The Art And Science Behind Business Growth
For a very long time the focus of business leaders has been on improving the performance of the business through a diverse array of management practices and improvement processes. Today there’s a growing awareness among business leaders of the need to balance these scientific methods with new ways of thinking and working that are more creative, inclusive and innovation-oriented.
The next big thing for business is creativity
A new study released by IBM states “threats and opportunities aren’t just coming at us faster or with less predictability; they are converging and influencing each other to create entirely unique situations. These firsts-of-their-kind developments require unprecedented degrees of creativity—which has become a more important leadership quality than attributes like management discipline, rigor or operational acumen”.
Thus, when creating strategies for business growth today, both skills that come from the Arts and the Sciences are needed. This is especially critical for business growth that comes from the ability to outperform competitors through more innovative and customer-focused products.
The science of growth
Align helps businesses balance the art and science of growth by first starting with the Business Model Blueprint inspired by Strategyzer’s business model canvas.
The blueprint is a simple management tool to capture the 12 key factors that define how a business operates. It identifies information like customers, expertise, resources, channels, expenses and sources of revenue, and is an editable pdf business model template created by Align. Here is one of our recent blog posts for more information and to download our Business Model Blueprint.
We apply an objective process to evaluating the strength of the business across these 12 factors. This structure is great for innovative startups that need help with structure and strategy—as well as for existing businesses that want a fresh set of eyes to examine gaps or unseen opportunities for the business.
Align’s Business Model Blueprint is an editable template to capture key business drivers.
The art of growth
Once we have a good understanding of how a business is organized and what the key challenges are, we start to apply the creative problem-solving process of Design Thinking.
No one organization owns the design thinking model, but we like the framework that’s taught by Stanford University’s dschool. Design thinking is a process that includes a wide array of techniques for understanding a problem from multiple perspectives and creative thinking methods for generating a wide range of potential solutions.
It’s through this creative thinking process and techniques from the entrepreneur’s lean-startup toolset, that we help companies imagine and launch new possibilities for their business.
It’s this balance of both the scientifically grounded management processes, and the humanistic and artful processes of design thinking that give Align a different way to help businesses anticipate, refresh and grow.
That’s why Align is a great resource for innovative start-ups that need help with structure and overall business strategy… And why we’re a great resource for existing companies that need to introduce more entrepreneurial methods, like creative thinking and innovation, to adapt and refresh their business.
Ready to Anticipate, Refresh, and Grow your business?
TAKE ACTION today… It’s as easy as 1, 2, 3:
Download blueprint here so you can objectively assess the 12 factors that drive how your business operates.
Take the innovation quiz to measure your organization’s creative potential.
Schedule a consultation to talk about how your company can achieve growth through a better balance of the art and science approaches.
As always, we are here to help you get started. So reach out for an introduction and learn how your business can rise above the competition.