Category Archives: Strategic Thinking

Critical Keys to Success

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From my associate, Janice Giannini.

Today, businesses face unprecedented shifting sands upon which to build and grow.

‍While I would like to opine that there are a few more significant challenges, and the others are potentially less compelling and volatile – that doesn’t reflect reality. Think for just a moment about a few of these challenges:

  • The advent of quantum computing: while not imminent across all verticals, it is undeniable and will disrupt technology, people, and cyber security.
  • Maintaining a cyber-secure environment: currently a very challenging objective to achieve and becoming more so by the day.
  • Incorporating technology shifts: navigating the turbulent waters of disruptive technologies, robotics, and diverse systems integration across multiple verticals.
  • Impact of Generative AI: Momentum will increase as GAI matures and impacts all aspects of our lives.
  • Globally complex supply chains: impacted by economic stability, foreign  relationships, and politics.

The most significant leadership imperative to build and grow in the above environment is recognizing and incorporating effective strategies to coalesce:

  • Workforce demographics are changing and will continue to do so.
  • Global competition for top-talent recruitment, deployment, and retention of talent.
  • Generational expectations are changing and vary widely.
  • There is a greater need to address purpose and value-driven plans and operations.

‍The 200 words above are enough to scare anybody. Please sit back and ponder where we go from here.

Insufficient trust, understanding, communications, connections, development, and connectedness among the people who matter overwhelmingly contribute to many business issues, challenges, and failures. The people who matter are everyone involved in the success or failure of the enterprise. 

No one can build and grow an enterprise alone. Ideally, everybody needs to row in the same direction at the same speed. The more complex the technology, business environment, and conflicting values become, the more critical the people become.

How is this accomplished? You get what you prioritize and reward. Leaders are not doing this to be friendly people. They must do this to stay relevant and build and grow their businesses. Change and growth start by looking in the mirror and honestly assessing the current state.

It has never been more urgent for leaders at all levels, primarily the executive level, first to improve their communications and connectedness capabilities. Here are a few suggestions for strengthening trust, communications, and connectedness:

  • Listen to hear and learn and not explain and defend, perhaps even asking what questions you should be asking.
  • Prioritize building trust up/down and across the connected enterprise.
  • Reach out to a broader scope of voices, especially the voices with whom you disagree or least understand.
  • Demonstrate the purpose and values of the business and be adept at flowing this message from strategy to execution so the staff can understand how their particular work is directly related and essential.
  • Recognize that continuous learning in today’s world is not just for new employees but everyone.
  • Consider apprenticeships to help develop people as well as effective communication and connectedness.
  • Consider buddy systems and reverse mentoring as a standard practice. The newer people learn about the business and its past growth, and the more     experienced people gain effective cross-generational communications and capabilities.
  • Formal leadership development is essential for business leaders. They may or may not have the title, but they are leaders, nonetheless.

‍Past lessons are an excellent foundation as businesses navigate a rapidly changing business, economic, social, and global environment. However, continued growth is a function of standing in the moment, embracing the future, and helping all of us lift the tide!

‍Helping raise the tide for everyone requires not only developing an attuned sense of what to do but also learning what to stop doing-and then stopping doing it, even if it has been successful in the past.

Demonstrating the honesty and humility to share that we need to change, and we may not have all of the answers right now, can be incredibly motivating if everybody feels like part of the team working together to move forward in a positive growth direction.

Please take a few moments to consider the following two questions.

  • How will you use newly gained insights if you see something useful?
  • If it offended you in some way, why?  How are you going to use that information?

Your Business Execution Checklist

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From my associate Howard Litwak.

A successful organization is one where all the parts are working together (are in alignment). These organizations are innovative, customer responsive, and prevent fires – they’re not spending their time putting out fires. The Star Model provides a model for alignment.

Organizations of all sizes that have taken the time to master alignment will maximize the short and long-term payout both from a financial and emotional perspective. This alignment is what creates a company that is “World Class,” “Remarkable,” and “Best.” (Fill in your own descriptive term)

Notice that nothing in this model stands alone. Everything touches everything else. All of the points of the star are foundational to the fundamentals of business: getting customers and best-serving customers in order to retain them. I’ve broken down the specifics of each point of the star below.

