Posts tagged vision

Leaders Think Strategically All the Time

Start With A Strategic Mindset

Leadership

Leaders Think Strategically All the TimeLeadership is a dying art in the world today.  The great leaders of the past are found few-and-far between these days.  There are some that have been fairly successful leaders that have rose to an iconic status, but have they been truly great leaders or just really successful at running something?

Often there is contention between the skills that a leader needs and what a manager needs.  I believe, if you’re not a good leader, you won’t be a good manager, and if you’re not a good manager, you won’t be a good leader.  It is my contention that those who apply both of these talents expertly demonstrate what I call, “LeadermentSM.”  This is the expert combination of Leadership and Management together.

Leaders Think Strategically All the Time.

Great leaders don’t hold strategic planning sessions once a year; great leaders think strategically all the time.  They still hold strategic planning sessions annually and more than not, once a quarter.  Because great leaders know that their leadership team doesn’t always think strategically and they have to set aside time for them to think as the leader does.  But the leader–a true leader–is always mentally in the strategy realm.

This doesn’t mean that they are out-of-touch with reality.  If you understand strategy, then you then know it’s more than just visions and big ideas…it’s tactics and actions that make these things happen.

I don’t care who you talk to, everyone has a different definition of strategy.  It becomes even more difficult when you through in terms like strategic plan, strategic planning, strategic mindset, strategic, thinking, etc.

I’m sure I’ll get a lot of comments from “strategy experts” on this, but for this blog, thinking strategically, means you think always about your Mission Vision, Values, Goals, Objectives, and Action Plans–your thinking takes the form of a strategic plan.  To Develop the Leader Within, you must learn how to think like a leader–this is a skill all managers and leaders should develop.

“Stuff” happens at the Tactical-level with whatever you do.  This is where the day-to-day activities take place.  We “live” here mentally all the time.  That’s because it’s what’s front of our nose’s day-in and day-out.  It is very hard for managers and leaders to step out of this tactical-level because they feel that if they take the time to focus elsewhere, they will lose focus on the operation and things will fail.  This is human nature.

Normally, managers and leaders are promoted to the their position because they showed skill at the Tactical-level as an employee.  This sent a message to their leadership that they might be good managers and leaders.  This doesn’t always prove to be true, but mainly this is because the newly promoted person can’t get their mind out of the tactical-level.  Normally, they are too worried that mistakes will happen and the mission will fail, so they stay overly focused on the day-to-day.  This often leads to micro-management of the people and frustrates everyone.

Focusing on the Tactical-level is a failure of effective LeadermentSM.

Above the Tactical-level is the Operational-level.  Here, long-range objectives become your daily bread.  Almost everything in the Operational-level falls into the form of projects and programs.  For definition sake, projects are duration-based activities–in other words they have a beginning and an end.  Programs run for a long time–they may end at some point, but they last a long while.  Many employees initially have trouble transitioning from the Tactical to Operational levels because they still think day-to-day.  Non-exempt employees are used to being hourly and when they move to exempt status and find themselves in the Operational-level, they often have trouble reacting.

Formerly non-exempt employees tend to move in one of two directions, which defines their behaviors for the future.

  1. They treat everything as a day-to-day task.  Thus, they can’t think in long-term projects and programs.  They feel overwhelmed because they feel that they can never get their work done.  This is frustrating to them and their managers because often they are shying away from long-term necessary work and focusing on things they can get done during the day.  They look at their day as a eight-hour schedule and see what they can accomplish in that time frame.
  2. They become workaholics that put in excessively long hours to try to get long-term tasks done quickly.  Their focus is to get everything on their plate off their plate as quickly as possible.  Thus they stay late to work on a project and push things through.  They’re often not extremely collaborative on their projects, because others don’t move at their pace.  Their management tends to reward these “high performers,” but the employee burns out and eventually gets frustrated because no matter how hard they work, the work never seems to get done.

Neither of these behaviors at the Operational-level are desirable.  Focusing on the Operational-level is a failure of effective LeadermentSM.

