Status challenge can lead to greater organizational effectiveness and innovation
Regardless of your industry, sooner or later you’re likely to run into the status quo. The status quo is safe and comfortable; going beyond it can seem risky. After all, organizations don’t want to fall and give their competitors a chance to get ahead.
However, leaders who are afraid to challenge the status quo are the ones left behind. The companies that experience the greatest success and truly thrive are those that not only occasionally challenge the status quo, but regularly confront it.
More than ever, companies need to embrace progressive, innovative thinking in all aspects of running an organization, from how they deliver products and services to how they manage contracts with customers and partners.
1. Thriving businesses make good processes even better
The process does not have to be interrupted to challenge it. See the article : Google says it’s time to pay for longtime small business users. Even when the status quo is working well, it’s worth considering how changes can be made to improve operational efficiency.
Business leaders need to prioritize the processes that are most critical to their operations, especially those that are frequently used or take up a lot of their team‘s time and effort. Strategies like delegation and automation—or simply adopting new tools that enable your teams to work more efficiently—can dramatically improve productivity.
Successful companies regularly re-evaluate their processes – and the most advanced participate in regular benchmarking forums such as those offered by APQC. Marisa Brown leads the APQC Supply Chain Research and Benchmarking Program, which involves more than 500 APQC member organizations participating in regular benchmarking events to assess their processes against best practices.
“The best companies consistently reassess their current status quo. And the best don’t just settle for a ‘best in class’ benchmark – they strive to continually raise the bar for their industries,” says Brown.
2. Innovative thinking taps into unsolved pain points
Companies willing to challenge the conventional way of working can completely transform their industry. See the article : Gov. Lamont and Lt. Gov. Bysiewicz Urge Businesses from States Restricting Women’s Rights to Relocate to Connecticut. One only has to look at how ride-sharing services like Uber and Lyft have disrupted traditional taxi services, or how Amazon has turned e-commerce from an afterthought into a cornerstone of every major retailer’s strategy.
Almost every industry has untapped potential to challenge the status quo. Yoav Vilner, CEO of Walnut, explains how his company is shaking up the way organizations use software presentations.
“Since the birth of SaaS, organizations have been providing generic “one size fits all” presentations to their sales prospects. But all too often, these generic “one-size-fits-all” demos were. We wanted to create a platform that would allow customers to create and manage flexible, interactive software presentations.”
Vilner’s advice? “Today’s leaders must look beyond what everyone else is doing to find new ideas that help you stand out from the crowd.” One way to do this is to look for opportunities to make products or services more convenient or user-friendly, more accessible or simply more accessible so that your brand can challenge the status quo.
3. Challenging the status quo reduces inefficiencies
While there’s a lot to be said for making a “good” process even better, the fact is that many companies have various inefficiencies that keep them from reaching their full potential. See the article : The owner of a local business is asking for help after his computer is stolen. A willingness to challenge the status quo makes an organization better able to confront head-on the obstacles that hinder business.
A good tip for overcoming initial obstacles and finding the root cause is the simple but well-known method of “Ask Why Five”. When teams work together and ask “why” five times, they often uncover and solve real system problems that can lead to increased productivity, sales and other significant improvements where it’s not always obvious.
For example, when Dell did this, it discovered perverse incentives in contracts that prevented their reverse logistics supplier from investing in continuous improvement and innovation. the result? Moving to a win-win procurement business model and removing contractual perverse incentives with their supplier reduced Dell’s reverse logistics cost structure by 50 percent in just two years.
Or consider this case study from Marketing Sherpa, which highlights how a financial institution recognized that its digital mortgage application sales funnel was experiencing length friction because its marketing email was leading to a landing page before prospects direct customers to their solution finder. Although landing pages are common practice in many industries, they decided to remove the landing page and rework the email copy. Their conversion rate increased by 181 percent.
4. Challenging the status quo empowers employees
Business leaders do not have a monopoly on good ideas. These ideas can come from team members at all levels of the company, but they will only be willing to share their insights if the company culture encourages it.