CUSTOMER LOYALTY and RESULTS

  • All departments have goals established that support overall objectives
  • All points of connection with customers are identified
  • Areas of opportunity to improve points of connection to deliver remarkable service are identified, and best practices established
  • Indicators of the company’s financial health are identified and tracked in order to know whether the business is on track to produce the desired results or not

 

STRATEGY

  • Compelling Vision is established and well communicated
  • Core Values are established and alive throughout the organization
  • Yearly objectives are identified
  • Target markets are clearly defined with demographics and psychographics
  • A unique selling proposition is created for each market
  • Additional resources needed to achieve yearly objectives are identified
  • Additional skills and knowledge needed to obtain objectives are identified.

 

STRUCTURE

  • An organizational chart is created showing the accountabilities of roles
  • Position descriptions are completed for each role, including responsibilities, results expected, standards, and key performance indicators
  • All identified systems are documented in writing using checklists where ever possible to create an operations manual
  • Ensure that roles and responsibilities are aligned with team member’s strengths

 

PEOPLE

  • Ensure that success-oriented habits and attitudes are developed and reinforced
  • Make sure that team members understand each other’s strengths, weaknesses, and behavioral styles
  • Succession plans are in place for key roles

 

PROCESS

  • All organizational systems are identified
  • “Done Right” for each process is clearly defined
  • All processes are regularly evaluated for continuous improvement

 

REWARDS

  • Performance is measured against desired results and core values
  • Recognition programs encourage behaviors that lead to desired results

 

LEADERSHIP

Company culture revolves around:

  1. Always provide the best service to the customer,
  2. Always do the best job possible
  3. The workplace should be where one constantly learns, grows, and improves
  • Up to 5 quarterly priorities are identified, which support yearly objectives. A #1 priority is clearly defined
  • A tracking system for Key Performance Indicators is implemented
  • Necessary information flows daily and weekly through a meeting rhythm
  • Goals are established to obtain needed resources

 

Here are some questions you can use to evaluate where your business stands now on each of the points of the star:

Strategy

  • Are employees aware of your objectives? Do they agree? Are they in alignment?
  • How are your current efforts securing your pre-determined business objectives?
  • Can you tie your business decisions and actions back to your core values?
  • Do you have a picture of the future that you believe you will realize?
  • What are your top priorities?

 

Structure

  • Do you have the right people on the rights seats of the bus, and are resources allocated correctly? How do you know?
  • Do you spend a lot of time putting out fires?
  • How do departments know what other departments are doing?

 

People

  • What is the biggest issue you have in managing your people?
  • Do you feel your people have the skills necessary to implement your plan?
  • How do you gauge your people’s productivity?
  • How do you measure the morale of your employees?
  • Do you have people ready to fill succession plans?
  • How do you make people feel that they are an important part of the organizational whole?
  • How well do you know what your strengths and weaknesses are? What are your people’s strengths and weaknesses?
  • Does each person in the organization have a detailed development plan with short and long-term goals and action steps?

 

Process

  • When was the last time you improved your core processes (i.e., taking out waste, inefficiencies, and extensive costs?
  • Are you meeting process deadlines?
  • What does “done right” look like, and how long does it take?
  • How well are you meeting speed and quality delivery?
  • How are you challenging everyone to seek innovative and improved methods of doing business and growing the company?
  • Do you ask your people to analyze processes that interfere with their performance and the performance of the organization?

 

Rewards & Recognition

  • How do you currently measure performance?
  • What do you reward and why?
  • When things aren’t going well, what do you reward?
  • How often do you review employees?
  • Is there a recognition program that shows your people you appreciate your efforts and that their accomplishments are recognized?

 

Leadership

  • How do you develop leaders?
  • How would you differentiate the difference between a leader and a manager and what is more important to the success of your organization?
  • Do day-to-day operations reflect a “How can we make things better” philosophy?
  • What qualities do you need to develop to be a better leader?
  • What qualities do your people need to develop to be better self-leaders?
  • Is everyone in the organization committed and focused on achieving organizational success?
  • Is the culture one which encourages people to be their best and perform their best?

