Business leaders who want to see improved business results must first present to their employees a launch path to success. That does not mean that all the answers to the organization’s challenges must be provided by the leader. In fact, employees should be fully engaged in finding new, unexpected, and beneficial solutions to critical problems. They should also be challenged to find innovative ways to exploit opportunities.
But the top leader and his/her team have the responsibility is to establish a context for success. Otherwise, the quote from Alice in Wonderland is on the mark – ‘If you don’t know where you are going, any road will take you there’ – That is not a prescription for organizational success in today’s world. It is simply not good enough. We need to know where we are going and that is a leadership challenge.
There are at least two ways we can establish the context for success. One way is to create a Strategic Framework. Another is to build a priority-based Action Plan to improve the business model.
A Strategic Framework
The format of a Strategic Framework that we help clients create has six components:
- Vision Statement – a brief description of your organization in the future
- Pillars of Success – the foundation of your organization’s success
- Strategic Intent – clarifies the meaning of each pillar of success
- Strategic Objectives – multi-year targets for each pillar of success
- Measures – which become your dashboard to track progress
- Key Initiatives – projects or programs that will drive the achievement of the strategic objectives
I have found that employees really benefit from a solid understanding of each of these elements. People at all levels in an organization have a need to understand when they get up in the morning, why they are going to work. The Strategic Framework is a tool to provide this understanding. In addition, it can ensure that companywide, work is aligned to some central goals.
To Download a Description of our Strategic Framework Program click below
Strategic Framework Program Description ▹
Strategic Business Review
Sometimes, even with a clear framework for success, business results are still not forthcoming. We can be working hard but maybe not smart enough. Perhaps, in these situations, we need to undertake a rigorous review of our business by assessing each element of our business model, with a view to improving revenue streams and/or reducing the cost structure.
Business teams need a sound methodology that will help them to gain deeper insights,
establish clarity and create focus around those critical issues that need to be addressed on a
priority basis.
To Download a Description of our Strategic Business Review Program click below
Strategic Business Review Program Description ▹
Create the Launch Path
While it is true that leaders must create the context for success, it is equally true that organizational success can only be achieved if we mobilize employees. Employees respond well when they:
- Understand the plan;
- Believe the leadership team is committed; and
- Comprehend the individual and organizational benefits of the plan
It is a wonder to experience an organization coalescing around the right issues, taking the right actions, and producing the right results.
Create your organizational launch path and mobilize the organization to achieve success.