Regardless of your role in the organization, there are a number of challenges that you must overcome in order to lead a successful biopharma startup. These challenges include finding the right people and fostering a company culture.

In this post I'll cover how to find the right team, manage execution, and track performance. So let's get started...
 
Finding the right team
 
One of the biggest challenges facing a new biopharma startup is finding the best team. It can be difficult to attract top talent, especially when you're a small startup without a proven track record. To attract top talent, you must offer competitive compensation. Smaller startups often struggle to offer competitive compensation, while larger organizations are often more willing to offer generous benefits packages and equity compensation.
 
While leading a biotech startup is a challenging role, there are some factors that can help you overcome these challenges and build a strong company culture. First of all, it's important to recognize that the corporate culture will affect the work being done. While companies will always have a culture, it's important to intentionally build a positive and productive one. Developing a positive culture means identifying your strengths and leveraging them to make decisions based on core values and knowledge.
 
Your co-founders are an important part of your team. In addition to bringing in valuable experience, it is important to share a vision for the company and identify the core values of each team member. These values could include business acumen, healthcare experience, and technical skills. Using networking platforms to recruit co-founders is a great way to find a team that shares your vision.
 
Creating a team with the right skills is an essential part of a biotech company's success. While the biotech industry is experiencing an incredible time, finding the right talent to translate these innovations to reality is an ongoing challenge. A recent published survey report stated that 51 percent of CEOs in life sciences and pharmaceuticals companies mentioned- Finding the right people is one of their biggest challenges.
 
I have a separate post on ‘Best practices for biotech talent management’. You may check it out here. And here’s a post giving Best practices for talent management in pharma companies.
 
Finding the right team is essential when you're trying to compete with the big players. It's essential to have the right mix of people with relevant experience in sales, marketing, and research and development. It's also crucial to be able to hire people with the right technical skills, such as engineers, statisticians, and data analytics.
 
Managing execution

Managing execution challenges is an important part of leading a new biopharma Startup. As a company grows and its goals change, execution expertise becomes increasingly important to achieve those goals. Fortunately, the biotech community has many resources to help new startups navigate the execution challenges that come with bringing a new biopharmaceutical to market.
 
Tracking performance
 
Tracking performance is critical to the success of any biopharma Startup. It can be challenging to measure the impact of key decisions, especially in the R&D phase of a new biotech. The process may take years; that's why it's crucial to include the right information and discussion in key decisions.
 
Today's biopharma companies are in the midst of a transformation. Digital technologies are driving new processes and reducing time to market. A global pandemic has increased the importance of these next-generation capabilities. These capabilities include more efficient manufacturing, process automations, more effective supply chains, more efficient and flexible networks, and more. They also allow biopharma companies to pursue new value through M&As and patient engagement ventures.
 
Creating a company culture
 
Creating a company culture for a biotech Startup is an important step towards achieving sustainable success. It's crucial to build a cohesive team and ensure that the culture reflects the values of the company. Employees feel more engaged when they feel that the leadership is transparent and demonstrates their commitment to the company mission. It's also important to share goals and objectives with the team.
​

• How to Bring in Organizational Culture Change
• What Role Does Culture Play in Business Transformation?

 
Companies that focus on creating a strong company culture have a greater chance of success than those that ignore it. An unfavorable corporate culture can lead to high turnover and burnout among employees, which in turn leads to a less-productive organization. A positive company culture is marked by a high level of employee satisfaction and a healthy, stimulating environment. Employees who feel valued are more likely to stay with a company, which in turn attracts top talent.
 
It is important to create a company culture that emphasizes innovation. Innovation requires continuous improvement and new ideas. Innovation promotes progress on a company and individual levels. A company culture that encourages experimentation and constant learning is an ideal environment for innovation.
 
In addition to a strong company culture, it's important to hire people with diverse backgrounds and experiences. A well-rounded employee can bring a unique perspective to the company, and their diverse experiences can help them adapt to changing roles. While working in silos in Big Pharma may result in specialized skills, working in diverse parts of the organization can foster humility and a fresh perspective.
 
