible, data-driven decisions. – Ty Allen, SocialClimb
This article was published on Forbes.com