Toyota has been doing this since 1951 with its Creative Idea Suggestion System. It was specifically introduced as an ongoing, widespread effort that was meant to last, unlike other “festivals of ideas” of the time that came and went quickly.
Initial documents sent out when the program was launched made it clear that ideas could come from anyone, that the company would pay for good ideas and implement them quickly. Also, workers did not have to get the manager’s permission to submit their ideas.
By clearly explaining why, encouraging workers to share ideas, and implementing a program, Toyota has laid the foundation for success in getting innovative ideas from its employees.
Successful companies actively involve team members in sharing their views. This helps employees to become more engaged and feel as if their contribution is important to the organization as a whole.
As a recent analysis by Gartner reveals, “Employees want a more human employment value proposition: they want employers to recognize their worth and provide them with value on a human level. Monetary compensation is important for survival, but deeper relationships, a strong sense of community, and purposeful work are essential for success. This is the value that employees expect from employers.”
Empowering and engaging employees to challenge the status quo will help them stay engaged and feel truly valued, which will greatly increase retention efforts. In that sense, the ideas they will generate are a bonus.
Building a better future for your brand
Not every aspect of the status quo needs to be changed. Sometimes a practice will become an industry standard because it is simply the best way to get things done. However, forward-thinking business leaders should always be willing to question the status quo.
Simply put, change must begin with a willingness to change. Even if change efforts are a series of small changes, they can have a significant long-term impact and help your business thrive for years to come.
On this page, you can discover 13 synonyms, antonyms, idiomatic expressions and related words for status quo, such as: existing condition, no change, status quo, condition, current state, status, situation, current state, the way things are, usual and standing.
How do you maintain status quo?
With that as background, here are 5 ways a leader can “maintain the status quo” in times of change:
- Develop and retain your leaders. …
- Don’t disband the team and declare victory too soon. …
- Leverage your HR systems. …
- Check what you expect. …
- Practice Kiazen (continuous improvement).
What does it mean to stay with the status quo? Definition of status quo: current situation: the way things are now. He is satisfied with the status quo and does not seek change. He wants to maintain the status quo.
How is the status quo?
The status quo is the current state of affairs. If you’re rich and admired, then you’re probably not interested in disrupting the status quo. Status quo is Latin for “existing state”. When we talk about the status quo, we often mean it in a slightly bad way.
What is status quo in leadership?
Status quo management is the art of running a business the way it has always been run, even when major changes are necessary to survive. This is the type of leadership that leads a company and even an industry to extinction. Status quo leaders are the exact opposite of change leaders.
What is status management? Low-status managers rely on positional power, which is the power derived from occupying a particular position in the organization’s hierarchy. But high-status leaders also have so-called personal power, which can come from charisma or their ability to motivate and influence.
Do leaders challenge the status quo?
Unfortunately, challenging the status quo is not something leaders like to do. According to the Harvard Business Review, 72 percent of leaders say they never or rarely challenge the status quo, nor do they encourage employees to think outside the box.
What is the meaning of status quo in management?
Status quo is defined as the current or existing condition. To maintain the status quo is to keep things as they are.
What is status quo in workplace?
In business, accepted processes and procedures are known as the status quo. If you feel that your company’s process is not working and you have a better idea, you may want to challenge the status quo.
What is impact of status quo on business?
If you stay in the status quo long enough, not only will your current competition overtake you and take your customers, but your market will be flooded with even more competitors. Doing nothing is worse than trying and failing.
What is an example of the status quo? The phrase “Status quo” means “existing condition”. This is a short form of the Latin term “in statu quoâ€. Example in use: “Jenna wanted to move on to the next step, but then decided it would be better to keep the status quo.”
What is the status quo in business?
Status quo is defined as the current or existing condition. To maintain the status quo is to keep things as they are.
What is the importance of status quo?
Challenging the status quo is important because it can allow business leaders to evaluate the way the organization operates and consider new ideas. This can encourage creativity in the workplace and encourage others to share their ideas for innovation.
What is status quo bias in marketing?
Status quo bias is defined as a person’s innate desire not to do anything different from what they are doing today.
