Tag Archives: execution

BIV Boardroom Strategy: how to executive corporate action plans effectively

Posted on January 4, 2012 | Leave a comment

The last step in the strategic planning process is often overlooked, and yet, it’s one of the most important: the action steps that will lead to the successful completion of your objectives.

But we need well-formed objectives before we can map out action steps.

Here are eight things we need to consider for solid action plans:

Ownership: one person must be responsible and accountable for tracing the progress toward each objective, keeping the team informed, ensuring timely action steps are occurring and adjusting the actions as reality teaches us what needs to shift.

Action steps: each objective needs to have a series of action steps that lay out a clear path throughout the year on how it can be achieved. If the objective is the “what,” then the action steps are the “hows.” It’s critical that the action steps are clear and actionable steps versus vague ideas or thoughts.

Continue reading →

→ Leave a comment

Posted in Business in Vancouver: Boardroom Strategy, strategy

Tagged , , , ,

BIV Boardroom Strategy: Adopt the right behaviours to help execute your strategy

Posted on June 10, 2011 | Leave a comment

[read time: 3 mins]

Your behaviour as a leader has an enormous impact on your team and your organizational culture. Understanding the effect of your leadership behaviours on the execution of your strategy is the first step in guiding your team in the right direction.

As a leader, the best way to harness momentum and motivation around your strategy is by consistently behaving in ways that you want to see others behave, and exhibit the behaviours that you want to ingrain into your culture and ultimately pass down to everyone in your organization.

Here are a few things you can do to sustain momentum and support the execution of your strategy by being intentional with your leadership behaviours:

Be decisive and take action, however small, towards your goal. When temptation to postpone, cancel or move deadlines presents itself, let people see you take one small step toward the goal – when you can’t do it all, something is better than nothing; if you can’t do all of it, do some of it. When you put a visible emphasis on forward motion in the execution of your plan, chances are others will follow your lead. Continue reading →

→ Leave a comment

Posted in Business in Vancouver: Boardroom Strategy, leadership, strategy

Tagged , , , ,

BIV Boardroom Strategy: How to build a corporate culture that effectively executes strategic plans

Posted on May 3, 2011 | 4 Comments

[read time: 3-4 mins]

Over the years, I’ve become convinced that the “10/90 rule” is the best guide for dividing your time and energy between strategy and execution: 10% of the value of strategic planning is in the creation of a plan that outlines direction and priorities for the coming year; 90% of the plan’s value comes from an organization’s ability to effectively execute that plan.

If your organization is like many, once the executive team leaves the room after strategic planning, the daily grind takes over, the months start to tick away and before you know it you’re partway through the year and have made virtually no headway in executing on your strategy.

The reality is, there can be a giant gap between what needs to be done to execute a plan successfully and the potential of the organization to make it happen; it’s about more than resources and capabilities. It’s about culture.

The truth is that cultural norms can make execution far more challenging than it needs to be. Execution takes buy-in, emotional commitment to the plan and discipline. But the one element that has the greatest impact on successful implementation is your organizational culture.

Here are a few ways you can begin to shift the culture of your organization toward one that’s focused on execution. Continue reading →

→ 4 Comments

Posted in Business in Vancouver: Boardroom Strategy, leadership, strategy

Tagged , , ,

BIV Boardroom Strategy: Your company’s strategic plan needs a solid framework

Posted on January 13, 2011 | 4 Comments

[read time: 4 mins]

A successful strategic plan design keeps two things in mind: focus driven by simplicity and clarity and engagement of the people who will be held accountable for the results.

The more complex the plan, the less likely anyone in your organization will read it or, even worse, take action from it.

Here is a framework and process for your strategic plan that will ensure you focus on what’s important, narrowing down the details to the critical pieces around which your team can rally. Using this framework with your team to build a plan will dramatically increase engagement and accountability.

Wildly Courageous Decision (WCD). As CEO, you are the chief dreamer, schemer and long-term thinker. Before engaging your team in a strategic planning experience, carve out some time from your schedule to dream 10 to 25 years ahead from today. What courageous direction can you passionately make a decision to take your organization in? Think of this as the North Star you are navigating toward: a simple statement that sets a long-term perspective that everyone can rally behind.

