1. Get Clear On Winning.

Employees have two questions permanently etched in the backs of their minds: where are we going as an organization and how will we get there? Your most important task as a leader is to answer those questions by painting a rich and vivid picture of what winning looks like for your organization.

To gain clarity around your vision of winning, paint the picture as if you have already achieved it. Ask yourself, when we win:

• What three or four key strategic objectives have we accomplished?
• How will we define our workplace culture in terms of attitudes, beliefs, values, and operating principles?
• What skills, knowledge and abilities will exist in the organization? In each business unit?
• What organizational structures will be in place company-wide, and at each business unit?
• What work processes and metrics will we use?
• What tools, systems and technologies will we need, both internally and externally?
• What products will we have in the market? What products in development?
• Who will our customers be? How many will we have?
• Who will our competitors be? What type of companies will we compete against?
• What will be our greatest competitive advantage? Our biggest threat?
• How will we be known?
• What will our brand represent?

Once you have a compelling picture of winning, communicate it! Not just once, but constantly, so that people never lose sight of the goal.

2. Get Closer To Your Customers.

Last year, IBM asked more than 1,500 CEOs around the globe how they saw customer expectations changing over the next five years. Eighty-two percent said they expect customers to demand a better understanding of their needs. Not ask for, but demand. Seventy percent said their customers would expect new and different services.  To stay current with your customers and their changing needs:

• Increase the frequency of contact. The old days of sending out a customer satisfaction survey once a year are long gone.
• Check your assumptions about your customers and your markets on a regular basis. Don't assume that what you knew to be true six months ago is still valid.
• Make customers part of your team. Find new ways to communicate with them (i.e. social media) and new ways to leverage what they tell you. Invite them to participate in your new product development process.
• Develop new ways of gathering, analyzing and using the information customers provide about how you can help solve their problems and achieve their goals. Make sure this information gets to everyone in your organization who needs it.
• Make every employee in the company responsible for customer satisfaction. Not just those who work directly with the customer, but every employee.

Most of all, make it easy and transparent for customers to do business with you. And make sure you know (don't guess) what really motivates them to buy your product or service.

3. Get Good At Scanning The Horizon.

In today's world, new competitive threats can emerge from anywhere at any time. To keep from getting blindsided, get in the habit of looking at three specific areas:

• Your own industry. Where do you stand in relation to your competitors? Are you growing faster or slower? Of the companies growing faster, what are they doing new, different, or better than you? Are they merely improving the status quo, or are they looking to transform your industry?
• Adjacent industries. Which companies that serve your industry are growing fastest, and why? If they decided to enter your industry, what barriers would they face? Do they have the people, technology and resources to overcome those barriers? Do they have the potential to introduce disruptive innovation into your industry?
• The world at large. What companies/industries currently enjoy the most explosive growth rates? What issues and problems do they solve for their customers? Are those solutions likely to impact your industry or your business?

Set up a "We Refuse to Get Blindsided" team that meets at least once a quarter, and task them with researching emerging products, technologies, demographics, and trends in all three areas. Make the team as diverse as possible. Not just in terms of job skills and responsibilities, but also in personality, thinking and decision-making styles. The more perspectives you have on the team, the broader the net it will cast.

To be continued ... Steps 4 and 5 in tomorrow's email.

Source:  Holly G. Green:  More Than A Minute:  How to be an effective leader in today's changing world.