Question: I see people falling into a hole of being comfortable, not thinking strategically. They come in, do a day of tactical work and go home. They”™re not helping me solve the big challenges our company is facing right now. How can I get them to spend less time keeping their heads down and more time looking up to see what else they can do to get us where we need to go?
Thoughts of the day: Make sure your managers are on board with where the company is headed. Facilitate conversations about the challenges that have to be solved over the next three to five years. Brainstorm solutions and break actions down into bite-size chunks. Agree on priorities ”” resource allocation, actions to be taken and results to be achieved. Have a way to track outcomes so that your managers can build confidence that things are working while they identify and fix problems that crop up.
Work backward. Get on the same page by mapping out a clear picture of where the company is going. Some managers may shy away from putting goals down on paper for fear they may not hit them. Teach managers it”™s better to strive for a goal and come up short than being unclear where the company is headed by not making any goals.
Make sure that goals involve growth of customers, markets, revenue and knowledge. These become the foundation for future success. Everyone on your management team should contribute to the definition of where the company is going and how it will get there. Engage people by creating a collaborative learning environment. Ask people to read books, articles and attend conferences so that they can learn to make a greater contribution.
Base planning on facts, not fiction. Do research on where the company”™s potential future markets, clients, products, employees, revenue and margins are likely to come from. Make sure they all line up. Avoid the temptation to chase a great idea that has little chance of delivering profit, believing that your company will be the one in a million that figures out how to break through. That”™s called the bleeding edge. You could easily end up wasting resources and losing opportunity chasing a dream that is too hard to bring to reality.
Make sure your managers have time to think. Often as companies downsize to weather economic turbulence, managers become increasingly focused on the tactical aspects of the job they need to do. Those managers who remain end up doing extra duty, with a full plate of assignments taking up all of their work time, and then some. Time to pause, reflect, think about strategy goes out the window.
Set up management meetings. Have the managers report on what”™s going on and the challenges they”™re facing. Brainstorm possible solutions and, most critically, make sure they”™re focused on the top goals of the firm. Start and end each meeting on time, encouraging participants to want to come back for another round of strategic thinking.
Work with your managers to build a plan made up of small steps that lead to the company”™s strategic goals. Identify how steps interlink and which comes first, second and third. Estimate how long it will take to accomplish each step. Allow for things to go wrong by estimating bigger timeframes than needed to accomplish critical activities. If things go well everyone will be ahead of the game, and if things do go off track there”™s room for recovery built into the plan.
Use meetings as a way to ensure managers take time out of their busy day to refocus, plan and reflect on what”™s working, and what needs fixing. Give managers exercises to complete between meetings. Challenge them to research solutions outside the company and gather information from a wide range of internal sources.
Managers who are having a hard time participating need to be met with one-on-one. Find out what”™s getting in the way. Do they lack commitment? Do they not get the point that they have to think about the larger picture as well as act to deal with immediate needs? Or do they need training?
Make it easier for managers to sort through the noise of day-to-day as they practice prioritizing strategies. Ask them to report on key result areas tied to strategic objectives. Make sure that whatever you plan to track is simple to get to and ties directly to the company”™s long term goals. Regularly re-focus everyone on the top priorities of the company by checking results vs. goals.
Looking for a good book? Try “10 Steps to Successful Strategic Planning” by Susan Barksdale and Teri Lund.
Andi Gray is president of Strategy Leaders Inc., strategyleaders.com, a business-consulting firm that specializes in helping entrepreneurial firms grow. She can be reached by phone at 877-238-3535. Do you have a question for Andi? Send it to her at AskAndi@StrategyLeaders.com.
