Strategy is a healthy mix of art and science. Unfortunately, too many organizations approach strategy as if were alchemy. Adding formal project management practices to the strategy program increases the “science” component and improves a firm’s chances of success for a successful initiative as well as for sustaining of an on-going, healthy program.
Thanks to a good friend and the person I credit with the creation of the "Why is a Product Manager Like the Office Photocopier?" joke, I recently unearthed a listing of questions that we had established with the PM team to help teach and remind everyone of the True Role of a Product Manager.
he Strategy-Fueled Leader is someone you want to work for and someone that you want to become. Working for one of these individuals is like existing in an alternate professional universe. If you are fortunate enough to connect with this type of leader early in your career, you are in for a remarkable education that will shape you for the rest of your professional (and even personal) life. Catch one later in life, and expect to find yourself reborn professionally, with a renewed sense of focus and purpose. If you are not fortunate enough to find one as a mentor, its up to you to make a difference in your organization by developing the habits, approaches and thinking of this powerful leader.
I had a horrible consultant’s dream the other night, where I found myself shouted down in a planning session when I had the temerity to suggest that the “g” word was suspiciously absent from the prioritized corporate action-list. “Growth is an outcome!” one person shouted. “We need to fix the plumbing and growth will come our way!” shouted another. “Growth is not our issue,” hollered a third person who I had observed arriving just after the financial review showcased what can only be described as reverse growth. “Death to the growth zealot,” shouted a fourth baring his teeth.” I remember looking at the door and mentally calculating whether I would win the footrace to the exit should that be necessary. Fortunately, my alarm clock went off and I breathed easier until I remembered that I was facilitating a discussion about growth in two hours. I immediately broke out in a sweat. Fortunately for me, the group was much less “Lord of the Flies-like” than the team in my dream. I did however maintain an unobstructed view to the door at all times.
One of the wonderful benefits of modern technology is the ability of organizations to scale without investing in bricks and mortar. It is commonplace in a number of industries for people to work together for years and never set eyes on each other. It’s also common for the leaders in these virtual organizations to lose track of the fact that there are real people behind the e-mail and text messages. Over time, they reduce to faceless names behind occasional e-mails or text messages. Clearly, people choose a virtual professional lifestyle because they like the freedom and flexibility that it provides. However, when a virtual organization is faced with the need (or desire) to shift gears into a new growth mode or to change its strategy, it is essential that the leaders of this firm rethink their communication and engagement with their remote knowledge workers. For many technical leaders used to not communicating frequently with these invisible associates, this can mean a significant change in behavior.
y posting, The Product Manager as MVP, offered my perspective on the potential for the professional in this role to have a material impact on a firm's success. I truly believe in the power of this function to shape firms, and for individuals and teams of Product Managers to serve valuable formal and informal leadership roles in organizations. I've also seen some remarkable wholesale failures in Product Management—at the team and individual levels. Truthfully, these failures often have their root causes at the top of the team or even elsewhere in the leadership or organizational design structure. Nonetheless, the symptoms become visible in Product Management. While we all love studying and reading about best practices and successes, in my experience, most of the best lessons come from studying the train-wrecks. Consider these as cautionary tales.
A good friend that knows my passion for all things leadership, recently switched jobs and offered some comments on the nature of his dozen or so interviews. I paraphrase: "My leadership skills, experience or approach were not discussed during any of the interviews." I was shocked. "None of the top executives that I spoke with singled out and discussed leadership or people development during discussions about their business and strategy." I started to get depressed. And: "Nope, it wasn't covered with the recruiters either." I had a headache. What gives?
s a strategy consultant, I see clients wrestle with the exercise of creation or articulation of a "Vision" for their business on a regular basis. In some environments, the exercise of clarifying or creating a vision is motivating and galvanizing, and for others it is futility personified. My question for the day: How important is it for an organization to have a shared vision--a view as to what the future desired state of the organization will look like?
While some organizations are consistently high performing, the gross majority of firms operate in phases ranging from excitement and growth to malaise and meandering. If you are growing and changing, that is good, but the trick is how to sustain and even improve. If you are meandering or worse, declining, the challenge is how to break out of a challenging slide. Over the course of the next few weeks or months, I am going to develop the concept and benefits of what I describe as Strategy-Fueled Leadership. Step one in the introduction of this externally aware, results-focused approach to leading, winning in the market and developing others, is recognizing whether your own leadership style and culture are adversely impacting your organization's performance.
