Escape the "Strategy Rut": How to Break Free from Outdated Habits

There’s a common saying in software engineering: "If it works, don't touch it." However, standing still in the fast-paced construction industry can leave your business behind. Staying at the forefront of the industry may be challenging, but it ensures you remain one step ahead of the competition.

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Why Are Old Comforts in Strategy Management Hard to Change?

Our brains love routine. The sense of comfort and predictability in our work life can become deeply ingrained. It’s like driving the same route every day—using the same roads gets you from point A to point B efficiently and stress-free. However, this "autopilot" mode can hinder long-term success.

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Here’s why old habits are so persistent:

1. Building the Habit: Our brains create neural pathways that reinforce familiar behaviours. These pathways strengthen with repetition, making it easier to follow the same patterns. Resisting the urge to stick with these habits requires extra effort, leading to fatigue as you adapt to change.

2. The Comfort Zone: Stepping outside your comfort zone often brings a fear of the unknown. Naturally, we resist and prefer familiarity, even when it no longer serves us. When change occurs, cortisol levels spike, resulting in feelings of stress, overwhelm, and the temptation to quit. This reaction creates doubt and makes you question whether change is truly worth it.

3. A False Sense of Control: When things seem to be going "okay," we tend to resist change. While it may feel like you're in control, complacency can lead to missed opportunities and stagnation.

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Even once you implement changes, the results may not be immediate., these new changes don’t always come with instant rewards. You have to push through to stay on the right path as if you look back to beginning you realised change was needed to improve your business and personal life.

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This is the hardest part where you are close to giving up, even when you know its the right thing to do. No one else can make the change that is needed, you need to step up and make the hard choice.

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When making changes in a business, it can be motivating and bring an order to things if you focus it around a strategy to guide you through the process and keep you accountable.

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Breaking Free From Bad Strategy Habits

1. Diagnose Your Strategy Problem

• Review your current strategy: Is it up to date? Can you clearly see what needs to be done and in what order? Are you reviewing your strategy at least quarterly to adapt to market changes and seize new opportunities? Do you have clear methods for tracking progress, such as Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)?

• Identify pain points: What isn't working in your business? Where are you experiencing bottlenecks, inefficiencies, or signs of not improving?

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2. Spend The Time On Your Strategy

This may sound obvious, but dedicating time to strategy is critical for success. Reflect on:

• Who your competitors are.
• Who your ideal clients are.
• What’s happening in your industry that you need to be aware of.
• Whether there’s technology that could improve efficiency.
• Whether your team are understaffed in certain areas.

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Spending the time researching will encourage change as you are gaining knowledge of your business and what is happening around you. This will force your business to adapt and new ways will form.

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3. Plan Your Changes 

Facing a long list of tasks can feel overwhelming. To bring order:

• Delegate tasks where possible.
• Prioritise based on impact and difficulty.
• Break tasks into smaller, actionable steps with time estimates.

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For example, a daunting list can be split across quarters and tackled monthly, reducing it to a manageable tasks that bring noticeable results.

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4. Work With Specialists 

Business development specialists in the Construction Industry and Built Environment such as Saint Global, can give you the opportunity to work with the latest strategy modules, technology and have a partner working by yourside to provide data-driven insights into your current performance and areas that seek improvement.

This will help bring clear communication, alignment, and equipping you with the tools to succeed:

• Connect your strategy with actionable goals that are easy to follow and measure as a team.
• Identify KPIs to monitor and track progress.
• Hold regular team check-ins for progress updates and alignment.
• Visualise your strategic progress to ensure transparency and accountability.
• Celebrate successes when objectives are achieved.
• Work actively on your business to address challenges or bottlenecks

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5. Celebrate Success and Reinforce New Behaviours:

It is important to celebrate your victories otherwise everything blurs together.

• Recognise Milestones: Acknowledge and celebrate small wins along the way.
• Share Success Stories: Highlight examples of teams successfully implementing new strategies.
• Data-Driven Recognition: Use data to demonstrate the positive impact of new approaches.

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6. Lead By Example

The most successful stories we have seen is when the Director leads by example, showing the new habits have to be followed as they also doing it. If the Director is committed to change, everyone else will follow suit.

Being transparent with your team about why changes are being made and the benefits of them, will start involving them within the company’s plan and want to contribute to the company’s goals.

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7. Continuously Monitor and Adapt

The reason for the regular check in is to ensure bad habits don't creep back in. We can do this by monitoring OKRs and KPIs. The importance of using a dashboard to visually see what is happening in the business at a high-level will accelerate growth and just make your life easier.

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It will provide you and your team accountability to stay on track achieve the goals set out.

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Ready to escape the "strategy rut"? Schedule a free consultation with our team to learn how Saint Global can help you break free from outdated habits and drive sustainable growth.

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