 

Results

  • How do you measure success?
  • How do you know if you’re moving in the right direction?
  • How satisfied are you with your current business results?
  • How do you measure your customers’ satisfaction?
  • How are you maintaining consistent growth and improvement?
  • Are you focusing on results rather than activities?
  • What is standing in the way of achieving your goals?

 

This is your road map to an organization that is proactive and innovative. One which develops loyal customers, not just satisfied customers. These are your keys to a high-performance organization. If you focus on aligning the points of the star in your organization, you will be rewarded with higher profits, better standing in the marketplace, and less stress!

Fix the Toaster

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Do you want to fix the toaster, or do you keep scraping the burnt part off the toast? It seems like a simple question, but hear me out.

In business and life, we get what we accept. If so, why would we continue to accept an unacceptable outcome rather than address the core problem? These questions may seem ridiculous at first blush.

Now, let’s take that experience into our corporate hallways.

When was the last time you asked yourself where examples of non-productive behavior have crept in as people had to battle the problems caused by all the pressures of the recent past?

Where are past decisions continuing to cause people in your organization to struggle or fall further behind?

Where are leaders and managers asking people to do the equivalent of rolling bowling balls uphill every day to get things done? Are other top leaders in your organization even noticing this has become commonplace? Are they stopping to wonder when their people will be burning out and won’t seem as committed as they once were?

So many people get overwhelmed by the drumbeat of day-to-day responsibilities. They don’t always stop to consider how their decisions impact their direct reports, who are just trying to make a living.

I compare it to driving a speedboat across a lake. The Captain can be so focused on getting to the other side that they become oblivious. They don’t notice that their wake is flooding all the properties along the shoreline.

If your organization has put formal process improvement initiatives on hold during the epidemic, it’s time to take a fresh look at opportunities. While looking for areas to explore, don’t forget to start with how your senior executives are running the business.

How seamlessly does your organization operate? Please go much deeper in your thinking process than whether or not you have an up-to-date organization chart. You and your top team need to examine whether your organization is coalescing around the best ways to get things done.

It can be enlightening to see how things are getting done versus how they are supposed to be getting done.

While some people may smile and say, “Great job innovating,” others will be shocked to learn that many of the checks and balances they thought were in place are being ignored for expediency.

Where do you expect your firm to be on that continuum when you take the time to examine it? Are your teams operating like a well-oiled kanban system or more like a TV comedy show?

Anytime the answer is different from what you had hoped for, look at how easy it is for someone at any level to get things done. Examine your processes for efficiency and effectiveness. Look vertically (relationships with people above or below in the hierarchy) and horizontally (across functional disciplines). Imagine fully capitalizing on foresight, insight, common sense, and proven processes to help you run your business and increase your chances for long-term success.

Editor’s Note:This article was originally published in American Executive Magazine

New Ways to Think About Business Processes

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From my associate Grant Tate.

Our normal template for thinking about business processes includes a smoothly flowing set of steps leading to a desired result or product. Each step has a specific purpose with clearly stated input and outputs.

Given that, we decide how each step should be accomplished, for instance, by a human being, by a machine, or by information technology. Manufacturing an automobile or a silicon wafer requires intricately engineered processes. Administrative processes include payroll processing or paying bills.

If there is a high volume of work to be done, such as manufacturing a half-million cars a year, everyone knows the process needs to be effective, efficient, and error-free. It’s easy to visualize an auto factory at work, or a huge headquarters building filled with administrative workers, all diligently working on their steps of a big process. Because these were important, over the years, Industrial engineers developed various tools, such as Cycle Time Reduction, designed to create or improve processes.

But do these tools apply to modern 21st-century organizations where twenty to thirty percent of the workers are remote? Can we apply the processes used while working in the big administrative building to individuals working from different locations and connected by telecommunications? How do we design work in the new environment of remote or hybrid work? Let’s consider how work gets done.