Mission. If your wildly courageous decision is the “what” then think of your mission as the “how”: what behaviours and actions over time will lead to your organization realizing its WCD?

Strengths, weakness, opportunities, threats and vulnerabilities. Have you, your team members, and their direct reports list out what your organization is truly strong at, weak at, where the market opportunities lie, what external forces can threaten your success and where you are vulnerable to inside and outside forces – your company’s Achilles Heal.

Rhinos, whinos, sacred cows and hidden agendas.Rhinos are the large, dirty, messy issues that are hiding under your boardroom table causing big distraction, wasted resources and energy, and yet everyone is pretending they’re not in the room. Whinos are the issues team members consistently whine about that never seem to get dealt with. Sacred cows are the core tenets in your business that you’re not willing to compromise on or change: they’re part of the secret sauce of your success. Hidden agendas are the plans that people are not disclosing, instead they’re secretly working on building alliances and putting significant energy into something that may or may not be right for your organization. (The Lexus ISF is a good example of a hidden agenda of an engineer at Lexus. It was built in secret in a remote warehouse behind the head office by a skunk-works team and unveiled to Toyota’s CEO after the final prototype was complete.)

Values and core purpose. What core values are forming the concrete foundation upon which your organization is built? These are the values driving key decisions made at a senior level within your business, not values you may aspire to. What is the core purpose for your company existing in the world? Why will the world be a better place as a result of your long-term success?

Objectives. Use the information you uncover in the sections above to craft a series of five to 10 key objectives that your organization will achieve over the next 12 months. The easiest way to know whether you have a well-framed objective is to ask, “How will we know when this objective is complete and would we throw a party to celebrate achieving it?” If the answer is unclear then you’re likely missing a deadline, a clear success measure or the objective is not specific, reasonable or challenging enough.

Owners. “The executive team” is not the answer to effective accountability for strategic objectives. Each objective should have an accountable champion who ensures that the executive team is kept up to speed on progress and the road blocks along the way.

Action steps. Many companies stop at the objective stage and the result is low clarity on the first move and subsequent steps. The result is a sandbagged plan. Create an action-step plan for each objective that answers the statement, “When these steps are complete, the objective will be successful.”

Communication. Without a communication plan that shares the strategic plan, the reality is the same as winking at someone in the dark: you know what you’re doing but they haven’t a clue. Decide as an executive team what consistent, concise and compelling messages you plan to share with the rest of the organization, including reporting on results throughout the year, and what mediums have the best chance of reaching the widest audience. Using the steps

we’ve walked through will provide a solid framework to build your strategic plan, ensure that year after year you have a consistent way of describing the path for your business and engage your team in executing the plan effectively.

As the Cheshire Cat said to Alice, “If you don’t know where you’re going, then any road will take you there.”

BIV Boardroom Strategy – Solid Strategic Plan – Jan 2011

→ 4 Comments

Posted in Business in Vancouver: Boardroom Strategy, strategy

Tagged , , , , ,

BIV Boardroom Strategy: Beliefs and behaviours drive corporate success and failure

Posted on August 23, 2010 | 1 Comment

[read time: 4 mins]

Hidden within the fabric of your organization lies a set of beliefs, behaviours and values that form the basis of your culture. Although values rarely need to be changed, if you are interested in shifting towards a culture where successful execution of your strategic plan is the norm, the beliefs and behaviours that are getting in the way of action and accountability do need to change.

Since behaviours are essentially beliefs turn into action, shifting the culture of your organization starts first with uncovering and challenging the assumptions that drive the beliefs and behaviours that are inconsistent with action and accountability and then ensuring that rewards (and I’m using rewards in the liberal sense of the word to include both intrinsic and extrinsic rewards – praise, raise, bonuses, promotion, etc.) are linked to specific performance.

Here are five questions that senior teams can ask themselves to start to uncover the hidden truths in your business to build a culture of getting things done:

What one behaviour do we, as the senior team, need to start modeling that will dramatically improve the behaviour of everyone else in the company? Few people look down the organizational chart for cues to model their behaviour as a leader; most everyone looks up or side-to-side. Behavioural change within an organization is most successful when it starts at the top. Don’t underestimate the impact that even the smallest change in leadership behaviour can make on your entire organization.