Creating a company culture is not easy. It requires a commitment by the senior management team to model the mindsets and behaviors they want. They should also provide ongoing coaching and engage teams in capability building. This approach can be highly effective in creating a shared culture and helping the company achieve its goal.
 
Building a biotech company requires a dynamic, ever-growing team. To succeed, the company should be able to attract motivated team members and build shareholder value. Furthermore, the company must be able to implement a business model that encourages growth and is easy to execute.
 

Related Reading:​

1. Kaizen for pharmaceutical, medical device and biotech industries
2. How to cut costs strategically using Kaizen
3. Streamline processes and workflows with Gemba Walk.
4. Top Ten Strategic Decision-Making Tools for Operational Excellence

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Categories:  Biotechnology | Operational Excellence | Leadership 

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Leadership with a different flavor to it is essential for steering organizations in uncertain times. It requires strong leadership skills and the ability to adapt to change to tide thru difficult waters. And it is not just the fittest who survive, but the most adaptive that survive longer.
 
Uncertainty breeds change and vice versa. And change is good if you, as a leader, make good use of the opportunity and create a positive difference in your organization.
 
Uncertainty is an opportunity to survival (although a difficult one), and that leaders who can bring about change are needed. In this post, I shall touch upon areas leaders can focus to help themselves achieve success!
 
Leadership style
 
There are many styles of leadership. Some styles are passive, while others can be called active. The passive leadership style is focused on avoiding risk. The directive style of leadership is the opposite. It relies on rewards, coercion and positional authority to reach goals. These leaders place more importance on their own knowledge than on the contributions of others.
 
Leadership styles must be modified over time. Impeccable leadership is essential for any organization or individual in today's uncertain world. Business leaders are particularly important because of the increasing challenges they face. It is important to continuously evaluate and adapt your style.
 
Communication
 
In times of uncertainty, leaders must communicate clearly with employees. Employees need to be informed about the company's activities, regardless of whether it is going through a crisis or restructuring a division. Employees may believe the worst if they are not kept informed. The company's credibility could be at risk.
 
It is normal to wait and see how communications go during difficult times. However, this is not a good idea. You can help people deal with uncertainty and make the most of it by presenting the facts early. This will reduce misinterpretation risk and increase trust.
 
People look to their leaders when they are in trouble. You must act as a calm force and a catalyst for stability within the organization. 
 
Transparency in dealings is the key to trust-building. You must communicate truthfully and in a timely manner, but you must also be optimistic about the future.
 
Scenario-planning
 
Leaders of organizations in uncertain times can use scenario-planning to their advantage. Scenario-planning helps leaders make better decisions by making assumptions about the future. By creating different scenarios, a leader can envision different "realities" for a future business. Scenario- planning can be used to predict the potential future and help companies develop agility, alignment, and flexibility as well as mitigate risks.
 
Scenario-planning involves creating or many a times envisioning scenarios and stress-testing them. It is important to recognize biases and develop the skills necessary to conduct these exercises. 
 
Embracing change
 
Leaders who embrace change and see it as an opportunity to improve processes and discover new markets, increase profitability and become more effective are the ones who succeed. They see change as a way to generate new ideas and innovations and turn uncertainty into a positive force. Organizations that embrace change positively experience higher productivity, greater engagement, and renewed pride.
 
Leaders must align their personal priorities and the company's strategy to embrace change. Leading change involves changing attitudes, behaviors, and how leaders communicate with employees, superiors, peers and their teams.
 
Leaders must also link their day to the overall initiative for change and exhibit their leadership style. This is especially true if you have taken over a new role. For a new boss, in the beginning it is perception that brings-in following. Only after employees work with you long enough do they get to know the real you- the individual. 
 
Manage resistance
 
Leadership is also the ability to manage resistance. Overextended or inexperienced leaders are often reluctant to make tough decisions and take too long to implement them.
 