  1. Individuals, whether remote or in-house, work on their assigned tasks as part of a large process. Individual roles are set by job description or by the set of assigned tasks. Accounting processes are good examples of this. For instance, a remote team member could be responsible for sending invoices. another for receiving payments. Coordination among team members is minimal because the overall information technology system provides the linkages.
  2. The team leader determines priorities and assigns tasks to each team member. This is the choice of control freaks but is almost impossible to manage in a fast-moving, agile environment.
  3. The team leader sets priorities, and the team uses Jira or other agile methods to determine work schedules and tasks. Team members self-select tasks to work on. This methodology works well in matrix organizations and software development. Work processes are dynamic, constantly adjusting to the schedule and the tasks at hand.

 

If a company leader wants to increase efficiency and effectiveness by improving the company processes, then the leader must consider how the work gets done and what tools to use to reach the goals.

If the team must react to constantly changing demands, giving the members better tools, such as Jira or other agile software, would help. Cycle Time Reduction (CTR)1 would not apply to that situation. On the other hand, for the parts of the organization using more stable processes, CTR might be an appropriate tool if steps of the process consider the work capacity of individual remote workers. When designing a process using CTR, some steps might require several people working together. When workers are remote, such cooperation might be impracticable, requiring steps to be designed to be accomplished by one individual.

If an organization is seeking to improve its operations, it is important to define bottlenecks in its operations, set priorities, and decide what tools to use to improve the situation. Remote or hybrid configurations require new thinking, new approaches, and retraining of leaders and team members.

Are you ready?

National Security – A Strategic and Operational Risk

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With the accelerating changes in technology, cyber-security, and geopolitical tensions, the question arises are US company Boards addressing National Security as a significant risk? Or perhaps the better question would be: how do Boards need to address the impact and opportunity of the interdependence/intersection of technology, cyber-sec, and geopolitics comprehensively?

We have lived in an unprecedented time of “relative congeniality” for 30 years with the fall of the Soviet Union, détente, and a less aggressive China. Nevertheless, we must contemplate the increasing reality of shared business power with cultures vastly different from ours. In some cases, these other cultures may not desire to be collaborative, potentially creating a critical imbalance that is not in the US’s favor.

As we confront the reality that we no longer live in that “relative congenial environment”, how might the governance structure and function evolve to address this? I offer the following lenses to spur the conversation:

  • To what extent do US companies need to be active influencers and players in our national/global security?
  • There is a robust global supply chain for valid business reasons. That is currently working to the US’ disadvantage in some cases. How do BODs need to consider this as part of the strategic plan? What is the risk profile for your company?
  • With the blurring of commercial and military applications, if the US strengthened and tightened export control, how vulnerable is your enterprise? What plans need to be put in place now to protect our national assets and potentially land softly if the conflict escalates?
  • Given the US dependence on many non-national materials, does it need different and more significant stockpiles? Does it need to define an acceptable risk profile and then start the drift in that new direction? How would your company be affected?
  • In what areas is it advisable to prioritize technology investment to lessen dependence on natural materials from potentially hostile nations? How would your company be able to help or grow in this area? Do we need synthetic materials to reduce the risk?
  • What is individual and company strategic responsibility for national security? Is it worth a penny per share or .1 cents per share? How do companies balance short, mid, and long-term benefits? What is NYSE and NASDAQ’s responsibility for guidance and evaluation?
  • Other strategic questions that arise as one looks through a national security lens:
    • Location and level of participating in investments and joint ventures abroad
    • Does the company benefit financially from these other entities through sales, BOD joint members, or?
    • Are we helping our greatest adversaries and allies to succeed at the expense of the US? Where is the line between acceptable and too high a risk?
  • What is the beneficial outcome of defining and discussing applicable scenarios to understand and plan/respond accordingly?

 

This article addresses the US perspective. The content applies equally to all parties. Many entities are already addressing National Security as a strategic and operational risk in their plans.  Many are not.

What are the appropriate actions your enterprise needs to take? And when does that need to happen?

Sustainable Capitalism: A Necessity – The Alternative is Self-Destruction

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From my associate Janice Giannini.

Sustainable CapitalismWhen we talk about sustainable capitalism today, the conversations frequently focus on the physical environment. While that is a critical element of sustainability, it is not the total picture. Sustainability needs to integrate the four legs of the stool: human, social, ecologic, and economic environments. They all go hand in hand to create the desired result long term.

