Prioritising work in challenging times

As uncertainty becomes the norm, businesses need to do more than survive. They need to thrive. They need to learn how to maintain a competitive edge, even when times are tough.

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About our study

In our latest research study, we were keen to find out how turbulent economic environments may affect organisations, and their ability to remain customer centric.

Our hypothesis was that prioritisation was going to be key.

But how do you prioritise when times are tough? We spoke to around 25 organisations, using surveys and interviews, to find out.

Three strategies for prioritising work

Through our conversations and our survey results, we observed three main strategies for prioritising work.

1. Play it safe

ʻPlay it safeʼ involves prioritising work that has a clear, short-term impact: either more revenue or less cost. That means de-prioritising longer-term initiatives.

This strategy is more common when organisations focus on commercial needs, above satisfying customer needs. Organisations that favour this strategy are also more likely to be cautious of experimentation.

And while the strategy provides more certainty in the short-term, it can make them less competitive in the long-term, as they de-prioritise early-stage innovation.

2. Stick to your guns

ʻSticking to your gunsʼ means maintaining your longer-term priorities, but shifting how you might deliver them. Time scales may be impacted, as organisations need to do the same work, with less resources.

This requires confidence in the chosen priorities. But that confidence needs to be based on evidence. So organisations need to gather data and insight that will either prove or disprove priorities.

The strategy also requires clear communication. We found organisations believed that prioritisation worked well when there was a widely understood mission, and a clear understanding of senior leadership priorities.

You can’t take your foot off the accelerator […] otherwise you end up getting left behind […] and it’s a very competitive market.”

Andrés López Josenge Global Head of Product Design, Visa

3. Break it down

Like ‘Stick to your guns’, this strategy also aims to deliver long-term, ambitious initiatives. But rather than developing initiatives behind closed doors, they are broken down into small experiments that can be released and tested early.

During challenging times, organisations adopting this approach should avoid wasting resources on lots of wrong experiments. One way to be more focussed with experiments is to carry out customer research beforehand.

This approach needs teams to have the autonomy to break things down. And it needs them to focus on learning from the experiments, so they can iterate, and turn the small experiments into big initiatives.

Put it out there and see how people react to it [and then] make it better

Max McShane Head of Digital, Octopus Energy

Effective prioritisation

There is a common theme across all approaches: Customer insight is key:

  • For the ʻPlay it safeʼ approach, customer research and testing can help risk-averse businesses be more certain that their smaller bets are safe bets.
  • For the ʻStick to your gunsʼ approach, you need to understand customer needs to give you the confidence that you are prioritising the right thing. And you need continual customer testing to make sure you’re on the right track.
  • For the ʻbreak it downʼ approach, you need an understanding of customer needs, so that you are considered with your experiments, rather than ʻjust seeing what sticksʼ. And you need customer data and research to learn from your experiments.

In all approaches, putting customers at the heart of decision making is key to effective prioritisation.

Learn more about Prioritising work in challenging times

Stuart Tayler

Reach out to Stuart Tayler

Practice Director