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Trade Offs MLSL
Trade Offs MLSL
Trade-offs are the choices we make about how to use (and NOT use) the
resources we have to achieve our goals.
As a leader thinking through your key trade-offs will help you define the value
your business adds to the market and how to protect it against the uncertainty
of the future (i.e. risk).
Trade-offs define your product, your people & your company
- & whether it will survive in the future
Because resources are limited now & in the future and we cannot fully predict what our market will be,
we assess our choices to achieve the future we want to have, and preserve resources to mitigate risk
The more deeply you understand your goals for your product, your
people & your revenue, the more effective you will be in making
trade-offs
This is because making the choices to reach your goals IS how you
achieve those goals
If you don’t know what your goals are—you will struggle to use your
resources effectively to achieve them
Invest now to build the foundation for your goals: Understanding your
market, your product, your resources, your team and your revenue
(how you will replenish your resources)
And trade-offs are often complex with many possible
options & outcomes
Organizations essentially function as structures to make resource decisions effectively – bringing together a
range of expertise in multiple areas to make trade-offs
However, people with a range of expertise often want their area to “win” the most resources– a production
manager will want the fanciest equipment, a marketer will want the fanciest ads etc
Effectively getting the expertise of your team, balancing their information and ensuring the right mix of trade-offs
are made—is your role as a leader
Activity 3: Your pesky sister is back, and now she
has a budget! Work with your team to allocate
wedding resources and create her dream wedding