The current business environment addresses this topic by focusing on ESG and DE&I. The challenge for all companies and individuals is recognizing the difference between initiatives and making real progress. The adage in the business world is that you get what you measure.

In Sustainable Capitalism, do we understand what we want and need and how to measure it effectively? The critical question is: do the metrics correlate with real progress?

Capitalism is a fantastic economic framework. It has created incredible prosperity across all aspects of our society, unleashing innovation at an unprecedented rate. That is its appeal and opportunity to just about anyone. But, in addition to its upsides and assets, it also has its downside and potential liabilities.

There are many challenges that capitalists face; among them being:

  • Danger to focus only on the economic leg driven by short-term only thinking
  • Potential to create monopolies
  • Possibility to cause environmental issues either at home or abroad
  • Likely to increase the wealth gap, thereby creating social tension and exploitation and leaving a significant percentage of the population behind economically, socially, and culturally

 

Creating a sustainably capitalistic society requires both individuals and companies to understand and implement practices that may negatively impact the short term. Unfortunately, the short-term impact may be the single most uncomfortable reality. However, other sustainability practices may enhance short-term results. As a result, there is a balance that needs consideration.

A few questions to consider:

  • Are the four legs of the stool understood as they apply in your company?
  • Are the boundaries around the sustainability of all four legs understood?
  • How do you determine the effective balance across short/mid/long-term returns and economics? How do you address that publicly and politically?
  • Are decisions made with intentionality? What are the consequences of these decisions?
  • Can you live with the consequences of those decisions? Short/Mid/Long term?
  • Are there metrics to indicate crossing the line that will disadvantage sustainability?

 

I offer that sustainability is simply a high-stakes risk assessment and management of the business. Both short-term only and long-term only thinking have a high probability of being unsustainable.

As neither extreme works well, sustainability requires a balance among Short/Mid/Long term practices and across many risk categories: financial, reputation, technical, strategic, social, supply chain, political, and perception.

If any of these is disproportionately driving the outcome, is that where you need to be?

Do You Have the Right Balance of Intelligence to Maximize Business Returns

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Right Balance of IntelligenceFrom my associate Janice Giannini. Recently I read a report on the Harvard Business School Working Knowledge site titled When Working Harder Doesn’t Work, Time to Reinvent Your Career by Avery Forman. The article relies heavily on the book, From Strength to Strength: Finding Success, Happiness, and Deep Purpose in the Second Half of Life.

As I read the article, some of the concepts might be in greater demand in the current work environment. Businesses are shifting from many people in central locations to remote work. The altered lack of presence in collocated spaces impacts:

 

  • How people work
  • Whom you deploy staff
  • Whom you hire
  • How to integrate new hires into the culture
  • How to establish meaningful and necessary business relationships

 

All of this flows through the business’s return and growth in the near term, mid and long term. One of the concepts that caught my eye was discussing what the author called Fluid Intelligence and Crystallized intelligence.

People focused on success may not appreciate or understand that the smarts that allowed them to innovate quickly in their earlier professional years, called fluid intelligence, naturally decline toward midlife.

This decline is not uniform across all disciplines. Musicians and athletes are examples of significant and visible reduction with age, use, and injury. Even in knowledge-based professions where people think it’s different, research shows that decline sets in between the late 30’s and 50s.

  • Innovation for physicists peaks at 50
  • Writers peak between 40 and 45
  • Financial professionals between 36 and 40
  • Doctors in their 30’s
  • Start-ups favor the young; just 5% are 60

 

A different kind of thinking marked by synthesizing and sharing knowledge grows. Specific abilities develop and strengthen with age, such as wisdom, teaching, sharing ideas, language skills, articulation, and connecting the dots. As a result of this, mathematicians, for example, have much greater longevity.

What caught my eye was the potential impact on businesses today. For example, if the work environment has changed so dramatically, might companies need to hire different skills and abilities or re-deploy current resources with this in mind?

If companies deploy staff to take full advantage of their strengths, would the business return be robust, increasing personnel satisfaction, sustainability, and financial returns?

Reference: When Working Harder Doesn’t Work, Time to Reinvent Your Career by Avery Forman

Are You Structured for Chaos?

