The Language of Level 2

Level 2 is about Knowledge and Change Management: The bridge between strategy and results. The unique language and tools of Level 2 are focused on aligning and developing people and teams. I believe that we can agree that achieving a company’s MIG and implementing strategy requires:

1. Effective leaders.

2. An intelligently designed organization.

3. Accountability, alignment, and agreement amongst all stakeholders.

4. Measurable objectives that are tied to the company’s Most Important Goal.

5. Appropriate skills and tools.

6. The right people in the right seats.

7. Compensation programs that are based on performance.

8. A Level 2 roadmap.

The big question that faces all organizations is where to start. We offer our performance management maturity model, as shown in the next figure as a way for organizations to be able to understand their current state. Look closely and decide where you are in the model. Everything to the right is what you need to do better. Assessing where your company is via this model will help define and prioritize the roadmap for implementing the elements of Level 2.

The Language of Planning

As stated earlier, Level 2 is the domain of ALL leaders, but Level 2 has a larger impact on middle-level leaders. They must be able to speak and understand the language of Level 2 to properly bridge the gap between strategy and results. Let us talk about the language skills that are required to effectively navigate Level 2. Functional and cross-functional leaders must be able to understand the company’s MIG and how to develop a MIG for their teams. They need to know how to:

1. Explain the MIG and their role in supporting it.

2. Cascade objectives, set goals, and measures.

3. Obtain alignment and agreement inside their teams.

4. Step back and create the optimal organizational structure without power plays.

5. Create the learning maps for their teams based on the objectives that have been set for them.

6. Understand the implications of operating gaps and strategic gaps.

7. Clearly identify and articulate roadblocks which may be related to resources, structure, or a lack of skills.

8. Create a development plan for each stakeholder they lead.

9. Develop an improvement roadmap that coincides with the needs of their MIG over an extended period.

The Language of Execution

At the end of the day, it is all about successful execution and leaders need to be able to do this effectively. As pointed out, they must be able to cascade objectives to their direct reports who support their MIG, and they must be able to get alignment and agreement on the accountabilities for each team member. Establishing measurable results and keeping the focus on them—as well as on the ways to improve results—is a much easier discussion, because “what gets measured gets managed”. Stakeholders either opt in or opt out. In the case of those who opt in, they come prepared for the discussion, and everything goes much smoother. I will leave it to you to decide how to handle those who opt out.

The other parts of the language of execution are hiring, team optimization, compensation, and succession. I have put succession in the execution language, because of my comments earlier about succession being more than a check-the-box exercise. In the Level 2 language of execution, leaders need to be able to fully grasp these concepts and act upon them.

In most businesses, the human resources department is the owner of this, but I believe that until every leader is fluent in the language of Level 2, the bridge between strategy and results will not be complete. My recommendations are that members of the HR group need to act as trainers, interpreters, and coaches for this level, which means that they must be equally knowledgeable about the company’s MIG and its strategies and the goals and objectives of the operating team they report to. This need gives HR a true seat at the strategic table. In the case of companies that do not have these resources, I highly recommend that they engage outside resources to help.

After reading this section, you should be thinking about the following questions:

1. Do my middle level leaders have the right tools?
2. Does the company properly prepare new hires with onboarding that sufficiently explains their role in achieving our MIG?
3. Have we created learning maps that will prepare our organization to be able to effectively manage the current state of our business and be prepared to lead the future state?
4. Do we have a growth and development plan for every employee and other Stakeholders such as vendors, third party providers and contract workers ?

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