Active Inertia 

Let’s revisit the conversation from last week (not the Clemson and Carolina football conversation…let’s just all pretend this past weekend didn’t happen, though I’m sure Dawg fans won’t agree to that). 

No, let’s consider what research calls “active inertia” in organizations – that’s when organizations are trying very hard to move forward, but the wheels are just spinning in the mud. This often happens when some change in the market (or internally in the business) creates a set of challenges which decision-makers try to address with the old solutions. 

If you feel like your business is stuck in 3rd gear, it might be worthwhile considering if this “active inertia” may have some applications to your situation. Maybe your marketing and sales process doesn’t meet expectations anymore. Maybe you’ve had a string of hires that aren’t working out (whereas before you were “hitting” on all your new hires).  

If this is what you are facing, here are some questions you might ask to see if you can make some tweaks to get out of 3rd gear: 

Self-Evaluation Questions

A. Leadership Reflexes (Effort vs. Tactics)

  • When something stops working, do we first add more effort… or rethink the approach? 
  • What’s one area where we’re “trying harder” but not seeing results? 

If increased effort and attention solve the problem, that’s great. But if those don’t solve the problem, you might be looking at the “active inertia” phenomena that is so common throughout organizations.  

B. Processes (Are our routines flexible or rigid?)

  • Are we solving new problems with old playbooks? 
  • What processes are sacred in our business — and when’s the last time we tested whether they still work? 

Processes are often the first place to look. Sometimes the problem can actually be that your process was always “understood” rather than written down and cleaned up. You or your team members kept operating on instinct, and over time that can get sloppy (especially as you bring in new people or as your business grows). So, first, you want to make sure that all your most important processes are clearly written down and published for your team.  

If you’ve done that and you’ve identified that this process isn’t working any longer, take some time to adjust, adapt, and change even parts of the process that you personally love. Conduct some trials with those changes and measure them.  

C. Relationships (Who are we tied to, and is that helping?)

  • Which customer, supplier, or partner relationships drive the most value? Are we locked into yesterday’s “model” with this relationship? 
  • If a key partner disappeared tomorrow, could we adapt quickly? 
  • If a key employee left tomorrow, could we adapt? 

The “people” angle is often the second area to examine. For SMBs in particular, a “slump” can often follow when a vital employee leaves or when an important client moves on or gets bought out.  Obviously, it’s best to consider these possibilities before they actually happen. Make sure that vital employee is documenting their processes, contacts, and institutional knowledge. Or, consider what your plan of action will be if that client moves on or how you can be less reliant on that one vendor. 

D. Values (Are we guided or blinded?)

  • What do we celebrate as “excellence”? (Perfection, speed, innovation, reliability?) 
  • Could those values ever block us from adapting to a new reality? 

Values are great, and the best brands often lead and execute out of their values. Sometimes, however, what we think are our calling cards end up being obstacles. This is the hardest area to evaluate because these values are so important to us. One classic example of this in the IT field is Digital Equipment Corporation. DEC lay at the tip of the spear in computers from the 60s until their downfall in the early 90s. A vital part of this fall was the failure to see the value of cheap personal computers instead of their own high-quality and expensive products.  

Conclusion 

Whether you’re in that business slump or are sitting pretty while everything is humming, it can be useful to do some self-analysis to keep or get your business back on track. You know you work hard, and your business acumen has brought you to where you are. But even the very best organizations face these situations, and some sharp analysis and accurate tweaks can put you back into 5th gear.