Strategy Needs a Shared Mindset for Success

Successfully executing a strategy requires a significant shift in behaviour across all levels of an organisation. From the CEO to each leader and employee, everyone must balance their day-to-day activities with strategic initiatives that drive what is important for the company. Often, executives, leaders and employees focus on urgent tasks rather than also doing their contribution towards important strategic activities. This approach can hinder the company's overall success.

A shared mindset for success is crucial. This mindset must be set top-down by the CEO, who should demand what is necessary for successful execution. In modern organisations, there is less tolerance for focusing solely on business-as-usual (BAU) activities.

We transition clients’ strategy methodology from a legacy, non-digital and slow process to a digital, self-serve, and real-time process. Instead of relying on dashboards filled with lagging operational data, we help clients focus on the most important strategic initiatives and the leading-indicator activities needed to drive them. A C-suite executive of a large ASX-listed business recently told me that Howwe had "bridged the gap" between generic Objective and Key Result (OKR) software and planning. This is where Howwe.io excels, providing a unique, easy-to-use platform that helps CEOs, C-suites, and all leaders visualise and drive their strategy through the unique Howwe platform, and the process of running "Acceleration Meetings" in the platform.

So, why isn't everyone using Howwe? Firstly, Howwe is a new class of platform. Many CEOs are simply not yet aware of its power. As the macro-economic environment becomes more volatile, CEOs will need to evolve their execution styles, systems, and processes to become more agile and responsive. Secondly, leaders need to bring their teams along with them and change team behaviours to more transparent and collaborative. Pre-implementation of Howwe, teams can be stuck in a "safe" yet slow and siloed way of working, which is neither visible nor measurable. This may be safer for the business unit leader in the short-term but is not safe for the company or executive longer-term.

Leadership simply cannot be abrogated. The desire to change behaviours must be driven top-down by the CEO and an aligned C-suite. This powerful group of executives must therefore share a mutual understanding of how to "get stuff done." Without trust and communication at this top level, success will be harder to achieve. There is a transfer of power and visibility out of a business-unit leader's silo, which may be what makes executives feel uncomfortable, but to be successful in execution of the growth strategy as well as BAU, this transfer is vital. This is why I believe you need a shared mindset for success. It is not just about your own efforts or your own work ethic that is important. It is vital this is a shared by your peers and so important that the CEO sets the pace on holding teams to account for their performance and behaviours.?

For executive teams reading this, it may be worth reflecting on whether you all agree on the system and method for getting things done, the level of trust and openness you share, and whether you have 100% agreement on what is most important to the business. Feel free to contact me if you would like to take our Growth Assessment analysis, which can rapidly highlight disconnects in your execution process and suggest solutions.

#leadership #success #mindset Howwe Technologies