Be Different or be dead

February 27, 2017

7 easy ways leaders can think creatively to achieve their goals

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It’s not good enough to rely on traditional methods; leaders must think differently to create value for their organizations.

The “silver bullet” for leaders is to loosen up on the process for setting business goals and tighten up on execution required to achieve them.

Organizations are trapped in the traditional business planning process of lengthy analysis, subject matter expert presentations and application of theoretical strategy-building precepts promulgated by consultants and academics.

What theoretically makes sense rarely works in the real world where people, technology, changing priorities, regulations and the unpredictable all collide in a “perfect storm”.

I come from the practical side of business.

I believe that if you can’t execute the strategy in a world of imperfection, the strategy is useless. After all, results are more interesting than the theoretical brilliance of the plan and the extent to which it conforms to pedantic norms.

Here are 7 ways leaders can think differently to achieve their strategic goals.

▪️Spend 20% of your time on WHAT you want to achieve; 80% on how you intend to achieve it. Execution detail is generally given the short shrift.

For some reason leaders assume they can pronounce a new strategy to the organization and miraculously it will get implemented. Nonsense. The granularity of your implementation plan will determine your success.

▪️Get comfortable with not getting it exactly right. We have this phobia about getting the business plan perfect. We spend an additional 4 weeks of planning time trying to make it more perfect.

It’s a ridiculous notion for two reasons: first there is no such thing as a perfect anything so stop trying to chase the illusion; second, as soon as your strategy is put to bed, it’s obsolete as unpredicted environmental events are felt.

▪️A strategy really understood is one that can be broken down into a handful of objectives intended to successfully execute it.

An action plan with 25 things to do suggests that the team that created the strategy doesn’t clearly understand it well enough to focus on the critical few actions necessary as opposed to the many possible actions that could be taken.

Focus on the must not the possible.

▪️Beware of the yummy incoming. Yummy is my way of describing over-the-transom demand that might be fun to chase, but it’s off strategy.

Ignore off-strategy demands on your time and resources, you can’t afford them. Stay on strategy and have the guts to turn away opportunities that suck you dry.

▪️Establish role clarity for everyone in the organization in terms of what they have to do execute flawlessly.
Dysfunction occurs when direct line of sight for people hasn’t been defined and included in performance plans.

▪️Cut the Crap! Stop doing the unnecessary so you can execute the necessary. It’s impossible to take on the new stuff when you won’t let go of the old stuff.

You don’t need more resources, you need to get rid of stuff that may have had relevance yesterday but not today.

▪️Kill the stupid policies that make your customers and employees go nuts. Customers won’t engage with dumb rules in their face which frustrate them when they engage with you.

Cleanse your inside with policies made to control customers; free them to transact with you on their terms.

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

• Posted 2.27.17 at 05:31 am by Roy Osing
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