Businesses are rarely short of signs that markets are changing. Customers start behaving differently, competitors create new pressure and familiar sources of growth begin to weaken. Leaders can usually see when old assumptions no longer hold.
The risk is mistaking that awareness for progress. Strategic discussions about disruption can become too abstract, with businesses spending too long focused on what is changing and not enough on what they will do in response.
In my experience, the deeper issue is the gap between the conversation in the boardroom and the way the business actually operates. Any strategy will only be effective when it changes what people do, from the decisions leaders make across the business to the conversations frontline teams have with customers. Implementation is where the real difference is made.
Disruption demands realism
Whatever the sector, disruption has a way of exposing the gap between what a business believes about itself and what customers, colleagues or markets are telling it. The status quo is not an option, even if the temptation is to defend the old model for too long, or double down on the assumptions that made the business successful in the first place.
When a business looks honestly at what is changing, it may find that a strength that once drove growth is becoming less relevant. A capability that once felt peripheral may now be critical. A model that worked well for years may no longer match how people behave.
It is easy, in retrospect, to describe successful pivots as acts of genius. In reality, they often start with something more practical: recognising that the business model has changed and being willing to change the business in response. That means being honest about where value is created, where the organisation may be giving itself too much credit and where it may need new skills or perspectives.
It also means listening to the people closest to customers, operations and delivery. Staff exposed to the frontline often see the cracks first. They know what’s working and what isn’t. Successfully tapping into that perspective can help leaders understand where a strategy will work in practice, where it may meet resistance and what needs to change.
Without that realism, it is hard to respond to disruption successfully.
Knowing is not the same as doing
Changing strategy is never easy, especially in established organisations. Even when a business understands the direction of travel and is rigorous about the pressures, opportunities and threats it faces, getting that strategy out of the boardroom can be a challenge.
Choosing the wrong strategy isn’t the greatest danger boards face; it’s stalling while trying to find the perfect one, as if there is only ever one answer that will solve all their challenges.
The market is full of businesses that have taken different successful approaches to transformation. What marks them out from businesses that have failed to do so often isn’t the strategy itself, but whether it has been embraced across the organisation from leaders to the frontline.
That’s because changing strategy does not automatically change culture. Many businesses make the mistake of assuming that once the direction is clear, the organisation will naturally follow. But when a business changes, the strategy will only work if people understand what is changing, why it matters and what they are being asked to do differently. Culture is not a barrier to be overcome; it is what turns strategy into action.
Most organisations are designed around the business they were yesterday. Processes, behaviours and habits build up around what has worked before. When strategy changes, leaders have to make sure the organisation is ready to work differently, not just hear a different message.
As a CEO, my focus has always been on ensuring that our strategy is delivered in every customer interaction. That only happens when colleagues understand the strategy, believe in it and are equipped to act on it.
No single leader can do this alone. Turning strategy into action means bringing the organisation with you, while knowing when to draw on skills, perspectives and experience from outside the business.
Helping strategy stick
Recent research among CMOs has confirmed what we’ve already seen: support with internal transformation is increasingly part of what Clients expect from Agency partners. After all, recognising change is one thing; building the capability, confidence and momentum to act on it is another.
Even with the promise of new tools to extend capability, organisations will still require the skills, judgement and experience needed to use them effectively. Recognising where you need help is part of responding well to disruption.
That is where great consultancy can play a valuable role. Not by arriving with a fixed answer, but by helping businesses ask better questions, challenge assumptions and understand what is stopping change from happening. The best partners bring the right expertise around the problem, whether that means insight, communications, technology, culture or activation.
In any disrupted market, the businesses that recognise change first aren’t always the winners. It is the organisations that can turn ambition into behaviour, momentum and measurable progress. After all, the real test of strategy is not whether people agree with it in the boardroom. It is whether they use it.
