Management Excellence Book Series Podcast: Strategic Speed
Filed under: Fresh Voices, Leadership, Leading Change, Management Education, Management Excellence Book Series, Management Innovation, Organizational Transformation, Performance, Strategy, Talent Management
Every year, a number of the large consulting firms publish surveys outlining the issues that keep global corporate leaders awake at night. Inevitably, the topic turns to strategy and more specifically to the headaches and challenges of executing strategy.
For those of us that have labored in the corporate world for a couple of decades, it comes as no surprise that translating ideas into programs and projects and then executing these programs accurately and quickly to seize market opportunities is darned difficult.
It also turns out that we’re not so good at it for a lot of reasons, most of which have to do with people.
It is this critical issue of improving strategy execution (speed and quality) by focusing on the people & leadership issues that bedevil so many programs, that the authors of: Strategic Speed-Mobilize People, Accelerate Execution, take on in this interesting, and research and helpful tool-filled new book. This is a practical, interesting and immediately useful book for anyone engaged in the work of creating and driving strategy and execution.
I had the good fortune to connect recently with Jocelyn Davis, one of the co-authors (along with Henry Frechette, Jr., and Edwin Boswell) of Strategic Speed, for an interview, where we discussed the high failure rate of strategies, the meaning of “strategic speed,” and a number of other issues important to anyone interested in improving strategy execution. Jocelyn’s insights into the book and the world of strategy and leadership were fascinating.
Enjoy the interview.
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-In case you missed it, check out my recent interview with Bob Sutton on his new book, Good Boss, Bad Boss.
-Note from Art: the authors supplied my review copy of Strategic Speed.
Finding Time to Focus or, Speed Kills
Filed under: Career, Leadership, Leadership Skills, Leading Change, Making Decisions, Management Education, Organizational Transformation, Performance, Social Commentary
More observations on business and culture from an unofficial leadership anthropologist.
The lot of professionals inside many organizations can easily be characterized by a series of endless status meetings, hurried hallway conversations and messages quickly dispatched on a pda while walking, ignoring the meeting in process or consuming a protein bar on the run.
Space aliens observing from afar might get the sense of a hive type atmosphere with a seemingly endless amount of activity, but almost no perceived vector. Clearly people fawn over those with power, but the output of all of this fawning and excessive movement might not be visible to these distant observers. Nonetheless, work gets done, customers are served and growth often created. I do however, worry and wonder about the human costs and the cost to the organization in lost-ideas, missed opportunities and a much more superficial existence.
If you work in one of these fast-paced cultures, the issue of finding time to focus on people and strategic priorities is a true struggle. The problem is compounded if you get caught up in the common notion that success equates to being perceived by the right people as busy.
Beware the Micro-Transaction Trap:
I’ve noticed a tendency for some in hive type cultures to get caught up in achieving a maximum number of touches per day. The goal becomes one of earning attendance to meetings where you need to “be seen,” and minimizing the amount of time that you spend on any one topic. Deep thinking is not promoted, because you are too busy engaging in micro-transactions. These are quick sound-bite type engagements where surface topics are covered and conversations on deep issues forestalled for another time.
Another Way:
I contrast the micro-transaction or hive style culture with my own experiences working and partnering with a number of different U.S., Asian and European organizations, where thinking time is valued, and discussions are typically allowed to run a useful course…one not dictated by the next entry in an Outlook calendar.
While I cannot say conclusively whether these more deliberate organizations are more successful than their hive-like counterparts, they are all market leaders and they do well retaining and developing employees.
What I can say from personal observation and interaction is that this more deliberate style certainly seems more humane, more enjoyable and to me, one heck of a lot more productive on the right issues. Strategic issues are tackled, learning takes place and coaching and nurturing of talent is a focal point.
5 Reasons Why Lack of Focus Extracts a Toll Personally and Organizationally
1. Speed drains and kills. Constant movement and micro-transactions draw upon instinct and adrenaline. Survival is the goal, movement is required and it becomes habitual. There’s no deep processing going on in this constant sense and respond environment. Frankly, I want some deep thinkers on my team.
