Start 2010 Off Right - With Six Disciplines

2010 - another new year awaits us all. What will the new year bring in terms of your business? What will you do differently in 2010 to ensure success?

Consider adopting the Six Disciplines approach to strategy execution.

Think of these six disciplines as a series of annual, quarterly, weekly and daily repeatable cycles which, with each successive pass, helps leaders and their teams to more effectively execute in their pursuit of enduring excellence. Six disciplines are all it takes—but leaders and their companies must stick with them. Change initiatives generally don’t last, especially in small and mid-sized companies. This complete program is the "ultimate process" that most organizations don't have - it supercedes all other processes.

Discipline I. Decide What's Important. Decide what’s important (and by implication what’s not important) so you can aim the allocation of resources—time, money and creativity—toward this end. In this annual discipline, leaders systematically and regularly review and renew their mission, values, strategic position, vision, their most vital few objectives—and agree what to stop doing.

Then on to Discipline II. Set Goals That Lead

Discipline II. Set Goals That Lead. Set goals that lead. Well-defined goals are among the most effective tools available to any leader—yet most leaders don’t set goals that lead their people in the right direction. The purpose of this discipline is to produce clear and measurable annual goals. Pursuing these goals will lead people to align their daily activities with the vital few objectives set in the strategy. The result is a brief goals statement that every team member can understand and support in their daily activities

Then to Discipline III. Align Systems

Discipline III. Align Systems. The systems—policies, processes, technologies, measures, and people—are often at cross purposes with the stated priorities because most leaders lack an organized approach to keep their systems aligned with their strategy. This discipline taps the knowledge of the entire workforce to identify the areas where the company will get the best ROI in policies, processes, measures, technologies and people.

Then on to Discipline IV. Work the Plan.

Discipline IV. Work the Plan. One of the best learning tools is the individual quarterly plan. In this discipline, every person works with his/her team leader to develop Individual Plans for the coming quarter. These goals are reviewed and checked for alignment with company goals. This quarterly plan serves as a timesaving template for a weekly status report. Every individual learns how to set goals, understands company priorities, takes responsibility for their goals, learns to become accountable, reports progress, and uses their innovative capabilities to solve problems.

And continuously practice Discipline V. Innovate Purposefully

Discipline V. Innovate Purposefully. Innovation means problem-solving, and everyone has the ability to solve problems. This discipline provides principles and measurement tools that are used in the other disciplines to help leaders set clear goals and align daily activities to meet them. These goals should align with company priorities, and employees should use their innate creativity to meet or beat those goals.

Then, onto the final process, Discipline VI. Step Back.

Discipline VI. Step Back. This annual discipline helps leaders step back from the pressures of everyday business and gain perspective on the factors that affect business performance. This is achieved through a series of “discovery exercises,” exploring externals (competitors, industry, economic) and internals (goal performance, stakeholder feedback, measures, SWOT.) In addition to leaders stepping back, all team members are encouraged to do the same by providing input on each other’s performances, which is achieved by completing a 360° feedback survey and an annual performance appraisal.

Then we cycle back to Discipline I, and begin the repeatable process over again, year after year.

BOTTOMLINE: Get all the details of this repeatable business-building methodology by reading the award-winning handbook: Six Disciplines for Excellence (and visit http://www.sixdisciplines.com/.)

Coming To Your Organization in 2010: More Change!

Are you satisfied with the way your business is performing today?

Specifically, what are you doing to make 2010 a banner year for business improvement?

What are you going to do differently? What are you going to do - to change? The challenge is how to change, not if.

Following are seven steps for effective organizational change in 2010:

1. Create a commitment to change. Define a shared vision of what you want to commit to it. Without a clear commitment, you'll create chaos for the change you want to achieve. Creating the commitment brings you back to what you want to achieve and allows you to measure your activities against this commitment -- and ensures that you stay focused on your vision.
2. Engage the stakeholders. Not just your senior management team, but everyone that is involved with your company as well. That means both internal and external members of
   your organization (your team members, your suppliers, your customers, your advisors, etc.) Everyone needs to understand the upcoming change - and "What's in it for me?" Give stakeholders the time to understand that the upcoming change is in their own best interest to help make this commitment a reality.
3. Visualize the changed future. Paint a picture of what your company will perform like as this journey begins - and understand, that the new direction, and all of the learning that takes place along the way - never ends. Many individuals will ask how the change is going to affect the company and, more importantly, how it will affect themselves. Use your imagination to visualize what you would like your company to be in one year, in 3 years
   -- in 5 years. Share this vision with everyone in your organization, and do it regularly.
4. Begin the transformation. It's easier to paint a picture of your future than it is to get started on it. Put together a step-by-step action plan with dates, deliverables, milestones, and who's responsible for the achievement of each step. If you break down all the steps you need to take month-by-month, quarter-by-quarter, it can more easily become a reality. Have a clear roadmap in place that outlines the process, and monitor progress along the way. Run into roadblocks early? You still have time to change course.
5. Embed the new change into your culture. Everything you're doing should be consistent with the commitment to change. With every action you take, ask yourself if it is consistent with what you want to achieve. Will it help you achieve the end results you want?
6. Create a sense of urgency. It's important to recognize that most of us, in reacting to change, want to slow it down - or resist it fully. But, if we accelerate it, we can move ahead. Let your team members know that it'sokay to be uncomfortable with change, but that the winner in business will always be the one who most effectively adapts to the new environment.
7. Continuously improve. There is no finish line. There is no final destination. There is no "are we there yet?" Improvement and change are a continuous process, not a one-time event.

