Can a large incumbent company rediscover how to act like an agile start-up?
Figure Out Your Company’s Make-or-Break Strategic Problems, Then Use Small Teams to Solve Them
When big companies do find a way to recapture the insurgent energy of a start-up, it’s usually because leadership has emphasized two things. The first is clarity. Ask what their mission is and they can tell you in a sentence, ticking off on their fingers the three or four distinctive capabilities that ensure its execution. The second is focus. Starting with a bold strategy, they pick specific battles that must be won and then design initiatives to attack potential failure points—the game-breaking issues that stand in the way of success. Think of these initiatives as “micro-battles” — they are a powerful tool for fighting back against the complexity that slows companies down when trying to implement strategy. Micro-battles are all about using fast test-and-learn cycles to innovate—developing new products, opening new markets, figuring out better ways to do things. The most effective micro-battles are set up as microcosms of the fast-moving, strategy-driven organization most companies strive to be.