To ensure team buy-in and minimize resistance, changes must be carefully implemented. Here are some tips to manage resistance within organizations and get buy-in from employees: Open door policies are a great way to encourage employees asking questions. All employees should have access to communication channels and should have career opportunities available.
 
Understanding the elephant in the room: It's crucial to pay attention to the concerns of employees when managing change. These conversations can expose weaknesses in your plan and reveal the reasons for employee resistance. You can also build trust between employees and management by listening to their concerns and thereby increase their sense of contribution and value.
​

Related Reading:​

1. Up to speed with workflow- How to choose business process improvement methodology for your organization and measure the positive change. 
2. Kaizen for pharmaceutical, medical device and biotech industries
3. How to cut costs strategically using Kaizen
4. Streamline processes and workflows with Gemba Walk.
5. Top Ten Strategic Decision-Making Tools for Operational Excellence
6. Leading organizations through crisis.

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Categories:  Strategy | Operations | Leadership

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#operationalexcellence #strategicdecisionmaking #strategy #strategymanagement #businessresilience #continuousimprovement #managingforchange #managingforgrowth #leadingorganizationsthroughturbulentimes

Building resilience is critical to building a long-term business. It is not only about the ability to survive crises, but also about how you manage your business in those situations. To increase your business's resilience, you should measure the components of your business. To do this, you can use KPIs and essentially a strategic plan with a defined methodology (such as Kaizen, Lean, Six Sigma etc.) to increase business process robustness.
 
Planning for a pandemic
 
Understanding pandemics and their effects is critical to business resilience. Using a pandemic impact analysis template, business leaders can identify the most critical roles, processes, and assets. Developing a pandemic recovery plan requires patience and understanding of the situation. Once the plan has been implemented, businesses can return to normal operations.
 
In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic backdrop, companies have begun to take a more holistic approach to risk management. Eight in 10 businesses indicated that they needed to adopt an enterprise-wide approach to risk management in order to tackle complex issues and maintain operational resiliency. This has led many companies to broaden their risk perspective and create pandemic-response plans.
 
Organizational resilience enables organizations to meet short-term and long-term financial goals, maintain operational capacities, and cope with fluctuating demand. Organizational resilience fosters a healthy culture within the workforce and maximizes retention. It also enforces higher standards of performance. A culture of resilience teaches staff to align their values with their actions and responds to criticism with meaningful change.
 
Planning for a pandemic can help businesses and organizations deal with the financial consequences of a pandemic. Governments can help businesses and organizations adapt by deferring tax payments or providing incentives for digital investments. In addition, business systems and strategies need to be designed to be resilient and offer sustainable products.
 
Managing for resilience
 
Business resilience is the ability to take a blow and bounce back. It embodies the principles of business continuity but goes beyond these to strengthen an organization's immune system. It entails managing for change and takes into account the relationship between all relevant forces and their potential impacts. In addition, it requires contributions from different management disciplines.
 
Resilience is the ability of a business to withstand a range of threats, including disruptions to ICT (information and communication technologies) systems, cyber attacks, consumer demands, and market changes. It is essential to the continued operation of a business, and this requires a long-term mindset. Businesses must consider the risks associated with these risks and build contingency plans to address them.
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While business resilience varies greatly from company to company, many leading companies are attempting to create a more resilient culture. For example, go for local solutions, servant leadership, multi-stakeholder engagement, and long-term goals to build resilience.
 
How to succeed in building business resilience?
 
Business resilience requires a commitment from senior management and is distinct from business continuity. It requires employees to think on their feet and leaders to anticipate and respond to challenges. As a result, business leaders must be clear in communicating their resilience approach and making sure that people are aware of it.
 
Managing for growth
 
Managing for growth can increase your business resilience, which is the ability to withstand unexpected change. In today's world, technology is evolving at an exponential rate, and many organizations are struggling to keep up. This can have serious consequences for your business if it goes unaddressed.
 
