TOOL #2: Environmental Impact
Keep asking the Systems Question:
"What will be changing in the environment that will impact us?"
In today's rapidly changing environment, people and organizations who fail to constantly scan their environment to see what is changing are unlikely to be successful.
Examples:
—In organizational terms, the acronym “SKEPTIC” is one framework to use. It includes scanning for changes in the environment in your:
S— Socio-Demographics (People/Population)
K— “K”ompetition (British spelling)
E— Economics/Environment itself
P— Political/Regulatory
T— Technology
I— Industry, and, of course, your
C— Customers or Client
—In individual terms, it means paying attention to changes in the environment that may impact all the roles one plays in life, such as “PITO.”
P— Personally: body, mind, spirit
I— Interpersonally: family, friends, colleagues
T— Team: associations, communities, departments
O— Organization: job, career, wealth, enjoyment, and satisfaction
Principle:
Align change from the outside in—not the inside-out.
Employ “Backwards Thinking:”
Start with the future environment. Scan it for trends and the wants and needs of yourself and your customers. Then define your desired outcomes. Only then do you work backwards to determine “how to” meet these outcomes.
Align the entire organization, across all departments, to meet the defined outcomes. This is the conceptual basis for TQM (Total Quality Management) and business process reengineering in today’s organizations. However, it is often fragmented into departmental elements or limited only to internal cost-cutting activities—without regard to customer impact.
Uses:
For Organizations: Set up a full Environmental Scanning System by assigning responsibility to collect data on future environmental trends that may impact you. Assign each letter of SKEPTIC to a leader and team with a passion for this area.
Conduct Quarterly Environmental Scanning Sessions where everyone shares his or her trends and deduces impacts on your organization as a result.
Revise your Strategic Plan yearly with this as a key input.
For Teams, Departments, and Units: Select the key
SKEPTIC aspects that most affect your field and focus on those instead of the entire range. However, keep in mind that most futurist experts believe that the key environmental trend to watch is technology, as it drives all else.
For Families: Are all family members becoming conversant with technology today, especially the internet and e-mail? What about cell phones? These communications devices allow us cheap (almost free) world-wide, instantaneous communications.
Personally: Keep yourself open to what is changing in the environment—not just through the typical media, but through other means as well (such as magazines and newsletters, especially in your field). Note trends and directions related to your hobbies as well.
Summary–
Scan your environment frequently.
We can’t live or work in a vacuum:
i.e.: Embrace technology—it is here to stay.
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