Archive for the ‘Strategy Execution’ Category
Wednesday, March 15th, 2023 by AdvisorCatalyst
Your team’s pulse is the frequency of your team’s
meetings. There are two situations where
leaders need to quicken their team’s pulse.
One is defensive – for fast, critical decision-making
in dynamic or fluid environments. Think
crisis management.
The other is offensive – for accelerating
important initiatives. This will instill
urgency around the few priorities which will best advance your organization.
It’s okay if the meetings are shorter. The most important thing is connecting. What happened since we last met? What needs to be accomplished next? What resources or decisions are required to
move forward? Go ahead, quicken your team’s
pulse rate.
“Leadership is all about people. It
is not about organizations. It is not about plans. It is not about strategies.
It is all about people–motivating people to get the job done. You have to be
people centered.” Colin
Powell
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here if you would like “In 100 Words” delivered to your inbox twice each
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Tags: Leadership Team, Meetings, strategy execution, Troy Schrock
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Tuesday, March 15th, 2022 by AdvisorCatalyst
Inertia
– resistance to change in speed or direction – is a powerful force. Significant energy is required to break
inertia which can be good or bad for leaders.
Inertia works in a leader’s favor when it is built around valuable routines,
habits, and attitudes. The more momentum
you build in the right direction the easier it is to maintain.
Conversely,
inertia works against you when built around negative routines, habits, and
attitudes. It takes committed effort to break
the cycle and restart momentum in a positive direction.
How
can you spin your positive inertia flywheels?
Where should you break negative inertia?
“Leaders must wake people out of inertia. They must get people excited about something
they’ve never seen before, something that does not yet exist.” Rosabeth Moss Kanter
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Tags: Leadership, Troy Schrock
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Monday, November 1st, 2021 by AdvisorCatalyst
Leaders should become comfortable making decisions with probability-based thinking. The future is uncertain and the environments in which we operate are fluid.
Some leaders get stuck waiting for more information, a better view. It appears certainty is just ahead… one last question, one final piece of information. But, certainty is a mirage. As soon as you receive the information “certainty” evaporates like the proverbial desert oasis shimmering in front of you.
Two dangers of certainty-thinking:
• Decisions bog down and progress slows
• Absolute-outcome thinking closes off to options for alternatives.
There comes a time decisions must be made and actions taken.
“…logical method and form flatter that longing for certainty and for repose which is in every human mind. But certainty generally is illusion, and repose is not the destiny of man.” Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
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Tags: In 100 Words, Leadership, management, strategy execution, Troy Schrock
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Monday, February 1st, 2021 by AdvisorCatalyst
Most organizations rarely experience a shortage of good opportunities. What is not rare, though, is a shortage of attention span, time, and resources. Despite these limitations, leaders hesitate to keep resources focused on developing the opportunities already in process and say NO to new opportunities.
We get excited and over-value potential returns of the new opportunities. This reveals the flip-side – we under-value the harvest to be gained by bringing our current BEST opportunity to fruition. Fully invest in the opportunity selected as BEST for now until it is mature. Once it is harvested, plenty of new opportunities will be waiting.
“The art of leadership is saying no, not saying yes. It is very easy to say yes.” Tony Blair
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Tags: In 100 Words, Leadership, management, strategy execution, Troy Schrock
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Monday, September 16th, 2019 by AdvisorCatalyst
How do you rate a leadership team’s strategic ability? One thought – look at the team’s ability to iterate strategically without lurching wildly in different directions. Can the team adapt the organization’s strategy to produce more than one economically successful business model over time? Time, in this case, is a decade plus. Success for that duration typically involves at least one business model shift when you consider changing customer preferences, technological advancements and competitive forces.
On this course, teams will need to master two key elements:
• strategy thinking – both the creative and analytical aspects, and
• execution – consistent, disciplined action over time.
“There is another old poet whose name I do not now remember who said, ‘Truth is the daughter of Time.’” Abraham Lincoln
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Tags: In 100 Words, Leadership, management, strategic planning, strategy execution, Troy Schrock
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Wednesday, May 1st, 2019 by AdvisorCatalyst
Visualize a swarm of insects or birds in nature moving en masse then descending on and devouring a food source with shocking speed. They completely overwhelm the present condition.
This is the mental picture for how your team should tackle top priorities. Swarm – fully activate and intensely concentrate people and resources to overwhelm the obstacles to accomplishing the objective. Such singular passion and effort will create enough energy to break the inertia of the present condition. Conversely, chipping away at the priority with too few resources applied too late will leave you short. Swarm early and descend on the priority.
“It is not always what we know or analyzed before we make a decision that makes it a great decision. It is what we do after we make the decision to implement and execute it that makes it a good decision.” William Pollard
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Tags: In 100 Words, Leadership, management, strategy execution, Troy Schrock
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Thursday, January 31st, 2019 by AdvisorCatalyst
A perfect option does not exist for many choices we make. Rather, the decision involves a trade-off between a set of upsides and downsides; advantages and disadvantages. We try to balance the trade-offs. Oddly enough, though, we sometimes become concerned when the expected downsides occur. Hoping for a better solution, we work to amend the negative trade-offs without realizing we may miss the full benefit of the positive trade-offs in the process.
Don’t waste energy on the downsides if you want to maximize decision trade-offs. Identify the trade-offs. Get comfortable with your decision path. Enjoy the upsides of the trade-off!
“There are no solutions; there are only trade-offs.” Thomas Sowell
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Tags: In 100 Words, Leadership, strategy execution, Troy Schrock
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Thursday, March 15th, 2018 by AdvisorCatalyst
Big Ideas are grand! Some leaders obsess over finding the next Big Idea. The latest company that races from concept to billion-dollar valuation captures our imagination. Strategy conversations spice up the humdrum of business. Leaders can become distracted pursuing new Big Ideas. Take note, there is a little secret with Big Ideas – you only need a few because the right ones remain true over time (e.g., faster delivery, more individualized service, exclusive prestige). Clarify your existing Big Ideas which will remain true over time. Invest to increase capabilities around those Big Ideas. In short, obsess over executing your Big Ideas!
“A company shouldn’t get addicted to being shiny, because shiny doesn’t last.” Jeff Bezos
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Tags: In 100 Words, Leadership, management, strategy execution
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