Then we have those that literally live in Strategy Land.  They’re constantly dreaming up things to do, directions to head, and brand new ideas.  They’re the big thinkers and the dreamers and we’ve all worked with and for them.  Life is easy for them, because they never get their hands dirty.  They’re the ones pushing new projects and programs to the Operational-level that fit the purpose of the day and move with the winds of change.  Managers and employees who exist and operate at the Tactical-level never know what direction the organization is heading, so they burrow in and simply focus on the job.

Leaders that live in the Land of Strategy find themselves very frustrated that all their grand ideas never seem to get accomplished, especially in the time frames they envisioned them occurring.  They become more-and-more impatient and they tend to push their employees beyond their limits.  They stress the entire organization and frustrate even the hardest and most dedicated workers.

Focusing on the Strategic-level is a failure of effective LeadermentSM.

So, if thinking strategic, operational, or tactical is a failure of effective LeadermentSM, how should a Leader think?

Leaders Think Strategically all the time…

This doesn’t mean they live in Strategy Land…this means they think all the time like their strategic plan.  Refer to the image below:

Strategic Thinking

All Leaders and Managers, regardless of what level they work at, should apply Strategic Thinking every day.  When you think strategically, everything you do starts to change.  This means that you are always considering all three levels every day and with every decision.

Strategic Thinkers ground themselves in the values, principles, mission, and vision of the organization–regardless if they came up with them or not.  They are constantly evaluating every decision to ensure it fits within the values and principles, is it part of the mission of what they should be doing, and does it move the organization toward the vision.

Strategic Thinkers understand that nothing–I repeat NOTHING–happens at the Strategic-level outside of creating direction.  Things do not get done at the Strategic-level and if they think they will, they’re simply fooling themselves.  If you are waiting for something “strategic” to happen, then you’re going to wait a long time.  Things happen at the Tactical-level.

Strategic Thinkers ensure that their programs are aligned to the strategy of the organization.  Programs are long-term and very lasting, thus they should be 100% aligned with the mission.  Programs do not support the vision–I know that may surprise you, but they don’t.  Strategic Objectives, which are aligned to Strategic Goals, take the form of Projects.  Operational Projects, which are temporary in nature, should be primarily designed to evolve Operational Programs to move the organization toward its vision.

Projects are not always 100% aligned to the mission and vision of the organization, but for the most part they should be.  Occasionally, you might have to do something that simply doesn’t move the strategic needle.

Strategic Thinkers know that this means that Programs are mission-focused and Projects are vision-focused.  Thus, Strategic Thinkers don’t live in Strategy Land pushing down new idea after new idea.  They ensure the programs running in the organization support the mission 100%.  They also ensure organizational Projects are designed to move the organization’s Programs toward the vision.  If something isn’t supporting the strategic plan of the organization, it must be questioned.

At the Tactical-level, Strategic Thinkers know this is where the real work gets done.  However, there are two types of tactical work–Program and Project.  Understanding this helps those who operate at the Tactical-level connect to the mission.  Also, understanding this helps those that operate at the Operational-level better focus on how their day-to-day actions affect the bigger picture and thus relieves a lot of stress and frustration.

Additionally, Strategic Thinkers understand that the act of strategic planning is a tactical activity that should operate within an operational program–in other words, organizational strategic thinking is a strategic program that should always exist.  The problem is that it seldom does.

If you work at the day-to-day Tactical-level, your actions exist within a Program and sometimes they support a Project designed to evolve a Program.  Just thinking this way fully aligns what you do every day to the strategy.  If what you’re doing every day doesn’t support this, ask yourself why.

If your mind exists in one level–strategic, operational, or tactical–then you will fail to achieve effective LeadermentSM.  No matter where you operate, you must always think strategically–think like a leader.  Following this guidance will build your competence in the LeadermentSM YouniversitySM and prepare you for greater challenges.

When you think of great leaders think about what styles and concepts of LeadermentSM they employed.  What did they do that was so effective…that propelled the masses under them to great things.  As we can see, these styles vary in application, but an effective leader and manager should understand and apply all traits in a combined approach as appropriate.