What Companies Should Look for in a Business Coach

The business coaching industry, which is getting more exposure these days, is still filled with contradictions. Coaches themselves disagree over why they’re hired, what they do, and how to measure success. Here’s what you should know.

A few months ago, Harvard Business Review conducted a survey of 140 leading coaches in order to find out more about the business coaching industry. Despite the widespread use of executive coaches, little is widely known about who they are, what they do.

Here's what the coaches who were surveyed said companies should look for in a coach:

• 65%: Experience of coaching in similar settings
• 61%: Clear methodology
• 50%: Quality of client list
• 32%: Ability to measure ROI
• 29%: Certification in a proven coaching method
• 27%: Experience in working in a similar role as the coachee
• 13%: Experience as psychological therapist
• 2%: Background in executive search

BOTTOMLINE: Ask to see the coach’s methodology. If they don’t have one, find another coach.

Why Do Most Companies Fail? Hiring Is At The Core

Why do most companies fail?

• Most companies fail primarily because they don’t have the right team of people
• The CEO might not be right, or the CEO hasn’t chosen the right people in the right positions
• Unfortunately, most new CEOs don’t understand the talent level required at each position and the teamwork needed to build a successful company.
• To have a successful company, most businesses need key people in several categories including research & development, manufacturing, IT, finance, marketing, sales, and HR.

BOTTOMLINE: Hiring right (from position description, to sourcing, to interviewing, to selection, to assessment, to hiring, to orientation, to development, to succession planning) - are all keys to building the right team. Done properly and repeatedly, the organization thrives. Ignore it, and the organization is doomed to failure.

Why Trust Is The Key To Execution

Much has been said recently about trust being a foundational principle for organizations to get the right things done.

Warren G. Bennis has said: "Trust is the lubrication that makes it possible for organizations to work."

Collin Powell has said: “You've got to trust people…you've got to let people make mistakes and not ground them off about it.”

Stephen M.R. Covey, the author of the the best-seller "The Speed of Trust" offers a free download of "The 13 Behaviors of a High Trust Leader".

The Toughest Part of Strategy? Execution!

Strategy formulation, while extremely challenging and difficult, is usually not what concerns most small business leaders. In fact, it's not even planning that worried worries them. It's something even bigger and more problematic.

It's the execution of strategy that keeps many small business leaders awake at night!

Why is execution so hard?

Because making the plan work is even bigger challenge than creating the plan: Making strategy work is more difficult than the task of strategy making.

Execution is critical to success. Execution represents a disciplined process that enables an organization to take a strategy and make it work. Without a careful, planned approach to execution, strategic goals cannot be attained.

Developing such a logical approach, however, represents a tremendous challenge - particularly to leaders of growing organizations.

Here are the key take-aways:

• Making strategy work (execution) is critical - and much more difficult than strategy formulation
• Even the best plans still fail or don't meet expectations -- because of poor execution.
• Despite its importance, execution is often handled poorly by many organizations.

The continual problem?

Much more is known about planning than doing, about strategy-making than making strategy work. And business leaders still don't seem to understand a great deal about the execution of strategy.

The obvious questions?

• If execution is paramount to success, why don't more organizations develop a disciplined approach to it?
• Why don't companies spend more time developing and perfecting processes that help them achieve their strategic goals?
• Why can't more companies execute strategies - consistently?

The simple answer?

Because - execution is extremely difficult. We're all taught to strategize, and to plan - but little time is spent teaching (and learning) how to execute!

BOTTOMLINE: From the CEO on down, everyone within an organization must commit to and own the processes and actions related to effective execution. Everyone must learn to be accountable for their activities and projects, and these effort must relate to the goals, and ultimately the strategy of the company.

The Keys To Strategy Execution

"The Keys to Strategy Execution: A Global Study of Current Trends and Future Possibilities", was a research study commissioned by the American Management Association and conducted by the Human Resource Institute.

The research identified the leading obstacles that hinder strategy execution and what companies can do to overcome them.

