Leadership: How to Turn Pain Into Pleasure
Ah,
leadership. It's a lot like
raising children: alternately both a pleasure and, at times, painful!
Let's see if we can turn some of that pain
into pleasure.
How would you answer these three questions
that keep business leaders and owners up at night?
-
Do 100%
of the people in your organization, from top to bottom, really know where your company is
headed?
- If three
great opportunities came your way this week and you only have the resources
to pursue one of the three, would you
clearly know which one to pursue?
-
Are you getting
the full potential from every employee?
Answering "no"
to any of these questions means you are likely suffering unnecessary pain. But
there's hope!
A
well executed strategic plan can change your answers to "yes."
HOW?
A strategic plan will link
daily decisions and actions with a vision of where the organization wants to be
in the future. You'll know
your priorities and be able to align decisions and resources. If done well, it taps into the
creativity and energy of every person on the team and gets them fully
engaged.
MEETING LEADERSHIP CHALLENGES
Having a
strategic plan helps us accomplish the six most important leadership challenges
of running a business.
1 - Priorities
The
plan helps you and your entire team stay
focused on the most important priorities that match company resources.
You'll define a clear
vision and purpose owned by all employees. You'll know what your goals are and what takes precedence. Daily decisions are made within the
context of your plan, which keeps you from wasting precious time and resources
chasing rainbows!
2 - Data
You can't keep score if you don't
know what to measure and what gets
measured gets done. Within
your strategic plan, you will decide your key indicators, the numbers that you
need to measure. So ask yourself, "What numbers need to go up or down for
this business to be successful?" Then decide which numbers, ratios and percentages you need to faithfully track daily, weekly, monthly
or quarterly. A brief set of key
indicators helps you focus on results,
and avoid any activity that does not support
your desired outcome. Those
same metrics create accountability
standards.
3 - Creativity
Surprise! Being a leader does not mean you have
the best ideas and having the best ideas does not make you a good leader. Tap into the creativity of the people who are actually carrying out
the work. When team members bounce
ideas off of each other, they arrive at solutions that may never have emerged
alone.Your real job as a
leader is to bring out the best ideas and performance of your team, not just generate
ideas.
4 - Commitment
People are
much more likely to carry out a plan they helped create. That's worth repeating. People are much more likely to carry out a plan they helped create. When employees are involved in a
project from the start, they are more likely to be committed to the ideals it
represents. Strategic
planning activities
motivate your employees to deliver their very best effort on behalf of the
company.
5 - Execution
When
employees participate in a creative strategic planning process, they will know where the company is headed and know how to participate in making that happen. You provide
the structure & rhythm. Employees participate in goals & actions. Ask yourself who you will depend on to
carry out this plan, then get them involved.
6 - Accountability
People will know what they are accountable for. Not just tasks - results and metrics. People will understand the ramifications of their individual performance on the
entire company.
PROCESS VS.
CONTENT
The true value of a strategic plan is not in
the document itself.
It is in the process of creating it,
involving your employees from the bottom
up. Their participation
engages them at the deepest level, empowers them to be more effective, and enables them to be better-informed decision
makers.
Strategic
planning is a process, not an event. Your plan does you no good if you end up with a beautifully bound
document that ends up in a notebook that gathers dust on a shelf. It should be a living, breathing document that everyone understands and uses.
A robust strategic plan is
the best way to get creativity, focus, commitment, productivity and
accountability and the most effective path to success.
It's
a remarkable confidence builder and
an amazing learning experience for
your entire company.
So
what are you waiting for? Let's
turn some of that pain into pleasure!
I'm anxious to hear your
success stories, so let me know how it goes.
Take care,
