Sometimes there is an opportunity that is too good to miss. There you are delivering on your strategy, targets tough but achievable, team focused, customers and suppliers being managed, shareholders supportive and then suddenly there is the opportunity. It may be a potentially huge customer order for one of your lesser-known products; a competitor on the edge of bankruptcy; a gap in the market that you know you could fill. Any of these can be the opportunity for a change in strategy. They look really tempting, and maybe just a bit more exciting than the current trajectory.

It's hard to turn your back on this, especially when the Board has got quite enthusiastic about the idea. So how do you lead through this situation? Here are some thoughts that will help

1.     Collect all the rose-tinted glasses you can find and lock them in a cupboard. You need hard-headed reality right now.

2.     Analyse the opportunity as well as you can but quickly. Opportunities rarely come with the chance of much due diligence.

3.    Decide how much risk it poses and assess how much the business can afford.

4.    Your mantra should be “we will not be forgiven for missing our numbers”. That is a fundamental rule of business no matter who you are or what you are doing. For the avoidance of doubt those are the numbers already in the market. If then new opportunity means a reforecast, then do it but get back on track as fast as possible.

5.    Know that (unless you have magical abilities) extra resources will not be available. Asking people to work harder when they already have full time jobs is unsustainable. (And if you have slack in the business then ask some serious questions about why? Assess what you can STOP doing to provide the extra resource.

6.    If you decide that opportunity is too good to miss, and that the risks are manageable, then identify resources and take it.

7.    Commit wholeheartedly to making it a success. Over communicate what you are doing. Your stakeholders need to understand and support.

8.    Keep a tight focus on business as usual and keep that on track.

9.    Do not underestimate that strain on your team. If people are engaged and informed they will deliver but there needs to be a sense that this level of stress will not go on for ever.

10.  Lead from the front and be as excited and focused about business as usual as you are about the new project.

Good luck, opportunism can be both a great success or a failure depending on how you manage it, but remember it is not a business strategy.

Talk to us at www.defyexpectations.co.uk if you want to transform your business.