What company-wide assumptions and beliefs have shaped what our organization looks like today? Shared beliefs are a large part of making sure everyone is on the same page, aligned, and moving in the same direction. The trouble comes when we fail to stop every once and a while to examine whether or not these beliefs are still true. Take a long hard look at what you may be doing on a regular basis simply because that’s the way “we’ve always done it”. Challenging assumptions that run so deep that they have become the core beliefs that underpin how you run your business day to day will likely uncover some hidden truths that are actually roadblocks to growth.

What do we need to start believing, in order to guide the desired behaviours going forward? What do you need to start believing about your business in order to keep moving in the right direction? These new beliefs will shape the attitude and behaviours that will be adopted by the senior team, and trickled down through organization, to guide a new culture of getting things done.

How can we link performance to rewards? The foundation of changing behaviour is linking rewards to performance, and making the links transparent. This tells people what’s valued, and what they should focus on. If you reward and promote people for execution, your culture will change.

What kind of people are we looking for? Have ever you noticed that when you have a critical, time sensitive, core objective that you need to delegate, there are a few people in your organization that you turn to every time? Take note of what it is about those few key people – the people that get things done – and make sure you include their core attributes and strengths in your hiring criteria.

There is no better time than right now to take an honest look at what’s really happening in your company. Understanding how unchallenged assumptions and shared beliefs are contributing to the behaviours that are holding your company back from really getting things done is the first step in creating a culture that sees consistent growth and achievement.

BIV Boardroom Strategy – Beliefs and Behaviours – August 2010

→ 1 Comment

Posted in Business in Vancouver: Boardroom Strategy, strategy

Tagged , , , , , , ,

Leadership Minute: 3 Steps to a Successful Debrief

Posted on May 25, 2010 | Leave a comment

→ Leave a comment

Posted in leadership

Tagged , ,

BIV Boardroom Strategy: When it comes to company vision, get wildly courageous

Posted on February 2, 2010 | 2 Comments

[read time: 3 mins]

Motivation and inspiration are closely connected to doing meaningful work. For most people, doing meaningful work translates into achieving something either on a personal, local or global level that makes a difference. As business leaders, part of our job is to provide a vision for what the long-term goal and benefit of being part of our company is.

Enter the concept of the Wildly Courageous Decision (WCD)™. A WCD is a powerfully worded statement that describes the long-term goal, 10-25 years out, that your company is striving to achieve. It’s bigger than revenue, bigger than profit, bigger than market share; it’s what the company will stand for after years of hard work and dedication to its purpose.

As day-to-day challenges and opportunities get in the way of a clear picture of the future, your WCD acts like a lighthouse for your business, allowing you to stay on course in the roughest seas, knowing that any movement towards your long term goal is far better than allowing the turbulent seas to decide your destination for you. In this way, the WCD acts as a strong filter for decision-making.

Your WCD is a destination, and your corporate strategy and goals are what link your current reality to the WCD. Make it wild, so that you can easily create excitement about it.  Make it courageous, something that requires some bravery to achieve. By taking the big risks your competitors aren’t willing to achieve, you’ll stand out from the crowd and attract positive attention. And last but not least, make it a decision. A vision or a goal denotes the possibility of failure. A decision is just that – a decision that it will happen.

Here is a step-by-step process for helping you discover your company’s Wildly Courageous Decision:

Step One: Choose your “Type of WCD”

Choose which of the five types of WCD’s might work for your company:

  1. Compare to a company in another industry you admire: “The Apple of the consulting world.” (this is our company’s WCD)
  2. Compare to overall company (as a division): “Most profitable division of GE.”
  3. Target or end state: “To become world famous.”
  4. Competitor driven: “We’re going to beat Nike.”
  5. Internal transformation: “Transform this company from a technology distributor into the best diversified high-technology company in the world”

Step Two: Brainstorm

For each of the WCD types you have selected write down any ideas or phrases that come to mind and create a first draft list of potential WCD’s. You may end up with two or three different WCD’s that might work for your business. That’s okay as the next step is to test out your draft statements.

