Be Different or be dead

April 18, 2011

Why direct line of sight to your strategy means better execution

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Why direct line of sight to your strategy means better execution.

A successful career requires identifying directly with the strategy of the organization. Here’s how to do it…

Establish a direct line between what your organization’s strategy says and what specific objectives and action plans you take on in your current position. This is a challenge in most organizations.

The strategic game plan contains lofty goals set at a high level and need to be drilled down to the individual employee in order to execute the plan effectively. Clear and direct line of sight defines brilliant execution.

Direct line of sight means that you have defined the relevant critical few things that you must do in order to maximize your impact on the new strategy.

It means that you have accurately translated the higher level ten thousand foot goals down to ground zero where you operate.

Here’s an example. Let’s say that one of your marketing strategies is to target the retail customer segment in the greater Toronto area and grow your share of this group’s business by 10% over the next twelve months. You are the leader of the Call Center operations and want to translate this into what it specifically means to your goals and objectives.

Direct line of sight for your role means:

— Revised operating procedures that provide a focus on the retail customer group in all contacts. Other customers segments will get a lower priority.
— New training and development programs for the retail sector take priority over other training initiatives.
— More call center representative time is dedicated to retail customers than other customers.
—More attention given to the retail account in terms of learning their secrets.
— Building enhanced relationships between marketing and the call center teams. Joint activity planning sessions are held; shared revenue targets are set.
— Monthly joint meetings are held with marketing to review performance results for the retail customer segment. Action plans to address any shortfall between plan and actual results take number one priority.

The opposite of direct line of sight is described by words like indirect, circumlocutory, oblique, diffused, confused, meandering, feeble, and foggy. It suggests that you haven’t determined the specific actions you must take to successfully impact plan execution.

As a result, your energy is dissipated among many things - often associated with the old strategy - and you lack the precision and focus to make a measurable difference in terms of implementing the new strategy.

If you can’t define a direct line between what your role in the organization is and the overall business strategy your role will be vaguely defined and your contribution to the changes required will be watered down; it will get lost in the clutter and its energy will dissipate and get consumed by the momentum of other activities.

On the other hand if you can define and action those specific projects that have a direct impact on the corporate result your productivity shoots up and your actions truly make a difference. 

And you will attract the attention of the foxes as your clarity of thought and task focus will demonstrate that you are committed to living the new strategy through your daily actions.

Cheers,
Roy
Check out my BE DiFFERENT or be dead Book Series

• Posted 4.18.11 at 10:59 am by Roy Osing
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April 11, 2011

Why storytelling is really needed to make an awesome career

Source: Unsplash

Why storytelling is really needed to make an awesome career.

Successful people in an organization are usually identified as the ones who push for change. They not only recognize the need for it, they take on the role of communicating passionately for it to anyone who will listen — they adopt the messenger of change role.

Storytelling is a key ingredient to communicate the need for change in an organization and, if done well, helps build your brand as the messenger of change and your career benefits accordingly

To be recognized as a passionate messenger of change, these three actions will serve you well.

Events

Make it an important personal priority to organize events to discuss the direction of the organization and why change is necessary. Make it matter. Start with your own work team and expand to include other audiences.

Organize Bear Pit Sessions with frontline and staff people to get a cross section of commentary going on the direction the organization is taking, and provide feedback to leadership accordingly.

My approach was to have at least one employee event on my calendar monthly. The agenda was simple: remind people of the market forces that require the company to change, describe the company’s business plan and strategy to respond to changes being felt, and ask for feedback and support. My bosses quickly became aware of my actions and were very obliging when I would ask for their participation in the events.

Energy

The great messengers of change understand that’s it’s not all about the content of the message, rather it’s about the energy exhibited when expressing it. Strong emotion behind the business plan tells a story in and of itself: that the messenger unconditionally believes in what they are saying.

Their passion becomes infectious and others quickly buy-in.

I tried to downplay the theoretical aspects of the business plan we were trying to execute; the text book science of the strategy we were on. The audience doesn’t give a rats ass about how the change strategy adheres to microeconomic theory, all they want to know is that the way forward will make the organization successful and that they will be safe.