2. Excessive focus on pace squeezes out good leadership practices. A key to successful leadership is finding time to focus on others. While sometimes the army is engaged, and sense and respond are required for a period of time, eventually, there must be an opportunity rest, reflect, learn, plan and reset. An always on, micro-transaction culture is a formula that promotes leadership ineffectiveness and rapid troop burnout.
3. All activity, no vector equals poor or suboptimal results. A lot of activity and no vector is a huge waste of physical and mental energy. Strategy sets the vector, and unless this strategy is clear to all, the motion is for show, not for go or dough. Lack of focus extracts huge opportunity costs from an organization.
4. The criteria for getting ahead are off-key. If it’s required to be constantly visible to the people in power to succeed, frankly, the leadership is fatally flawed.
5. Unbridled speed accelerates mistakes. Speed is a powerful motivator and a false god. Speed creates waste and allows mistakes to run further faster. The effective use of speed is a different story. (I have a great podcast interview coming up with Jocelyn Davis, one of the co-authors of Strategic Speed, where this notion of effective speed is shared in detail.)
The Bottom-Line for Now:
Speed kills, and so does inaction compounded by over-analysis. There must be a happy medium or at least a workable balance of speed and activity with the slow, thoughtful dialogue that leads to new ideas, performance improvements and effective coaching. If you live and work in a hive type atmosphere, you’ve got a tough task, but one worth fighting for on a daily basis. Learn to slow down and focus at least once a day.
What If? Why Not? And Other Incredible Business Adventures
Filed under: Crisis Leadership, Innovation, Leadership, Leading Change, Strategy
While we celebrate companies that pursue and succeed in radically changing the rules of the game, let’s face it, most organizations run on inertia.
For every company that redefines their little part of the world and changes our culture just a bit, there are plenty of firms that run on autopilot until the fuel runs out and the plane needs to be ditched in the ocean. The forces of globalization and digitization create storms and headwinds for some that are just too strong to overcome.
From Apple and Best Buy to Netflix, Starbucks, Zappos and Zipcar, there are firms and leaders that produce cultures and armies of people that thrive on redefining the rules in their own vision and along the way, they change our lives, habits, vocabulary and our view on the world.
These firms have dared to ask, What If? and Why Not?, and then they had the audacity to move forward and change the rules.
For the rest, there’s frustration, shock and amazement as their business models disappear. The CEO of Blockbuster describing how he likes how his moribund firm matches up with the competition is shocking, laughable and sad all at the same time. His $36 million or so in market capitalization versus the billion-plus of his disruptive competitor is all of the scoreboard that any of us need to see to know that there is no match.
I hear frequently from managers and owners about how their firms can no longer make money in their traditional businesses. In some cases, since they don’t know what to do, they’ve settled on trying to just lose less money. That’s equivalent to allowing yourself to bleed out slowly. The outcome is still the same, but the pain lasts a lot longer.
When I ask why they aren’t rethinking their businesses…whom they serve, what problems they are capable of solving and how they can position themselves in arenas where there are profits to be cultivated, the answers are shoulder shrugs mixed with looks of resignation and acceptance. If looks could talk, theirs would say, “Who is John Galt?”
I’ve noticed that no one in these firms is asking What If? and Why Not? Instead, they are filled with leaders and managers doggedly defending the status quo as if their lives hung on perpetuating what they know. Ironically, their business lives hang on what they don’t know but should be seeking.
The Bottom-Line for Now:
There’s no silver bullet, quick fix or sure-fire method to rethink and reinvent a business. In fact, many cannot be reinvented and the highest and best use of capital may well be to fold.
For some however, there’s a process that combines the speculative questions of What If? and Why Not? with the courage to ask and answer How Can We? and then to say, Let’s Try It!
If your plane is running low on fuel and the storm clouds look ominous, it may be too late. But before you decide to pull the ripcord and let the business plummet into the abyss, try asking and answering some simple but profoundly tough questions.
