Bias for Action

Should one of your company, department or individual core values be a bias for action?

What does that mean? It means you take action. Get projects, products and campaigns to market quickly. You test. You spend more time executing, learning and improving.

You let the market help you make decisions vs. doing it in isolation. You test quickly instead of debating via PowerPoint, email or endless meetings.

You’re OK with constructive failure, as long as you can learn, improve and avoid the same mistake twice.

You encourage, demand and/or require those around you (peers, direct reports and superiors) to think strategically, but act quickly.

Bias for action does not mean acting without forethought. Execution without strategy is just guessing, and prone to high error and failure rates.

Instead, bias for action means having an idea or premise, and understanding quickly what that market thinks of it. The faster you take action, the faster you execute, the more quickly you will deliver innovation, results and growth.

How important is a bias for action to you individually? How about for your department and/or company?

More importantly, how do you put that into practice on a regular basis?

Matt Heinz is principal at Heinz Marketing, a sales & marketing consulting firm helping businesses increase customers and revenue. Contact Matt at matt@heinzmarketing.com or visit www.heinzmarketing.com.