LeadermentSM and YouniversitySM are service marks of Crosscutter Enterprises

Is outsourcing destroying your culture?

Meandering Genius Organizational Commitment

Tell me again why you are outsourcing your work? Oh, yea, it’s cheaper. But what are you losing?

Over the years many US businesses and the US Government have been outsourcing their work. This outsourcing comes with a cost…

Businesses outsource for one or more of the following reasons:

1. Capacity: They cannot hire anymore employees because of the color or money, because of lack of space, or because of the limited duration of the work, but they need more capacity to get the current or future expected work done. Outsourcing provides scalability.

2. Capability: They lack a specific skill set within their current pool of employees, like strategic planners, process improvement experts, education and training, scientists, project managers, etc. This requirement, although normally needed for the long term, is often sourced for short term engagements. Normally these people come in to provide a service, but the business can’t afford what they really need so they tend to accomplish much less than desired or required.

3. Cost: It is cheaper to outsource work to a third party on shore, near shore, or off shore. Why, because they turn the process that you have seasoned and higher-paid employees doing into a manufacturing-like process with high turn-over potential because of a low pay. These companies operate on a margin that is extremely tight, so they are focused on leaning out the work as much as possible. This is seen as efficient, but doesn’t always end up as effective.

4. Not Core: Sometimes, an organization wants to focus on only the core work that their company does and turn to experts in the non-core space. For instance, accounts payable is something that every company has to deal with, but a single company can only be so good at it. A third party that specializes in accounts payable work; however, does this for many companies so they have expertise in this work and know all the industry-leading and innovative approaches to the work. Outsourcing to them allows the organization to focus on their products and services versus some other common process across businesses.

So, as you can see outsourcing has valid and perceived lucrative reasons. However, what is the one thing that you’re outsourcing when you turn over work that will never exist in this line of work again?

Your Culture.

Let’s say your company today is all internal employees. Everyone of them is working’ theoretically for the benefit of the company and specifically for your customers. They are, hopefully, focused on your mission and vision and delivering value that your customer expects.

Outsource that…

You will not get a third party to buy into your mission and vision. They won’t connect with your customer. They have their own mission–normally it’s to provide whatever services you desire because they can always hire more people when you can. Their vision is to get bigger off of your work and the work of others. Their customer is you and every other company that has outsourced to them…not your customer!

Yes, there are benefits to outsourcing–especially short term benefits–and the reasons can be valid and strong. However, every employee or potential employee that you replace is one that could be focused on delivering on your mission, meeting your vision, and connecting with your customer.

Even if your employees today are not doing those three things, that can be fixed. It takes leadership to drive those behaviors, but you can still get that from your employees. Outsource them and you’ll never get that from the third party.

Outsourcing is a short term solution with long term effects. Beware!

Energized by a business plan

Meandering Genius Strategic Planning

Ever been interested in starting your own business, but wasn’t sure where to start? Have you started to build that new business and lost some drive floundering on the next step?

Well, I’m in the process of building a new business, which requires writing a new book, an assessment tool, creating a website, developing extensive training materials, and creating a consulting approach and appropriate certification program.

I have the idea, but what gets me jazzed and on the road is writing the business plan. Maybe this isn’t for everyone, but I just can’t see anyone risking all the effort and potential money in the development of an idea as a business and not have a plan.

The best part about writing the plan is that it documents everything running around in my head, which gets in the way of other stuff I need running around in my head.

The first task is to outline the plan. Like any good paper, you need a framework. If you plan to seek funding (loans or investments) you will need a good business plan–ideas without plans are just that. Few will financially support that. So this is where you start.

I’m at the second step…the fun part. Describing the idea–the business–and writing out the mission and vision. This is what truly frames out what you are trying to do. Many people think that “Making Money doing something” is their mission–if you start there, you’ve failed. Chances are that your business will fail too, probably in the first six years. Your mission is really WHAT you do–the purpose and part of the why you exist. Your business will either plan to make something or to provide something (product or service); possibly both. What is the expected outcome of these products and services.

