Stretching-Viability; Importance to design more sustainable businesses
GROWTH | Business Performance | March 2024
Content we will read:
Sustainable businesses | Business sustainability | 4 models of attitude to the organization
Reading time: 6 minutes
Viability Importance to design more sustainable businesses
From the early ’00s, the best opportunities for transforming how organizations develop products, services, processes, and strategies lie at the intersection of desirability, feasibility, and viability.
Encapsulating the core tenets of design thinking, this classic innovation framework defines the viability of an opportunity by its potential to turn an idea into a sustainable business model that will generate more revenue than it costs – now and in the future.
In this definition, viability is mainly looked at through an economical lens by trying to answer the question: how likely will my idea become part of a business model that drives profit?
the best opportunities for transforming how organizations develop products, services, processes, and strategies lie at the intersection of desirability, feasibility, and viability.
The limitations of a unilateral view of viability in our fast-changing world
How relevant is this unilateral view of viability at a time when organizations are being challenged to rethink their role in society, CEOs are being called out to be more courageous, and the capitalist model is reaching a tipping point? Are strategic analyses, capability assessments, and business cases enough to provide sustainable value creation for a business, its clients, and the larger ecosystem in which it operates? Are those legacy mental models still relevant in a time where a shift from human-centered to life-centered design has been widely encouraged?
The power of metaphors to spark bold thinking around viability
We believe that approaches to business viability are actually influenced by leaders, the stories they tell themselves about the role of their business, and the narrative that they use to make sense of what happens within their organization. Although the images we hold within us may be limiting, they can also open new perspectives about what it takes to build a better business – once we start acknowledging, challenging, and expanding them.
Building upon metaphors for exploring the nature of modern organizations, we propose different interpretations of viability based on his typology to encourage you to break away from the conventional categorization of business value and generate new insights about what it means to design a more sustainable business. You’ll be able to improve how your organization identifies the potential for new ideas and spark critical conversations about the type of business you want to create.
Four images to approach the future of viability with clarity
1. Your organization as a machine
In this narrative, viability is reached by creating an organization with a profitable business model that creates differentiated value for stakeholders.
To get there as a leader, you must define a clear vision of how your organization delivers its competitive advantage in the marketplace, as well as the approach for activating your internal resources and capturing value as a result.
As you’re trying to validate the viability of your business idea or innovation, ask yourself:
Do we have an effective model in place to create, deliver, and sustain value for our business?
Some practices to get there: business management, strategy management, process management.
In this narrative, viability is reached by creating an organization with a profitable business model that creates differentiated value for stakeholders.
2. Your organization as an organism
In this narrative, viability is reached by creating an organization that understands environmental influences and builds the agility to adapt to unexpected changes in the global ecosystem.
To get there as a leader, you must look at your organization holistically and build the capacity to take actions that support your business, human, and environmental systems long-term.
As you’re trying to validate the viability of your business idea or innovation, ask yourself:
Do we understand how it’s interconnected and interacts with other parts of the organization? Do I have a plan for mitigation or regeneration in case of potential impacts?
Some practices to get there: system design, service design, circular design.
3. Your organization as a brain
In this narrative, viability is reached by creating an organization that harnesses its collective intelligence and implements feedback loops to inform continuous learning.
To get there as a leader, you must implement practices that will support organizational learning and foster a trusting environment to enable self-organization.
As you’re trying to validate the viability of your business idea or innovation, ask yourself:
Are we leveraging strengths that are easily accessible within the organization, and if not, are we implementing learning mechanisms to support any necessary upskilling?
Some practices to get there: learning organization, dialogic organization development, ontological design.
4. Your organization as a culture
In this narrative, viability is reached by creating an organization that’s aware of its culture, how this influences day-to-day operations, and can adapt (culturally) when confronted with new challenges.
To get there as a leader, you must create the space for dialogue that leads to shared meaning and values, as well as foster the identification and implementation of rituals that are aligned with the organization's core purpose.
As you’re trying to validate the viability of your business idea or innovation, ask yourself:
Do our core beliefs and assumptions support our ambition to get to where we want to be? Or, do they need to be challenged and realigned?
Some practices to get there: change leadership, cultural transformation.
you must create the space for dialogue that leads to shared meaning and values.
Creating a viable design system
Part of our ongoing collaboration with companies has included the development and implementation of a design system (i.e. a set of reusable components, interconnected patterns and shared practices coherently organized that will allow the teams to design, realize and develop digital products at scale).
The design system as a machine
We build a business case to demonstrate the value of operating a design system.
We establish OKRs to track how this value is captured over time.
We design rigorous processes with future users to operate an efficient product (decision-making, governance, etc.).
The design system as a organism
We map the interdependencies between departments to mitigate potential impacts of using this new product on internal stakeholders and external partners.
We put together a diverse team to ensure all end users are represented.
We create a flexible structure to embed an agile mindset into ways of working.
The design system as a brain
We implement new routines to ensure ongoing reflection and group learning. Example: hosting retrospectives and including time for reflection at the end of other key rituals.
We give the team space to design its own adaptive working structure.
The design system as a culture
We allow room for the team to interpret and make sense of an agile concept.
We amplify the emergence of new behaviors and give space to create new assumptions about how to work. Example: encouraging an iterative mindset and celebrating imperfection with a team that struggled with change.
We ensure the team operates on mutually shared values.
Conclusion
Businesses are complex, adaptive systems. We believe they should be looked at through different lenses to be designed in a way that delivers real impact. With this model, our intention is to provide leaders with a holistic approach for assessing viability beyond profits, giving them the tools to build more sustainable, resilient, and meaningful businesses.
Today, more than ever, leaders need to develop and own how they create value for their business, customers, and the communities in which they belong. We hope this spectrum of definition offers you a starting point to expand on how you think about designing a successful organization for tomorrow.
Sources used for this content:
nurun
0