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If history has taught us anything, it has demonstrated that business can be disrupted, at any time, by any number of chaotic circumstances: supply chain failure, limited workforce pools, natural disasters, technology failures, economic slowdowns, or full-blown recessions. And now we can add pandemics to the list.

Traditionally, most companies create their formal organizational structures and charts for when things are stable. Whether the design is hierarchical, functional, divisional, or matrix, operations are expected to run smoothly – as long as things are functioning under normal business circumstances.

Are You Structured for Chaos?

Think about it. Just in the last decade, how often has your company needed to adapt its operations to deal with the external changes that created such chaos?

Rigid organizational structures ultimately harm a company’s ability to react to ever-present randomness. Businesses must first accept and then embrace the necessity for responsiveness to daily, weekly, or monthly chaos and its effect on operations and the wants and needs of employees and customers.

Why are too many organizations effectively designed for only a fraction of the time they operate? Instead, set up your organization to make faster decisions and to be able to execute them immediately. This statement doesn’t always require an overhaul of your company structure. A straightforward solution could be as simple as adding a floater position that takes on the current crisis – a well-versed, knowledgeable project manager without a portfolio. From my days at Procter & Gamble Manufacturing (P&G) in the 70s and 80s, we often used that idea to ensure we had the capacity we needed when we needed it.

By not adapting quickly enough, inert companies fail to tackle and handle ever-changing economic, technological, social, and market conditions. Agile organizations thrive. Instead of fighting change and offering resistance, why not adjust your organizational structure to adapt to the chaotic environment that you operate in almost every day?

You Can Create a Crystal Ball

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Contributed by our associate Grant Tate. 

Leaders today are facing unprecedented uncertainty. Developing long-range plans in this environment can seem like a futile exercise. But this is the ideal time to consider scenario planning.

The current situation with the Covid Delta variant provides a good example where scenario planning could help. If we rewind only six months, planning leaders could have defined at least these three scenarios for what we are facing right now:

  1. The pandemic is declared over, and we are back to somewhat where we were pre-pandemic.
  2. Vaccination rates are such that the crisis is dragging out, but there are no new case spikes.
  3. A new variant is driving another massive spike in COVID cases.

 

Scenario planning identifies different scenarios, looks at the risk involved in each, and determines how to prepare for each case. The wise planner then identifies the variables that help predict when to jump from one path to another.

Scenario planning is valuable for day-to-day operations as well. The semiconductor shortage is another byproduct of the Covid crisis, but that market has normal fluctuations. Users of semiconductors shouldn’t be surprised that there are shortages. From my experience working at IBM, I can tell you that the supply chain for semiconductors is over a year long. A semiconductor put into production today isn’t inside a computer until a year from now. This time differential prevents gearing up or gearing down the supply chain quickly. So, what do you do?

Many factors such as fluctuations in product demand, supply chain hiccups, widespread disease, etc., drive the complexity of scenario planning. The goal is the cut the lag in the curve by using leading indicators to plan.

A leading indicator is any measure or observable variable that helps forecast a future change. Leading indicators provide insight into likely future outcomes and give organizations the ability to act accordingly in the present. As Drucker said, “strategic planning is about the futurity of today’s decisions.”

Scenario planning is a way for leaders to consolidate their team’s best thinking about possible futures. Prepare the process to monitor those leading indicators now and guide your organizations’ path to success.

The Path to Success in the Healthcare Industry

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The Path to SucessHealthcare is one of the most complex and challenging industries. It is constantly undergoing change from both external and internal stimuli: evolving regulations, new technologies, advances in care.

While this poses numerous new opportunities, it comes with significant challenges. Margin pressure continues to be the biggest concern for provider organizations because of persistent constraints on rates, intensifying competition, and higher operating costs.

The way to offset these constraints is by going beyond cost-saving measures and efficiency boosters to achieve a true competitive advantage. Continually improving strategy, systems and people allow healthcare providers to prioritize and pursue revenue and growth opportunities in their key service lines and provide a path to get the professional and personal results desired.

Contact us to explore our proven methodology: Extreme Practice Makeover.