I always thought that Booz Allen Hamilton had a pretty effective mission statement.

We solve our clients toughest problems.

That in itself is powerful–we weren’t there to make money off whatever job you needed, no you were calling in experts to focus on the hardest things you had to deal with. Yes, we made money at it, but that wasn’t the purpose of the company.

Next is the vision. This is really powerful and can send a definite message as to what you are all about. Throw out the statements like being best, being world class, etc… Think big and think about what effort you are willing to put behind your vision. Being the best at something means devoting time and money into becoming the best. Are you willing to do that, because if you are not, your vision will be empty.

Consider Booz Allen’s vision:

Delivering results that endure.

What this meant was that we came in, solved your toughest problems and then taught you how to keep the problem solved. We didn’t build a position or a technology that required regular financial support to keep it running. Many contractors do that–they create solutions that you have to continue to fund or they will collapse.

This was very empowering to me–it meant that I had to be so good that I was the solution that they couldn’t live without. Basically, I would become their trusted provider and the person they constantly turned to for their toughest problems.

Your vision should reflect that. It should scare you and excite you at the same time. It should represent a belief that puts you at risk, but promises much more.

This is why writing a business plan jazzes me and motivates me when thinking about starting a new business. Not only am I clearing my mind by fully documenting my ideas, but I’m really framing out the why in my new business endeavor. This is exciting.

How the mighty fall

Meandering Genius

Mission is everything. When you lose sight of your true mission, you are bound to fail.

Here’s a story about Johnny.

Johnny had a really good idea for a new widget that many people would need. Johnny was very innovative as a kid and his idea was something no one had thought about.

Johnny designed his widget in his basement and built the prototype in his garage. With patent pending, he sold his ideas to a few companies and Widget Corp was born. Johnny focused all his time and excess cash into this startup, but he was excited.

Flash forward two years.

Demand for Johnny’s widget exploded and, after hiring a small team, he was able to meet delivery. Johnny was so excited about helping these companies in this area and, along with his select team, they were able to come up with three other widgets that were equally as innovative. Widget Corp customers were excited about the new widgets and Johnny’s was able to quickly start selling them. With the demand, came the need for more people than his small entrepreneurial team–he started hiring people focused on producing widgets under his supervision. With all the new people, Johnny needed special talent, and he hired someone to help manage people because he made widgets–he knew very little about human resource management. Supplies for his growing line of widgets were becoming an issue, so he brought in an expert in supply chain management to help out. Widget Corp was making a lot of money and Johnny loved that. To allow himself the ability to still invent and sell widgets, he hired a CFO to manage the money Widget Corp was making.

Flash forward three years.

Widgets from Widget Corp have gone international in several companies. Johnny hasn’t had a lot of time to create new widgets because he’s been focused on selling and expanding markets. Instead, his early team has made modified actions to the original widgets and are selling the new improved ones as the 2.0 model. Widget Corp is rolling in money and the CFO moved them to IPO status to leverage capital–something Johnny barely understood, but was excited about making more money from the money they were making. Widget Corp has such a large manufacturing process that they needed a COO and the operations were broke into teams to manage 24 by 7 operations–they were making more widgets than were needed so they would have them on hand when the customer ordered them because they had so many types of widgets now that it took a long time to make just one widget. Almost every widget that Widget Corp sells has at least three versions and they stock them all. Customers like the widgets, but many of the original customers have gone to small look a like competitors that are making new and inventive widgets that meet their needs. To manage the growth of Widget Corp, Johnny stood up a Sales and Marketing department and expanded financial management and human resources. It’s getting harder to make money I the market so he’s been selling off some original widget designs to competitors and reducing the sales price on the older versions of widgets. Johnny hasn’t developed a widget in the past several years, but he’s happy making lots of money expanding and selling.

Flash forward two years.

Widget Corp outsourced a large part of their manufacturing operations to an offshore company to reduce operating expenses. Johnny focused 100% on this deal to keep the flow of money to Widget Corp coming in. This allowed him downsize human resources and increase financial management. Right after the outsourcing Conglomerate Corp made Johnny a sizable offer to buy Widget Corp. They wanted to expand their operations into his market and he was the leader with the largest customer base. The price was right and Johnny jumped at the offer.