The messenger’s personal belief — expressed passionately — in the plan will do more to assuage the listeners than their promulgation of the theoretical justification for doing it.

Remember, people will tune you out unless they feel you believe what you are saying.

Use rich language in your presentations. Be visual and use pictures to describe where your company is going. My experience is that most people have to work very hard to interpret words and numbers, but they get it right away when they see pictures and graphs — the analogue world — with rich color and interpretation.

Stories

Pick stories that bring the crucial elements of your strategy to life. If, for example, creating memories for people in terms of their experiences with you is a main part of your strategic platform, sprinkle stories of employees (using their names) dazzling customers throughout the discussion.

If sales plays a major role, add stories of salespeople going the extra mile to build strong intimate relationships with customers.

An effective story communicates your strategy more than any other communications tool; the more stories you tell, the more likely it is that your audience will understand what the organization is trying to achieve.

What if the messenger can’t find a memorable story to tell? Well, that’s a pretty good indicator that the strategy isn’t being executed all that visibly so you have to dig deeper to find one.

Ans as a reminder, be as specific as you can in your story; use real people to express the event. Everyone relates more to stories that involve their particular function or department in the organization and about their colleagues.

Storytelling is a must for the messenger of change.

Include it as an essential element of your day-to-day work plan. Gather stories and find people who are living your strategy.

Develop your story telling repertoire.

Cheers,
Roy
Check out my BE DiFFERENT or be dead Book Series

• Posted 4.11.11 at 11:00 am by Roy Osing
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April 4, 2011

Why career success happens when you’re the ‘messenger for change’

Source: Unsplash

Why career success happens when you’re the ‘messenger for change’.

To be personally distinctive, you need to be seen as one who is ahead of the change curve.

Establish yourself as the zealot and avid supporter for your organization’s business plan and strategy.

Get recognized as being synonymous with the company’s vision, goals and objectives and suddenly magic happens.

You become recognized as a change leader in the organization who is included in all strategic activities from formulation of the business plan to its execution and you are visible to the career decision makers as a valuable contributor to the company’s future.

Breathe life into your new strategy - communicate it far and wide. Bring the organization’s strategy to life by painting a picture of it and making it real for everyone, so that they can see what it looks like when it is successfully being executed.

“Infect”people with the strategy so they will pour their hearts and souls into seeing it succeed.

I spent copious time holding employee meetings to discuss the strategic plan of the business.

I would do ’Infonet’ tours throughout our operating territory discussing the challenges we were facing and presenting the strategy the executive had developed to meet them.

These sessions were effective for not only communicating strategic detail they were also an opportunity for people to table their comments regarding the strategy and to pose any questions they had. 

For me, this was a regular forum where I could reinforce my brand as the passionate messenger for the organization’s strategy and feedback from the participants confirmed that first, they enjoyed the experience of the Infonet seminars, and second, that I was seen as a leader who loved change.

Career success depends on you relating to and passionately advocating the change strategy of the organization.

Cheers,
Roy
Check out my BE DiFFERENT or be dead Book Series

• Posted 4.4.11 at 11:00 am by Roy Osing
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December 20, 2010

What does a successful change leader look like?

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Stand-out organizations are dominated with people who love change.

This is the difference between leaders of change and managers of change.

The change manager…
         
- Loves continuity  
- Protects status quo                    
- Manages momentum
- Limply reacts to unforeseen events            
- Incremental change artist
- Huge Comfort Zone
- Tolerates change
- Takes baby steps
- Evolutionary speed

The change leader…

- Hates continuity; loves change
- Morphs current state to something new
- Creates discontinuity
- Brilliant reaction agent
- Breakthrough change driver
- Huge Discomfort Zone
- Drives change
- Takes Giant leaps
- Revolutionary speed

What if your organization had more change leaders than managers?

Remarkable not invisible. Distinctive not common. Unique not average.

DiFFERENT not dead.

Cheers,
Roy
Check out my BE DiFFERENT or be dead Book Series

• Posted 12.20.10 at 11:00 am by Roy Osing
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