The most resilient companies are those that can take advantage of unexpected opportunities and minimize damage from new threats. This requires a flexible organizational structure, modern processes, and effective communications. In addition, business leaders should avoid micromanagement and focus on the development of an inclusive culture. They should eliminate silos in the organization and integrate their IT and business functions. Developing a culture of business resilience requires strategic planning to ensure the long-term health of the company.
 
As part of building business resilience, a company's management team should understand the business's KPIs and share a common understanding of its resilience track record. They should also agree on how much risk they will tolerate in the future. It is important not to use generic risk assessments but insist on specific goals based on hard questions. The process of determining these goals will be a back-and-forth process, and they are most likely to fall in a gray area of marginal risks.
 
Embed ‘Continuous Improvement’ in your organization’s DNA-
 
Resilience is essential for business survival, but many companies are not building enough of it. In today's turbulent world, more companies are becoming vulnerable to crises. However, by investing in resilience, companies have the potential to increase their profitability. However, they must be aware of the trade-offs that come with resilience. For example, investing in infrastructure may lead to increased costs, while reducing revenue.
 
High-budget investment plans to build business resilience may not work for all companies, especially the small setups and startups. A more doable approach is to install Lean, Kaizen in your company’s DNA. Kaizen-ing by default minimizes risks, reduces operational costs, improves product quality and catapult’s customer satisfaction.
 
Kaizen-ing hence brings dual benefit- It increases both topline and bottom line of a business, regardless of its size or industry sector. Contact us to know more about How Lean, Kaizen can help your business?
 
An important to note is- While taking steps to build business resilience, it is also necessary to measure success. A Bain Resilience Index measures the resilience of individual companies. I’ve a separate post on this, check it out here.


Related Reading:​

1. Up to speed with workflow- How to choose business process improvement methodology for your organization and measure the positive change. 
   
2. Kaizen for pharmaceutical, medical device and biotech industries
3. How to cut costs strategically using Kaizen
4. Streamline processes and workflows with Gemba Walk.
5. Top Ten Strategic Decision-Making Tools for Operational Excellence

Follow Shruti on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn

Categories:  Strategy | Operations | Leadership

Keywords and Tags:
#operationalexcellence #strategicdecisionmaking #strategy #strategymanagement #businessresilience #continuousimprovement #managingforchange #managingforgrowth

The health ministry of Indonesia has temporarily banned the sale of all syrup and liquid medicines, citing the risks to children (according to a BBC news report). In a statement, the ministry explained that acute kidney injury (AKI) has been linked to syrup medicines. The government cited a sharp increase in AKI cases among children, most of them under five years of age. However, the number of acute kidney failure cases could be much higher than reported.
 
Higher than accepted levels of diethylene glycol and ethylene glycol were found to be present in the products recovered from patient’s homes. Children suffering from AKI had allegedly been using syrups that contained diethylene glycol and ethylene glycol in very small amounts. Currently, there are 206 confirmed cases of AKI in Indonesia, of which 99 were fatal. However, the true number is likely to be higher.
 
As per the BBC news report the Indonesian authorities have so far not disclosed the brands or types of syrup medicines linked to sick children; instead, just temporarily banned the sale and prescription of all syrup and liquid medicines.
 
Earlier this month, cough syrup-linked child deaths were reported from African country The Gambia. The reason then was higher than accepted levels of diethylene glycol and ethylene glycol in syrups. ( A report in India's one of the leading newspaper Economic Times stated that the Medicines Control Agency MCA, has not yet found definitive links between the deaths and the cough syrup).

Unfortunately, we have been witnessing such tragedies since 1937, when the first elixir tragedy was reported in the United States.
 
Further to that, compliance procedures and regulations were strengthened, and for a few decades, it has helped bigtime in curbing such fatalities.
 
Over the years, pharma operations have graduated from ‘quality control’ to ‘quality assurance’ and now ‘quality-by-design’. One of the fundamental principles of quality-by-design (QbD) while formulating drug products is that safety is built-into the product by design. But then a quick question that pops up in my mind is- Are syrups safe?
 
