The Journey Begins

Create a sense of urgency for superior performance.

Somehow (and we leave that up to you!) create a great sense of urgency within your organization to achieve the next level of performance. We all have a very strong comfort zone, an unfortunate sense of complacency, from which we don’t wish to move: “We are successful. We know the markets. Our customers love us.” Yet we all know that success lasts a relatively short period of time and requires continuous renewal. Therefore, a prime responsibility of a CEO is to inspire and enable people to perform at levels greater than they are achieving today. Without that aspiration and the means to achieve greater levels of realistic performance, little will change. For in the absence of a compelling alternative vision of what the future could be, the status quo will always win. Create that compelling vision of future accomplishments and instill the sense of urgency to get there, and your organization will follow you…if you lead by example.

Build a powerful executive team.

So the first group that you must lead is your direct reports, the people responsible, by virtue of their positions, for the long-term viability of the organization. Therefore, carefully choose the team that is going to work with you crafting the strategy. Break down the walls of functional thinking and bring together executives who represent your organization’s entire value chain, from suppliers to customers. And never let an outside consultant set your strategy! They simply don’t know your business. Only you, with your executive team, can set a strategy, since you must live with the consequences of that strategy. To ensure a sound debate, reach outside your inner group and install some young members who represent the future of the company, and some members near retirement. Retirees have nothing to lose by pointing out some unpleasant facts that may be ignored by the bureaucrats in your group. But once you have selected the team you must give them a task to accomplish and the tools to accomplish that task. That task is to craft a competitive strategy.

Craft a strategy.

One of the major obstacles to crafting a competitive strategy is the absence of a process to guide the debates intended to reach the strategic decisions that will pull your organization into the future. Without a process, a meeting on strategic issues can degenerate into an operational meeting focusing on day-to-day crises. With a process you are able to systematically tap the collective knowledge base of you and your executive team, and to develop a common language that guides you to conclusions, decisions and, most importantly, actions. Formulating strategy using a structured, disciplined process such as we offer, is not a one-off effort. Rather, it is a series of debates about how your organization will continue to be effective and competitive in the future. And how ultimately you will be able to respond to the inevitable changes that will occur.

Communicate the strategy.

People ask their leaders two simple questions:
“Where are we going?” And “What do you expect of me?” Therefore, when you communicate your strategy you must address those two questions, thereby making the strategy relevant to the people receiving the message. Strategy is the foundation of all organizational communication, a “story” about the future and the organization’s role within that future. It requires both a storyteller and a listener. Too often we simply look at strategy from the storyteller’s point of view, the CEO, and neglect making the message relevant to the listener, our people. Thus, the measurement of realistic performance goals that reflect our strategy serves as a powerful, relevant way to communicate. Measurement is a way to observe the impact that our ideas, our strategic thinking, have on the performance of our people and our business. Yet what we measure and communicate must have meaning and must help answer the strategic question, “What do we want to become?” We need ways to measure our effectiveness, to measure those things that should be accomplished and which will produce positive lasting results. Yes, everything you must know in order to answer the question: “What do you expect of me?”

Empower your people to execute the strategy.

But once you help your people understand, through clear, measurable and inspirational goals, what you expect them to do, you must lead by standing behind them, letting them get on with the job…the job having been defined as the execution of the strategy. While strategy is the framework that gives your people the bounded freedom to think creatively, your leadership is the glue that holds them together. It speaks of the future and what people can accomplish if they are willing. Leadership also speaks in terms of values and the principles that guide people’s actions within your organization. And it recognizes that if an organization abandons principles for the sake of performance, it will sow the seeds of its future destruction. Your role as a leader, as a CEO, therefore involves inspiring ordinary people to do extraordinary things. This transformational leadership appeals to the higher needs and aspirations of men and women. It taps into the unconscious desire in all of us to achieve things we never dared dream. In business, there are many good leaders who are, what we call “transactional” leaders. From year to year they make deals with shareholders, labor leaders and employees, and they run “good” organizations. But those leaders who are able to envision the future and motivate their colleagues to accomplish extraordinary things will run great organizations.

Build momentum.

Success breeds success. It reinforces a belief system that supports extraordinary performance. In the execution of strategy you must have some early successes, events that essentially prove that the team is capable of executing their strategy. We look for this in areas such as successful accomplishment of a critical change issue, or the successful launch of a particular product that originated from our strategic thinking. These successes give us feedback, allow us to say, “It was all worth it”, and prove the inevitable cynics wrong. The principle of momentum in competition is well known. From those who play sports, to those who are in politics, gaining early momentum is a key to long-term success. If it weren’t, we would not spend so much time trying to prevent our competitors from building their momentum!

Make performance a habit.

Someone once observed: “We become what we measure.” To illustrate this point, put a small black dot on the lower left-hand corner of a blank piece of paper and ask someone what they see. Most will ignore the large white space and tell you they see a small black dot in the bottom left, proving the lesson that what you choose to see is what you pay attention to, measure, and ultimately act upon. If our sense of observation is focused simply on the black dot, (what we are doing today), we will miss the white space, the opportunities of tomorrow…future opportunities which will be relentlessly pursued by our competitors. Successful organizations therefore use a strategic intelligence system to look at the “white space” and answer questions about future customers and competitors:

• Where do future product opportunities lie in meeting changing customer needs?
• Who are tomorrow’s competitors and how will the competition react to changes in customer preferences?
• How and where should we attack these competitors?
• What must we defend? How will we protect ourselves?
• What level of superior performance must we achieve to exceed customer expectations?

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By constantly asking and answering those questions, your organization will make sustained superior performance a habit, a part of your organization’s culture.

But a final question brings you full circle. It leads you to where your journey began, for once you arrive at your destination, your “castle”, you will inevitably turn around and ask the strategic question once again: “What do we want to be as an organization?” And once again, “The Journey Begins…”