A proactive strategy in a business involves anticipating changes in both your market and your competitors well before they actually happen. Pro-active management is practiced by successful entrepreneurs all over the world, and it can be a powerful tool for success in the right hands. By taking a pro-active stance, you do not let things happen to you; instead, you take charge of your destiny and your course. This contrasts with a reactive approach, in which you allow outside forces to push you around and dictate what you can and can’t do.
A pro-active approach revolves around the idea that it is essential to be fully aware of the dynamics of the market. Accordingly, you will always want to take actions that will prepare you well in advance of any changes that might occur. If you tailor your organizational responses to different environmental factors as they change, you will be well-suited to handle any challenges that come your way.
Businesses that want to remain relevant to their customers need to keep abreast of new ideas and technologies being introduced to the market. By arming yourself with the knowledge that you need to succeed, you can design appropriate plans of action that will make you succeed in an ever-changing market environment.
Adopting a proactive approach does more than help grow your revenues; it enables you to spend time and money in a more efficient way, while still building your organization. You will save time and money going forward, money that can be re-invested into your business’ bottom line. With a clear idea of what to expect in the future, an organization and its employees are prepared with a strategic plan, to counter the effects of a major policy change or critical alteration in the industry procedures.
By opting for a proactive approach, your business can be designed in a way that makes it both resilient and flexible. You will be designing a structure that is well aligned to carry out your own goals, mission, vision and objectives. A proactive business approach will help your organization make every business decision on the basis of both their short and long term objectives. Every step is deliberate, every action carefully calculated: you will not be at the mercy of any unexpected changes or challenges that come your way.
By contrast, a reactive approach places you at the mercy of any major changes that have taken place in your market. A good example of this is when you opt to change your company’s entire outdated software and technological system within the company after the latest advancements have taken the industry by storm. Instead of investing in these needed changes as they were occurring, you waited until the loss in productivity forced your hand. By this point, you’ve lost out on a substantial amount of time, money, and business.
Don’t take a reactive approach – be an organization which works with a proactive approach. Update your system processes when a new cutting-edge technology emerges, because you will immediately give yourself a leg up on your competitors, who are slower to adapt. You will capture the business that they will struggle to keep, and your reactive competitors will wish that they had been more productive.
Given the marked differences in both approaches, which approach do you think you should take for your business?
