Leadership Workshop (3 of 12) - Sharpen the Focus
Leading at Light Speed is a must-have leadership book by Eric Douglas highlighting the 10 Quantum Leaps to build trust, spark innovation, and create a high-performing organization. Chapter 2 is all about Sharpening the Strategic Focus.
A strategic plan shows how to implement your vision and is divided into three parts: goals, objectives and actions.
Once you’ve defined the vision, you need to define the priorities for the organization in the form of goals and objectives. The desired amount of goals is approximately three or four. Too many goals will tend to blur the focus and make it hard to accomplish what you desire. After the organization has productively accomplished what they sought to with their priorities, they can then introduce more.
Mediocre leaders have long laundry lists of goals and priorities. Too many goals and priorities can have a negative impact on the focus and energy of the organization. One CEO had 14 goals for her company. When asked, she remarked: “It’s important to me that we have a goal that reflects everything we do.Sharpening the focus of an organization relies on the establishment of priorities, rather than the satisfaction of everyone’s pet project.
How do you define priorities? If you perceive the expansion of your organization, be sure to implement goals that will reflect this. Incorporate related objectives that will help to open new offices or introduce new products in order to ultimately attract more sales in that market. If your vision is to become more vertically integrated in the sources of production, then one goal might be to buy a manufacturing plant. The importance is in the clarity of the priorities. A priority should be isolated and addressed independently.
Objectives seek to define the initiatives and developmental points you need to reach in order to achieve your goals. Actions capture the specific steps, timetables and responsibilities for achieving the objectives.
The senior leaders of the organization should take responsibility to articulate the goals. Leaders need to be held responsible for refining the goals of their department and tieing them together with specific objectives and steps of action. This “cascade” effect enables every manager – and ultimately every employee – to connect what they do to the strategic plan.
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Tags: sharpen focus, strategic management, strategic plan, strategic planning