Step Three: Test Each Phrase

Test each potential WCD using the following criteria (a “no” for any of the five criteria rules it out):

  1. Is it wild? Do you feel enthusiastic and excited when you read it out? Is it bold, and bordering on unattainable? Does the path to achieving it seem unclear right now (that’s okay)?
  2. Is it courageous? Does thinking about the steps it will take to achieve it frighten you a little? Will bravery, a dauntless spirit and the ability to endure adversity be required to achieve it?
  3. Is it a decision? Are you willing to commit to this? Is it a concrete decision we can make to stay focused and on target until we achieve it?
  4. Are you thinking far enough into the future?
  5. Is it clear? Will people get it right away?

Step Four – Select the Most Compelling Statement

Read through each of the potential WCD’s that passed the test, to find the one that’s most compelling. Tweak the wording a bit if you think it needs work.

Step Five: Get Feedback

Share your newly crafted Wildly Courageous Decision with the other members of your leadership team to get their feedback. Are they as inspired as you are? How might they reword the statement? What might the organization start doing differently today that will reflect your new WCD?

I’m interested to hear about your success developing your own WCD. Please post the WCD you come up with in a comment on this blog post.

BIV Boardroom Strategy – WCD – Feb 2010

→ 2 Comments

Posted in Business in Vancouver: Boardroom Strategy, strategy

Tagged , , , , ,

BIV Boardroom Strategy: Execution: the missing piece of the corporate strategy puzzle

Posted on January 26, 2010 | 1 Comment

[read time: 3 mins]

This is the time of year when many businesses are deep into strategy planning. It’s the perfect time to talk about the missing piece of the strategy puzzle: execution.

The more time you spend focused on strategic planning the more you will start to notice a trend. Let’s call it the “10/90 Rule.” 10% of the value of strategic planning is in the creation of a solid plan that outlines strategic direction and priorities for the coming year. 90% of the value of a strategic plan comes from an organizations ability to effectively execute that plan.

This begs the question: if 90% of a plan’s value comes from successful execution, why do so many organizations focus on creating a plan and fall short when it comes to execution? Unfortunately, most of the time there exists a Grand Canyon-sized gap between what needs to be done to execute the plan successfully, and the approach within the organization to making it happen.

Here is a four-step process to help you make the shift towards execution:

Step 1: Clearly Define Actions and Accountabilities

Without clear action steps connected to each objective, owned by a person, with clear dates, budgetary requirements, and metrics, most plans are simply position papers on “where we should focus for some period of time”. Focus on fewer priorities attached to realistic budgets and time frames. The pay-off will be a powerful momentum that builds as people start hitting target dates, versus the motivation drop that comes with consistently missing accountabilities.

Step 2: Connect the Strategy to People

The second challenge of execution is having the right people in the right places to handle the action steps required within the plan. Start by bringing the organizational chart into the picture during the planning process, and demonstrating an openness and willingness to shifting roles and responsibilities. Avoid the trap of assigning accountabilities to people by default – instead, choose the people who have both the motivation and the competence to produce results. Ensure people understand what is expected of them, and reward them when they produce great results.

Step 3: Create a Culture of Change

Creating a culture of change requires openness to exploring possibilities outside of the framework of “how we do things here.” At the same time people would far prefer to be engaged in the process of change versus simply being told that changes are coming.

Work on improving candour within your organization by encouraging, supporting, and training on difficult conversations. Ensure that the leaders in your company are following through and demonstrating openness to candour and new ideas. Align your day-to-day decisions and actions with the priorities outlined in the plan – especially those that people are skeptical of, and others should follow suit.

Step 4: Review, Evaluate and Revise

The current pace at which industries, markets, competitors, and the economy is changing puts pressure in the form of a reality check against your strategy plan. Even plans that were strong at inception get sidetracked and what was once a solid plan now ends up as a binder collecting dust on the shelf. Schedule quarterly strategic planning follow-up sessions that are designed to review, evaluate, and revise the plan and provide a check and balance around individual accountabilities. Schedule them early, and demonstrate follow-through by placing equal importance on the follow-up meetings as you did on the original planning session.

The success of your strategy plan is inextricably tied to your organization’s ability to execute against that plan. A less robust plan executed flawless will trump a complicated plan left in the filing cabinet any day of the week.

If your organization has faced some of the challenges discussed in this article and you’re interested in reading more on this topic, I’d recommend reading “Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done” by Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan.

BIV Boardroom Strategy – Execution – Jan 19-25, 2010

→ 1 Comment

Posted in Business in Vancouver: Boardroom Strategy, strategy

Tagged , ,