Ever notice how the greatest sports people always seem to be in the right place? Whether it’s returning a 120 mph-plus serve at Wimbledon, receiving a 40-meter cross-field punt to score at Twickenham, or heading in the ball from the far post at Wembley, the best are there. Consistently.

Why? Because they keep moving their feet.

They’re not watching where they are, or where the ball has gone. They have been coached to watch where the ball will be, and they’ve worked out how to get there.

They keep moving around to get into position, always trying to create an opportunity. The successful ones actively anticipate where they need to go because that’s where the next play will be.

If it feels like there is always something that might tip us off balance, it’s because there is. We live in an ever-increasing world of complexity and uncertainty. Whether it’s the increasing cost of money driven by rising interest rates, supply chain adjustments driven by political ideology, rising energy costs due to international wars or labour supply problems, there is always something that we need to be looking ahead to address.

So here are just a few thoughts that will help you establish where the next play will be, and how to get yourself there:

  • Help. How can you help others selflessly? Give value away to help people – free trials, free consultations, free advice, free product to frontline workers etc. People will give you valuable feedback as a result. Feedback that will help you work out where the next play will occur.
  • Communicate. How are you going to market your way through the next challenge? For example, paid ads are becoming really, really cheap. And more people are online than ever so the ROI of paid ads is increasing. Offer a range of messages, review their performance and use this data to make decisions about your next play in your business.
  • Assess. What does the market need, and how can you offer it? For example, people will continually be looking for experts to help them solve their issues and address their uncertainties. What do you know or can learn in order to position yourself as the expert that people will come to for help. A really good example of this is Martin Lewis of Money Saving Expert – just have a look at how much advice he is offering to people and how he always manages to know what the next pain point is going to be, and he’s prepared for it.
  • Listen. Ask your clients and your team what they are thinking and what they need. Use social listening to monitor online conversations relevant to your brand. Interpret what people are saying and work out how to pivot your business to deliver it.
  • Anticipate. Change means you will need to assess and anticipate operational impacts – for example, capacity, delivery, pricing, service enquiries etc. Ensure you don’t over-promise just to win new customers – set and deliver on realistic expectations.
  • Adapt. Especially the marketing plan – ramp up your digital delivery, get really good at optimising communication channels – zoom, text, video, WhatsApp etc. It’s not only marketing – look at all parts of your business: cash flow pricing, product etc.
  • Knowledge. Improve your team’s knowledge. Invest in preparing them for the new normal so they keep moving their feet.

So I’d offer this up – don’t spend too much time just observing what’s going on around you. Instead, keep moving your feet. See where the ball is going and produce the activity necessary to get there before the ball does.

Innovate consistently, and you’ll do more than survive; you’ll thrive.