Leaders prepare people for the future: the organization (strategy and culture)
Joseph Carter
Executive Advisor / Strategy / Change Management / Operations Improvement / Entrepreneurial Innovation
This article is a follow-up to four other articles posted on the Incline Insights, LLC website. All the articles listed below, including this one, are focused on leadership.
1. Revealing the common ground
2. Exerting your power (your will) AND revealing the unity on the common ground
3. Preparing yourself for the future
4. Preparing your team for the future
PREPARING THE ORGANIZATION FOR THE FUTURE: BUSINESS-LEVEL STRATEGY DEVELOPMENT
THE OVERALL CURRENT SITUATION: "Only 22% of workers strongly agree that their leaders have a clear direction for their organization." Clifton, Jim,Harter, Jim. It's the Manager (Kindle Locations 287-288). Gallup Press. Kindle Edition.
This article provides a high-level overview for how to develop and deploy a business-level strategy. Organizations progress through different levels of maturity in the process they use to develop a business-level strategy. What is explained below is for an organization that's ready for full-blown strategic planning.
WHAT IS A BUSINESS-LEVEL STRATEGY? It is an integrated set of initiatives designed to create a sustainable competitive advantage and superior financial performance. A business-level strategy is focused on the medium-to-long-term, not the short-term. The assumption is that if the leaders focus on the medium-to-long-term they will also do what's best for their stakeholders - e.g. their customers / consumers, employees, suppliers, local community, and the global community.
HIGH-LEVEL PRINCIPLE: "Only by competing to be unique can an organization achieve sustained superior performance." Magretta, Joan. Understanding Michael Porter.
WHERE DO YOU START? It all begins with the leader of the business - the one that is responsible for the income statement, balance sheet, and statement of cash flow. Below is a high-level view of their responsibilities prior to the development of the strategy:
- SELECTS the strategic leadership team that will develop the strategy. Keep in mind this is an excellent opportunity to develop a select group of high-potential employees.
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- DETERMINES the time-frame for the strategy.
- ESTABLISHES the process that will be used to assess and develop the business-level strategy.
- INSURES the members of the strategic leadership team are trained in the process.
- IDENTIFIES who will facilitate the strategy leadership team through the process. We at Incline Insights, LLC have extensive application knowledge for how to facilitate leadership teams through a strategic management process.
CAPTURE CURRENT STATE: STRATEGIC INTELLIGENCE GATHERING
- Complete an EXTERNAL ANALYSIS which is comprised of a (1) General Environmental Analysis - focused on the future; (2) Industry Analysis - focused on the factors and conditions influencing profitability within the industry; (3) Competitive Analysis - complete a Business Model and Value Proposition competitive analysis among your most significant and emerging competitors - in addition to other analyses - to predict their actions, responses, and intentions. These analyses are focused on identifying opportunities, threats, and threats that can be turned into opportunities.
- Complete an INTERNAL ANALYSIS which is comprised of the following: (1) assessment of the current strategy; (2) identification of the most important resources and capabilities that enable a lasting competitive advantage over rivals; (3) strengths and weaknesses relative to the market opportunities and threats; (4) how the current value chain activities impact their cost structure and value proposition; (5) assessment of the most significant points of strength and weaknesses; (6) identify and prioritize the most significant strategic issues and problems; (7) identify options to improve your competitive position.
Note: The most significant output of an internal analysis is to identify if the company possesses a distinctive core competence and if so, how they will leverage it, and if not which one they will develop and deploy. Research conducted by strategy consulting firms such as McKinsey&Company indicates that most firms do not possess a distinctive core competence and therefore, end up competing on price. Which is unfortunate because most firms are ineffective at on-going process improvement.
DEVELOP FUTURE STATE: STRATEGY AND CULTURE ALIGNMENT (1) align on a strategic mission, vision, and set of values; (2) establish strategic and financial objectives; (3) develop a competitively superior business-level strategy; (4) develop a culture improvement plan; (5) document your strategy via a strategy map or a OGSM (objectives, goals, strategies, and measures)
ESTABLISH PLAN: DEVELOP A MASTER PROJECT PLAN to achieve the strategy and the culture improvement plan selected.
Note: It is critical to align on a method to prioritize, select, launch (which includes a communication plan), manage, and leverage the positive business impact created. A strategy is not worth much if you are unable to implement and leverage the results achieved. Actually, investors are very much interested in the method you use to implement and leverage the results achieved on projects. If you do not have a common way to do so they become very concerned. We can help with this Incline Insights, LLC.
ACHIEVE: IMPLEMENT, SUSTAIN, AND LEVERAGE RESULTS ACHIEVED - (1) assign full-time teams to the top-three most significant strategic projects; (2) complete and execute a resource re-deployment plan - the responsibilities of the people assigned to the strategic projects either need to be assigned to someone else, or something has to be stopped. Many organizations expect the people assigned to the strategic projects to also handle their normal job assignment duties - that never works; (3) Review the project charter for each strategic project with the teams assigned and answer any questions; (4) teams develop a first-pass project plan and begin the project; (5) align on a regular schedule for project updates along with what is to be presented by the teams; (6) conduct a formal project closure process - included in this process is to identify how the results of a completed project can be leveraged to create additional positive impact; (7) deposit and share the outputs of the project in a knowledge management system.
Note: Many organizations are not successful at implementing strategic projects because they try to implement too many projects at the same time. The more projects launched the more complex it gets to understand organizational priorities.
GOVERN: MONITOR, REVIEW, ADJUST AND LEVERAGE POSITIVE IMPACT
FINAL NOTE: A strategic management system is not an event. It is a continuous process. In particular it is critical to stay current with what is taking place in the external environment - many firms do not. The most effective organizations engage their high-potentials employees in helping with the research and communication of changes in general, industry, and competitive environments.
If you would like to meet with one of our representatives to discuss how we can help you with the development and deployment of a long term plan contact us at Incline Insights, LLC. https://www.inclineinsights.com/contact Tailored. Focused. Solutions.