In my view and I'm sure you will agree with me, there can be no justification to such tragedies. As an operational excellence leader, I believe that in addition to ensuring cGMP and quality compliance while manufacturing drug products, it is probably the need of the hour to re-think formulation strategies for syrup medications.
 
Go for syrups sans propylene glycol!
 
This is surely a challenge for pharma formulation development scientists, but it will be efforts worthwhile. Firstly, it will stop such potential tragedies and secondly, syrups shall truly become patient-friendly!

​
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Supply chain resilience is the ability to adapt and survive unforeseen disruptions. It enables enterprises to respond ahead of competitors and meet changing market demands. It can help prevent and mitigate disruptions like supply/demand imbalances and shortages. In addition, it can improve competitiveness. Here are some strategies to increase resilience:
 
Creating a nerve center
 
Creating a nerve center for supply chain management can improve the speed and effectiveness of your decision-making. By bringing together the specialists from all aspects of the supply chain, you can develop a team that will make the most of available resources. You can also build a stronger connection with key suppliers by establishing deeper partnerships. Your nerve center will act as a central hub to share information, set up essential working infrastructure, and track the progress of key initiatives. Once implemented, the benefits can be seen within five weeks. Creating a nerve center for supply chain operations will improve your cost base, protect your margins, and drive organizational alignment.
 
Supply chain management has undergone tremendous changes over the past few decades. With access to cheaper labor, regulatory incentives, and proximity to growing consumer markets, businesses have extended their supply chains globally. As a result, creating a nerve center for supply chain management can help you stay ahead of disruptions.
 
Creating scenario-based planning
 
Creating scenario-based planning can help businesses better balance the risks and potential trade-offs they face in their business. It can also help companies plan for the worst-case scenarios, helping them avoid delays and potential problems. Traditionally, supply chain managers have focused on minimizing surplus and keeping stock levels low. However, when the Ebola epidemic hit, many businesses were forced to bear the brunt. They were forced to cut back production and inventory, and many retailers struggled to sell their stock.
 
While a shaky supply chain is always a risk, many companies are taking steps to increase resilience in their supply chains. This requires a comprehensive set of plans and strategies. For example, companies should look into resetting capacity utilization targets, identify triggers to add capacity, and align order fulfillment strategies with customer demand and needs.
 
Splitting inventory across multiple fulfillment locations
 
Whether you're an ecommerce retailer or you're a traditional retailer, the ability to split inventory among several fulfillment locations increases the resilience of your supply chain management. By doing so, you can keep your inventory closer to the end customer while saving space and time.
In recent years, production networks have begun to regionalize. This trend is likely to continue, particularly as Asia continues to grow faster than other parts of the world.
 
Increasing visibility

Increasing visibility is a critical component of resilience, as it enables companies to identify potential problems early and make quick decisions. It also helps them avoid disruptions. Achieving this level of visibility allows companies to develop new capabilities to assess the risks in their supply chain. By using real-time data and analytics, companies can make better decisions about how to handle disruptions.
 
Supply chain visibility helps businesses track individual components and products in the supply chain. It provides near real-time data at every step of the process, giving management teams full transparency. This transparency helps them develop better business strategies and risk management plans, which help them act proactively to mitigate risk.
 
Embed ‘Continuous Improvement’ in your organization’s DNA
 
Building resilience into your supply chain processes is a strategic initiative, whose goal is to have assured business outcome and profitability.  When done right, cash-rich organizations can achieve it faster. But what about the small players, startups? These businesses usually have a tight purse-string. 

A doable, affordable yet assured pathway for building resilient business workflows is to install Lean, Kaizen in your company’s DNA. Kaizen-ing by default minimizes risks, reduces operational costs, improves product quality and catapult’s customer satisfaction.
 
Kaizen-ing hence brings dual benefit- It increases both topline and bottom line of a business, regardless of its size or industry sector. Contact us to know more about How Lean, Kaizen can help your business?
 