Art to Help Kick-Off Project Leadership Forum at Harrisburg University
Filed under: Innovation, Leadership, Leadership Skills, Management Education, Organizational Transformation, Performance, Professional Growth, Project Management
As a long-time, self-described zealot for the importance of project managers developing as leaders, imagine how excited I was to learn about a conference devoted to just this topic! I’ve written at length in this blog (Learning to Lead in the Project Focused World and others) and even offered up my e-book, Leadership and the Project Manager, in support of this concept.
I’m even more excited to be a part of the conference as a guest keynote as the Project Leadership Forum kicks-off on Thursday in Harrisburg, PA.
From the release: The 2010 forum focuses on how to increase projects’ ROI by using leadership practices to influence results and reduce failure rates.
I suppose in true zealot fashion, if I were writing the release, I might trumpet something to the effect that great project managers….that have developed and practice as effective leaders are THE X factor in project success!
I might go on to talk about the remarkable opportunities that firms have to create value, improve performance, improve the effectiveness of strategy execution, grow talent, foster learning and innovation and cure several other common managerial and organizational ailments if they develop effective project leadership cultures.
And finally, I would likely challenge executives to wake-up and recognize and support the opportunities to improve in this area, and I would cheer on project managers to seize the day and grow their careers and increase their value to their firms by developing as leaders.
Of course, to hear all of that and much more, you would have to join us in Harrisburg, PA at the University on Thursday, May 11. The line-up of guests, case studies and break-out sessions is certain to inspire and motivate anyone that is interested in strengthening project performance!
Congratulations to the great professionals at Harrisburg University for recognizing the value in this important topic and to Jennifer Reiner, the Director of Strategic Program Management and the team for devoting their energy to producing this exciting event!
Want Growth? You Might Try Slowing Down to Speed Up
Filed under: Fresh Voices, Leadership, Making Decisions, Management Education, Performance, Project Management, Strategy
Jocelyn R. Davis and Tom Atkinson offer some compelling thoughts on strategy in their article, “Need Speed? Slow Down,” in the May, 2010 Harvard Business Review. They describe the concept of strategic speed as one of reducing the time it takes to create value. While “reducing time” might sound like speeding up, their research results suggest the opposite.
In their research of 343 companies, the two found that, “the companies that embraced initiatives and chose to go, go, go to try and gain an edge ended up with lower sales and operating profits than those that paused at key moments to make sure they were on the right track. What’s more, the firms that “slowed down to speed up” improved their top and bottom lines, averaging 40% higher sales and 52% higher operating profits over a three year period.”
Anecdotally, just a few days ago, I chatted with a valued colleague dealing with the problems of growth at his market-leading firm, and he described a culture that was laser focused on very few initiatives and committed to moving slowly and deliberately to ensure quality. This firm intuitively gets the notion of strategic speed.
The Simplicity and Practicality of Strategic Speed for Your Business:
I love the concept as the authors express it. The notion of reducing the time that it takes to create value screams of jettisoning the undisciplined pursuit of more (Collins, How the Mighty Fall) and rails against exhortations from executives to do more, faster. It implies deliberately deciding what you will not do and carefully constructing your teams and processes to execute, learn, innovate and execute some more.
Many firms struggle with the “We’ve never met a project we didn’t like,” syndrome, saying yes to every opportunity that swims by, hoping that one or a few will hit it big. Others navigate the world shifting their business strategy to rationalize the next investment, acquisition or strategic partnership that once in place will change the game for the better. Employees look on and wonder and then go about their work with little context for what truly will create value and how to make decisions that will help the firm move faster towards value creation.
Moving at the pace of strategic speed as I envision it, allows an organization to arm its people with context, including a crystal clear understanding of customers and their vexing challenges. The right pace allows everyone to focus on creating great customer experiences and on improving systems, services and offerings that continue to meaningfully serve and differentiate.
The Bottom Line for Now:
There are no silver bullets in business, but there are some approaches that work better than others. If you’re looking for more from your business, you may want to consider slowing down, looking around and then choosing your next steps carefully. And plan on stopping a lot along the way.
Enjoy the slow ride to value creation!
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