Flash toward four years.

Conglomerate Corp operated Widget Corp at a loss for three years, cutting quality and service, merging the sales with their sales department, and laying off all redundant labor. CC was only interested in expanding to the new clients and increasing how much money they made for their shareholders every year. By the fourth year, they liquidated Widget Corp’s assets, discontinued the line of widgets, which hadn’t been update for years, and made money off the sale of patents to smaller widget-making companies.

Widget Corp lasted 11 years as a company. Johnny’ s vision of making widgets for people that made their life better was dead. He was sort of happy making money and took a Vice President of Sales and Marketing position with a smaller startup company to keep his cash flow fluid. He came to work every day and dreamed of new widgets to make for the customers he sold to, but his new company wasn’t interested in spending resources on new widgets when they had a successful line that they were already selling.

What was Johnny’s mission and vision when he started?

How did that mission and vision change over time?

Companies are built off a solid purpose–they are designed to provide something specific that a customer needs. They are created because of customers. The vision of this company is to serve the needs of customers even better–to do great things for their customers.

When created, these garage front companies, many existing today, do not have a plan for the immense growth that will occur because they really do have a great idea. The founders know how to create the needs of the customers and are driven by the mission and vision.

Money–the making of it–slowly starts to become the “reason” for existing. Yea, Widget Corp had a mission and vision statement on the Corporate Office wall and it sounded great, but they stopped focusing on why they were created and started focusing on what they were getting out of it.

Never lose focus on why you exist. If your actions don’t represent that, then what are you doing and why are you doing it.

Look around at major companies today–some struggle with their mission and vision, often because the people who work there–especially the ones making a lot of money–just want to make money. It’s a job, just like Johnny at the end of the story.

This story is true of many companies that have come and gone and are even here today.

If Leadership is the art of influencing others…

Leadership Meandering Genius Strategic Communication

Leader is a position–someone that leads others. Many people, who are placed in the position of a leader struggle with the challenge of the leading others part. They simply take charge and rally the troops to move in one direction.

Being a leader is not leadership, but do you have to be a leader to lead?

No, leadership is something earned by those you lead–those that choose to follow you. The best way to learn how to lead is to run something for a nonprofit–something where you have to get others to help you.

Some leaders think that influence means to coerce with incentives and punishments. Some think they have to constantly sell to others so they will buy in.

Leadership is neither of these: leadership, true leadership, is about four simple things.

1. Passion: you must be passionate about what you do. Passion is your sales technique–not selling. Being passionate about something is infectious. Having and displaying a deep passion for what you are doing will spread to those around you and others will want to feel that passion too.

2. Vision. Just doing what you’re doing today, is not going to cut it. Becoming something more than today–something much more is vision. People want someone who will inspire them to a future. They wan to believe in something bigger and be part of it. Leader must be passionate about what he is doing today, but have an inspiring vision of where things are going tomorrow.

3. Know your people. Simply that, get to know the people who have chosen to follow you. Understand them and make them part of your vision. See their dreams and believe in them like you want them to believe in yours. Know their families, know their hobbies, know their skills and background. Never put them in a box of how you see them, but see them as they see themselves. Knowing your people better than they know themselves is powerful leadership.

4. Communicate. This is where most fail. E able to express your passion and your vision through writing and speaking. The better you are at communicating, the more powerful your message will be. Also, be open and honest to those who follow you–be among them always, even when you are not. Make them feel like that can talk to you at any time. Leaders today, put barriers between themselves and their people to allow them to work, but removing all barriers and spending your time communicating your passion and vision will inspire those around you to do much more than you yourself is possible of.

Leadership is not a position–it is definitely an art. But like any art, it is really more simple than most realize. You don’t have to be wealthily or powerful to be a and effective leader because those things do not make you so.

Lead with passion and vision. Know your people better than they know themselves. And constantly communicate to your people your passion and vision.

This is leadership.