The power of focus is amazing. Focus and concentrate light and get a laser that can cut through steel. Focus your body and movement and you can break a board with your hand. The same holds true for your business.
A well-focused strategy creates more power and impact for your organization.
The problem is that most leaders aren’t clear on what their strategy should accomplish. As a result, they run into three common problems: 1) defining strategies that try to answer every possible question and action (and never get completed), 2) defining strategies that answer too few questions and provide little insight into decision-making and action, 3) confusing their strategy with their plan thus creating a tactical “to-do” list which reduces empowerment, innovation, and adaptability.
A good strategy sets the context in which an organization should operate by:
- Setting boundaries
- Creating focus
- Enabling prioritization
The strategy does this by answering three basic questions:
- What are we?
- Who are we?
- What do we do?
What are we
Every organization has a unique purpose. Surprisingly the members of those organizations aren’t always aligned in their understanding of that purpose.
One of my favorite models for defining your organization’s purpose comes from the book Adaptive Enterprise by Stephan Haeckel.
Haeckel uses the term “Reason for being”. The reason for being differs from a traditional mission or vision. It’s more actionable and therefore better aligned with decision-making.
The reason for being is a short statement of the organization’s purpose. It includes these components:
- What is our primary action? (at the highest level)
- Who is the primary beneficiary of our actions?
- What are the non-negotiable qualifications or constraints under which we act?
- What is the ultimate outcome (result) of our actions?
These questions look simple but I’ve yet to find a team that consistently agrees on all four. By understanding the answers to these questions, teams will be more empowered, more adaptive, and more able to make the right decisions.
Who we are
What’s the difference between Disney and your local amusement park? On the surface, they often look very similar. Yet, many people find that they have a very different experience at each.
It’s not about what he organization does, it’s about what the organization is.
Places like Disney, the Ritz Cartlon and other world-class organizations have strong, consistent, and well-defined cultures. That’s what separates them.
Creating expectations for how people should act is as important as what they should accomplish.
In one workshop, I asked leaders to identify five to eight cultural expectations of their people. That is, how do they expect people to act regardless of their role, their position, or the goals/metrics that are set forth? While most leaders can create the list, many admit that they’ve never shared the list with their people.
Here is an example of the expectations that I’ve set with my team:
Members of our team . . .
- Act With Integrity
- Embody A Passion For People
- Drive Outcomes And Results
- Draw Upon A Point Of View
- Work As A Team
- Engage in dialog and offer insight
- Spark Curiosity And Innovation
- Think Holistically
- Treat All People With Respect
For each of these, I have written a 3-4 sentence description to clarify my expectations. More importantly, this is what I model and emphasize with each person. To be a high performer in my organization, an individual must achieve their goals AND meet these expectations.
What we do
Most people understand the daily tasks for which they are assigned.
Yet, it can be easy to lose sight of the big picture when stuck in the details.
I was once working with a team that was trying to improve the usability of an information system.
They asked people to identify information that was difficult to locate in the system.
I asked them what they did with that data.
As expected, they categorized it, prioritized it, and created a set of recommendations about how to improve the system.
I then asked if the team ever told those users where the information was.
They said no – they would fix the system and then people could find the information. That was their job after all.
I reminded them that their job was to help people get the information they needed, and that they had a group of people whose information needs they specifically knew and they didn’t provide it.
They got lost in the task and lost sight of the outcome.
What you do is not a list of tasks. It is the outcomes for which you are responsible. I like to think of it as the five to six things that you must get right for the organization. It is an extension of the reason for being.
There are four key parts to answering the question of what you do:
- Ultimate goal/purpose (e.g. reason for being)
- Drivers – the key things that determine whether you meet your goal
- Performance – what we must accomplish
- Metrics – how we will determine success
The picture to the left provides an example of “what we do” statements from a phlebotomy department at a hospital. Phlebotomists are the people who collect blood samples.
None of the items on this chart are tasks. They all are results/outcomes driven to different levels of detail. As with the reason or being, a clearly stated description of “what we do” empowers teams focusing their actions and decisions.
Creating clarity
A well-focused team will deliver better results in a more efficient way. They will also generally be more engaged and satisfied with their work. Clarity not only focuses, it helps give meaning and purpose to people’s work.
The most important thing to remember is that clarity doesn’t come from documents or pictures. It comes from interactions. Your job as a leader is to discuss, reinforce, and exemplify what you are, who you are, and what you do as an organization.
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Brad Kolar is an executive consultant, speaker, and thinking coach with Avail Advisors. Avail can help you clarify and simplify your decisions, data, and communication. Contact Brad at brad.kolar@availadvisors.com