An important point to note is that- While taking steps to build business resilience, it is also necessary to measure success. A Bain Resilience Index measures the resilience of individual companies. I’ve a separate post on this, check it out here.

Related Reading:​

1. Kaizen for pharmaceutical, medical device and biotech industries
2. How to cut costs strategically using Kaizen
3. Streamline processes and workflows with Gemba Walk.
4. Top Ten Strategic Decision-Making Tools for Operational Excellence

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Categories:  Strategy | Operations | Supply chain logistics

Keywords and Tags:
#operationalexcellence #strategicdecisionmaking #strategy #strategymanagement #supplychainresilience #supplychainmanagement  #supplychainprocessimprovement

When you want to make strategic decisions for your company, you should first have a clear idea of what the company's mission and vision are. 

​These may include environmental solutions, turnover, expansion to newer geographies, or a combination of these. Knowing these long-term goals can help you make daily decisions. Creating a mission statement is an excellent way to make this goal crystal clear. Then, you can use this mission statement to guide your strategic decisions.

Elimination by aspects
The elimination by aspects of strategic decision-making technique is a method that reduces the number of alternatives in an analysis by identifying the important attributes of each. The decisionmaker then evaluates the alternatives one at a time, eliminating any that do not meet this criterion. For example, a decisionmaker may consider two car options, one of which is more affordable, and the other is safer. After evaluating the alternatives, the decisionmaker will decide which option will have the best balance of those two attributes.

The elimination by aspects model reduces the number of possible alternatives and outcomes to a manageable number. Nonetheless, this method may produce sub-optimal results if not done correctly.

Functional decision-making
Functional decision-making can be a tricky process. However, it's important to know that cross-functional decision-making is a necessity to get the best answer for any problem.

The process of making important decisions must be delegated to the proper level of the company. This means avoiding CEOs from making decisions that should be made by regional managers. Yet, in today's world, too many decisions are made at the top level of a company, often to the detriment of the company's employees. Fortunately, there are ways to balance the executive team at the center with business unit managers to avoid this pitfall.

Intuitive rational combinations
There is a dearth of literature examining the role of context in influencing intuition. Despite the prevalence of intuitive decision-making, there has been little research into its contextual determinants, nor have studies examined how different perspectives influence intuition. In a study, examining the role of three contextual factors on intuitive decision-making found that contextual factors have a greater impact on intuition than the nature of the decision.

The number of studies exploring the role of intuition in strategic decision-making has increased over the past decade, but there are still some gaps in their analysis. One of these is that the conceptual model of intuitive decision-making includes only one antecedent, and few study researchers explicitly examine contextual variables as influences of intuition. In addition, little is known about the determinants of intuition.

Process perspective
The research on strategic decision processes has not given us an insight into the role of context and the process perspective. The external and internal environments of a firm are intertwined through boundary spanners, but the impact of these spanners is difficult to assess. Thus, we need a better understanding of these processes and what factors are important in strategic decision-making.

The concept of process is usually associated with executive decision-making. Processes include an organization, the strategy-makers, and the issue under decision. Often, a process is framed in terms of a sequence of actions, with each action affecting the next. Similarly, this process perspective is similar to the actual strategic decision-making process.

Planning for change
Strategic decision-making is the process of charting the course of an organization based on its long-term vision and goals. The process aligns short-term goals and objectives with long-term objectives, which can be measured against adherence to the vision. It can help to set clear goals and values for your organization and to ensure that every decision you make is based on the vision and long-term goals. Developing a mission statement for your organization is an excellent way to get started.

When defining change strategy, you must determine the types of decisions you'll make. For example, a decision to change the way you engage your workforce may involve a cultural change, which requires a new approach. Likewise, a decision to change the way you reward employees might require a change in seniority or in supervisor-employee relationships. Once you've defined the types of decisions you'll make, it's time to assign roles to different stakeholders.

