8 Tips to Overcome Disruption and Stay Competitive

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Disruption, disruptors, disruptive innovation. As technology evolves and innovative thinkers continue to emerge in all types of industries, the term "disruptors" and dismayed exclamations of "we're being disrupted!" appears to run rampant.

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What is a disruptor? A disruptor is a company or form of technology that causes radical change in an existing industry by means of innovation. In other words, disruptors create innovative solutions (products, services, or ways of doing things) that displace and eventually replace existing market leaders.

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How can you become a disruptor? If you're being disrupted, what can you do to remain competitive and stay in the game?

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Illustration comparing disruptors and established companies in maintaining market leadership amidst disruption. Left side depicts disruptors as agents of radical change and innovation, while the right side portrays established companies focusing on adaptation and innovation to stay competitive.

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Here are 8 tips to help you cope with disruption so you can get back into a leading position. These tips can also provide you with the handles you need to start disrupting your business and industry.

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1. Accept being disrupted

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The impact of being disrupted can be likened to going through the five stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. By accepting that you've been disrupted, you can move forward and start working on your future.

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2. Be willing to change

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Acceptance is one thing. Willingness to change is another. The financial sector is the perfect example for this. Although they've accepted that their industry has been disrupted, few players exhibit the willingness to change. Many continue as they were despite knowing better. With the willingness to change, you can go from following the herd to leading the herd.

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3. Create a vision

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Create a vision to know where you're heading in your new normal. A vision should be ambitious but not unreachable or unrealistic. It's also important to remember that you can always adapt your vision as circumstances change.

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Visions are an important catalyst and facilitator in change management. In addition to the ones who created the vision, everyone in an organisation needs to care about its vision. With a clear and visual vision, people can empathise with it. They can start living and propagating that vision in their daily work.

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Diagram titled 'Navigating Disruption,' represented by a triangular framework. At the top, 'Create a Vision' highlights developing a clear and ambitious future direction, symbolized by a lighthouse. The right corner, 'Accept Disruption,' emphasizes embracing disruption as a natural change, depicted by an umbrella. The left corner, 'Willingness to Change,' focuses on adapting actively to new circumstances, illustrated by a growing tree.

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4. Know your customers

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Being disrupted means that most of your customers are not coming back to you and are turning to the disruptor instead. Knowing why is the key to getting customers to return.

Convincing customers that have left you to return is difficult but by keeping your loyal customers happy, it may only be a matter of time before they return. Quadrant three is where you can make all the difference because these customers aren't currently served by anyone. Ultimately, your success lies in the first and third quadrants so focus on the left side of the chart. If you get it right, the right side of the chart will naturally follow.

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A quadrant diagram titled 'Customer Engagement and Retention Strategy,' categorizing customers by engagement and competitor presence. Top-left: 'Potential Returnees' represent customers with low engagement and not served by competitors, depicted with a return icon. Top-right: 'Loyal Customers' are highly engaged and not served by competitors, symbolized by a person with raised hands. Bottom-right: 'Engaged Competitor Customers' are highly engaged but served by competitors, illustrated by a group icon. Bottom-left: 'Disengaged Competitor Customers' have low engagement and are served by competitors, shown with a disengagement symbol.

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5. Know your competitors

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Similar to knowing your customers, it's good to know who your competitors are. Knowing what your competitor's advantages are, or those few things that they do better, can help you a long way.

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6. Support and enable your people

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Support and enable your people so that a culture of experimentation is breathed by everyone. Invest in material support such as ideation rooms, 3D printers, VR goggles or other tools. Besides materials, think about other ways to support and enable your people. Make it clear that setting aside time for experimentation is important and that challenging the obvious is good. After all, the obvious and what's been done for the past 20 years or so clearly didn’t work out that well.

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7. Set up programs and safe havens

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You don’t have to set up a corporate lab to help your people to innovate. Instead, consider setting up a program that everyone can apply to. Through different stages, they will unlock different resources to make their idea happen. It's also important to organise design sprints so people have a safe haven to pursue new ideas and make them tangible.

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An illustration titled 'Steps to Drive Innovation and Customer Retention' represented as a staircase with six ascending steps. Each step is labeled with a specific action: Understand Customers: The foundation step, symbolized by a magnifying glass over a document. Analyze Competitors: Highlighting strategic awareness, depicted with a chess piece. Support Employees: Emphasizing team backing, shown with a group collaboration icon. Establish Programs: Focusing on structured initiatives, illustrated with a funnel graphic. Encourage Experimentation: Promoting creative solutions, represented with a lightbulb and gear. Take Calculated Risks: The pinnacle, encouraging bold yet informed actions, depicted with a running figure icon.

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8. Take leaps of faith

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Sometimes you just need to take a leap of faith. It's not necessary to wait for five years of development before launching a product. If initial validation data confirms the validity of an idea, pursue it and launch it as quickly as possible. This is cheap innovation and, contrary to popular belief, it won’t harm your reputation.

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An infographic titled 'Navigating Disruption in Business,' displayed as a timeline with key steps illustrated: Accept Disruption: Represented by a sad face, signifying the initial stage of acknowledging change. Be Willing to Change: Depicted with a classical building, indicating adaptability in systems or structures. Create a Vision: Shown with a thought bubble, emphasizing strategic planning. Know Your Customers: Illustrated by an icon of people, stressing customer understanding. Know Your Competitors: Depicted with arrows, highlighting the importance of competitive awareness. Support and Enable People: Represented by conversation and collaboration icons, emphasizing team empowerment. Set Up Programs: Shown with a gear and dollar sign, indicating structured initiatives. Take Leaps of Faith: Illustrated with a rocket icon, promoting bold decision-making for innovation.

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You will gain a lot of information after the release, which will provide you a roadmap of where to go next. If you refrain from releasing products and continue prolonged discussions on how to build something, your idea will cripple and its chances of success will grow slimmer with every passing day.

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Authors: Hederik Laloo and Alain De Keyser (Senior Partners, The Product Architects BV)