The following is a quick review of some of the main findings:

• Higher performers tend to be better at executing strategies
• Clarity is crucial to the execution of strategy
• Overall, organizations are not achieving clarity to the degree they should
• Higher-performing companies are much more likely than lower performers to provide clarity
• Alignment practices are widely used and highly valued
• Higher-performing organizations are considerably more likely to use certain alignment strategies
• Speed and adaptability are differentiators
• Decision-making speed remains a major problem
• Employee engagement is a concern
• Leadership development seems to be a deficit in the area of execution
• Customer needs/demands and worker capabilities are the most important drivers of execution today
• A lack of resources and the presence of government regulations are the primary barriers to strategy execution today

You can download AMA's full research report here.

Employee Engagement E-Book Available

David Zinger, the well-respected expert on employee engagement, has released a free 44-page e-book that includes 200 single-sentence "pieces of advice" assembled from hundreds of contributors about how to improve employee engagement.

Well worth your time to read through.

Download the e-book here.

Want even more? Join David's network about employee engagement on Ning.

Strategic Planning Retreats - Now In Full Swing

During the last quarter of the year is the time when most organizations dive into their strategic planning for the coming year.

For your convenience, here's a collection of "the best of" posts from Be Excellent related to strategic planning retreats:

• Strategy Formulation and Planning Retreats
• Best Practices for the Strategic Planning Retreat
• Strategic Planning Best Practices
• Hiring a Facilitator for Strategic Planning
• Effective Planning Retreats
• 10 Myths of Strategic Planning
• Tips for Effective Strategic Planning

Executing Strategy - Once Again The Top Priority for CEOs

According to recent research from The Conference Board, while executing their corporate strategy effectively is still the highest priority, the key concerns these days for CEOs are managing and securing finance, maintaining confidence and risk management.

While "excellence of execution" remained as the top challenge for the second year in a row, nearly half of the executives said they were now most concerned about speed, flexibility and adaptability to change.

Top Five CEO Challenges Due to Financial Crisis

1. Excellence in execution
2. Consistent execution of strategy by top management
3. Speed, flexibility, adaptability to change
4. Global economic performance
5. Financial risk, including liquidity, volatility, and credit risk

Source: CEO Challenge 2008: Top 10 Challenges--Financial Crisis Edition (Conference Board.Org)

According to the report: "business leaders across the globe are focusing more urgently on execution and immediate bottom-line issues, and leaving the people management systems built up during the tight labor market of the past five years to operate how they are intended."

Making Strategy Execution a Sustainable Competitive Advantage

A survey conducted by the Cognos/Palladium Group, entitled "Making Strategy Execution a Competitive Advantage" included responses from 143 strategy-management professionals.

Their most interesting findings?

• Most employers don't share company strategy
• 95% of companies don't tell their employees what the strategy is

BOTTOMLINE: It's no wonder that 90% of organizations fail to execute their strategies! How can people execute a strategy if they don't know what it is?

Make the strategy of your organization (mission, vision, values, strategic position, vital few objectives, stop list) visible to every person, every day - not just in a binder that sits on the shelves of the senior leadership team that created it.

Business Accelerators: Leading The Way Beyond The Recovery

Senior executives on the leading edge of IT adoption whose organizations have increased their IT investments in 2009—think differently than other business leaders.

Research firm Gartner, together with Forbes Insights, refer to these professionals as "Business Accelerators".

This study, the second based on input from more than 650 top-level executives at North American businesses, explores why Business Accelerators are more optimistic and confident than their counterparts. It examines their attitudes towards the eventual economic recovery, and how their ROI-oriented focus toward IT spending lets them view technology as an asset worth further investment. It also looks at their media consumption as well as their online activity.

Findings from their study of Business Accelerators:

• They're confident in revenue growth for their organizations (and are preparing now for the recovery)
• They understand the value of IT spending (particularly in digital communications)
• They use technology to gain a competitive edge (in sustaining growth beyond the downturn)
• They embrace technology to bolster the bottom line
• They consume more media (including digital media and social networking)

Click here to download the whitepaper from Forbes Insights.

Why Is Change So Hard? (Part 4 of a 4 part series)

Let's face it - change isn't easy.

At some point, we’ve all vowed to make some big changes - at work, in our lives, perhaps about our health, our fitness, our eating habits, etc.

One thing is for sure - changing behavior is not easy. We generally know what to do, the hard part is doing it (the execution part.)

And lasting change - essentially what becomes new behaviors or habits - are some of the toughest challenges there are.

Some organizational psychologists suggest that it first takes "un-learning" of bad habits before new habits can be learned. Others say it just takes continual repetition - from as little as 3 weeks - to as much as 6 - 9 months!

BOTTOMLINE: Changing behavior is a matter of discipline. It's about learning habits that have purpose, meaning and impact. It's about attitude, persistence, determination and long-term gain. It's about continual motivation to not only do things right, but to do the right things. It's about continually measuring progress toward your goals. It's about being accountable to ourselves.

So....what are you trying to change? How are you tracking against your vision of what it will be like when (not if) you change those behaviors?