​Checkout- Top Ten Strategic Decision-Making Tools for Operational Excellence

Related Reading:​

1. Kaizen for pharmaceutical, medical device and biotech industries
2. How to cut costs strategically using Kaizen
3. Streamline processes and workflows with Gemba Walk.
4. Top Ten Strategic Decision-Making Tools for Operational Excellence

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Categories:  Strategy | Leadership

Keywords and Tags:
#operationalexcellence #strategicdecisionmaking #strategy #strategymanagement #decisiontools #decisionmaking #strategicplanning  #challengesofdecisionmaking

​Leaders constantly ask themselves: "What is the best way to make strategic decisions?". 

​If you're in charge of developing a strategy, you have probably wondered, "What is the strategic decision-making process?" Well, if you're not sure, let's look at OODA, SWOT analysis, and Power BI. The first step in strategic decision-making is to determine who will own the strategy. And who will be involved in the collaborative process? This decision is critical because it will determine how effectively the strategy is developed.

OODA (Observe, Orient, Decide, Act)
The OODA Loop, or "observe, orient, decide, act," is a process that enables managers to improve strategic decision-making by transforming ambiguity into advantage and risk into results. It is a systematic, cyclical decision-making process. In a complex situation, this approach can lead to better decisions that will improve the outcome.

The observe step identifies the problem or threat in the context of the situation. It also gathers information about the external environment, competitors, and the market. In this process, the entity should recognize that the world is constantly changing, and that all data is only a snapshot of current events. Hence, it is crucial to obtain information as quickly as possible. After gathering the necessary information, the next step is to evaluate the findings.

OODA's loop decision-making process enables organizations to continuously analyze and review scenarios in a continuous loop. This loop uses feedback from data points to make decisions based on the most relevant information. The loop starts with a clear understanding of the problem, gathers relevant data, develops a solution, tests it, and documents it.

The loop model is interactive, and involves the process of gathering information, forming hypotheses about competitor behavior, and acting on the selected approach. The loop model is continuously repeated, and aggressive application of the process gives a business an advantage over its competitors. It also prevents its competition from gaining an advantage over it. OODA's loop process does have a challenge, as teams often get stuck at "D." While this is normal, it can waste resources if not addressed in time.

SWOT analysis
SWOT analysis is a fundamental planning tool that helps organizations to analyze their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. It helps in identifying the three core factors of an organization and helps to identify ways to address those factors in order to achieve success. The four key factors include internal resources, external competitors, and technological changes. Understanding your own SWOT analysis and those of your competitors' can help you maintain a competitive advantage.

While these factors give a business a competitive advantage, they can also hinder performance. A thorough SWOT analysis can reveal what strategic decisions are most likely to produce success. After the analysis, the company can choose the best path to pursue.

Data visualization using artificial intelligence (AI)
A CFO has a tough job to perform. He/ She must make strategic decisions on cost-cutting, profitability, and business growth. Unfortunately, data and reporting structures can be fragmented and incomplete, making it difficult to make informed decisions. AI removes those barriers to data and reports, and its seamless integration into the existing business environment makes analytics quick and easy to adopt.

Also, it can be used to visualize data and present it to decisionmakers in various ways. Using AI to make better decisions can boost a business's revenue and resilience. For example, a CFO can create a dashboard with a few KPIs and drill down to the county level, without having to spend hours analyzing a data set. A point to note is that, use data visualization AI software only after validating its authenticity and accuracy.

​Checkout- Top Ten Strategic Decision-Making Tools for Operational Excellence

Related Reading:​

1. Kaizen for pharmaceutical, medical device and biotech industries
2. How to cut costs strategically using Kaizen
3. Streamline processes and workflows with Gemba Walk.
4. Top Ten Strategic Decision-Making Tools for Operational Excellence

Follow Shruti on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn

Categories:  Strategy | Leadership

Keywords and Tags:
#operationalexcellence #strategicdecisionmaking #strategy #strategymanagement #decisiontools #decisionmaking #strategicplanning  #challengesofdecisionmaking