Strategic Speed: Behind the Scenes

We’ve discovered the keys to speed of strategy execution, and they’re not what you might think:

• Clarity: Shared, clear understanding of your situation and direction
• Unity: Wholehearted agreement on the merits of that direction and the need to work together to move ahead
• Agility: Willingness to turn and adapt quickly while keeping strategic goals in mind

These three concepts form the core model of strategic speed.   Business leaders have responded favorably to the model’s simplicity and accuracy.  But it didn’t come that easily to us.

We originally talked about “celerity” as a key to strategic speed.  For those of you born after 1896, celerity means “rapidity of motion or action.”  We eventually decided against including celerity in the model for a few reasons:

1. It sounded like celery.  Good for soup, not for business.
2. No one knew what the heck it meant.
3. If we used such old-fashioned language, we feared we might have to grow handlebar mustaches, use subtitles, and walk around really fast like people in old-time movies.

All valid reasons.  But the final straw surfaced when we analyzed our case studies deeply and realized that tactics like urgency and tight timelines create “rapidity of motion.”, but do not necessarily increase value over time.  Since celerity doesn’t do both (reduce time to value and increase value over time), it is not a key to strategic speed.  And that, friends, is a look at how close we came to bringing celerity back.

Fires and Festina Lente

In our recent post, we began exploring fire-fighting in business.  Everyone wants to speed up important initiatives, but often companies fail to achieve true speed because their leaders and employees are too busy dashing around with a fire hose.

Instead of telling your people to hurry up, consider telling them:  “Festina lente.”

Festina lente was one of Augustus Caesar’s favorite expressions.  Roughly translated, it means “make haste slowly.”  Today we have similar expressions.  In November 2008, as U.S. President-Elect Barack Obama was assembling his cabinet, he promised to proceed “with all deliberate haste.”  In the 1954 U.S. Supreme Court decision Brown v. Board of Education, the court ordered school segregation to be abolished “with all deliberate speed.”  And we’ve all heard the expression “go slow to go fast.”  Most leaders know that real speed requires slowing down when you need to.  Instead of running from fire to fire—festina lente.

Most people think of fire fighting as responding to unexpected crises.  But there are other, more subtle, ways that leaders create a fire-fighting culture: an environment in which fires are common and heroics are the order of the day.  Consider these situations:

• A leader announces an important strategic initiative and drums up a lot of buy-in, but fails to announce the metrics—or even basic signs—by which people will know whether or not progress has been made.
• A leader allows projects to be treated as fads:  People pick up work with initial enthusiasm but then, as it wears off, they’re allowed to drop the project and move on to something else.
• A leader emphasizes one particular activity over all others (such as “doing deals” or “completing customer calls in 2 minutes or less”) and rewards people for the quantity and speed alone.

In these circumstances, people tend to move fast.  Urgency is palpable.  Leaders hand out awards left and right.  But … nobody’s making any real progress.

The mantra of leaders in truly fast organizations is something more like festina lente. Though it translates as “make haste slowly,” slowly fails to capture the connotations of lente, which include toughness and suppleness.  So perhaps we could translate the phrase as:  “Make haste—and at the same time, be intentional.  Be flexible.  Be aware.  Don’t lose sight of what you’re trying to achieve.”  If everyone in an organization behaved that way, fires would have a hard time getting started.

Do You Fan the Flames or Fight the Fire?—or Both?

By Steve Barry

“How can we execute on a strategy if we’re busy fighting fires all day?”

This question came up in our recent webinar on driving strategic initiatives.  Fire fighting is a seemingly bulletproof “yeah, but”:  “Yeah, I know that is the new strategy, but (insert your own ‘fire’ here: the client’s going to walk, we’re out of coffee filters, etc.).”

Some fires simply must be handled immediately.  But others can be delegated, ignored, or even prevented.  Often the problem is that people  unknowingly fan the flames of the very fires that suck up their time.  So, if you are frustrated by fire fighting, think about these questions with regard to yourself and your culture.  Do you  …

1. Find that fire fighting gets your adrenaline going more than disciplined executing on tasks?  Does it provide more of a feeling of worth?
2. Reward people for “responsiveness” more than for execution-oriented behaviors?
3. Often have people scrambling with urgent e-mails?
4. Have enough time/resources allotted to the initiative?
5. Spend time on fire prevention?  That is, debriefing a situation with your team to discuss what triggered the fire and how to avoid it in future.

What do these questions bring up for you?  Do you have any advice for your fellow firefighters?

Leader as Archeologist

by Steve Barry

A friend of mine consults with hospitals.  At the end of a particularly grueling and frustrating engagement, I asked him over drinks what he learned.  “All change,” he said, “and resistance to change, comes down to politics.”

I was reminded of the “four hurdles to strategy execution” from Blue Ocean Strategy:

• Political (opposition from powerful vested interests)
• Cognitive (organization wedded to status quo)
• Motivational (unmotivated staff)
• Resource (limited resources)

When I think back to the recent case study interviews for our Strategic Speed research, “resources” was often immediately listed as a “speed bump” in execution.  When we dug a bit deeper, we got to more “cognitive” levels—people in the organization wedded to “the way we’ve always done things.”  (One organization’s people went so far as to wear buttons that said “Status quo” in a circle with the line through it.)  And when we dug deeper still, people would say, “Can you shut the camera off?”  That was the good stuff, of course.  Many times, political interests (perceived or otherwise) would be at the root.  And the perceptions often impacted motivation.

So, I wonder:  Is there a stratification of speed bumps that we need to dig down to and uncover when undertaking a new initiative or transitioning into a new role?  Are there other layers beyond these four hurdles?  What would the stratification look like at your organization?

Webinar Questions 3/3: Ten Ways Fast Companies Accelerate Strategy Execution

by Steve Barry

We are using this space as a means to answer your questions from a recent webinar we hosted on the 10 Ways Fast Companies Accelerate Strategy Execution.  
Here is part 3 of our answers to your questions. 
Please click here  for a recording of the webinar

Question: How do you measure alignment?

 This is a tough question to answer without knowing the context.  Alignment can be measured in lots of different ways, on macro or micro scales, depending on what you are looking at.  If you are talking about organizational alignment, it can be measured with organizational assessments.  Regardless of the content or focus of the assessment, alignment can be determined by the extent to which groups answer in the same way.  In other words, ask this question:  Are there statistical differences between groups in terms of items deemed important to the organization?

Question: Is there any reason you focused on financial and professional services organizations?

 EIU sent surveys out to its database of senior leaders, many of whom happen to work in financial and professional services.  This is beneficial for us in that several of our client organizations are in these verticals.  

Quesion: What could be the impact on the Learning & Development strategy/offering?  How should we develop leaders differently to “think and act faster” (according to clarity/unity/agility)?

 Well, for starters, there are four main leadership abilities we’ve discovered—and specific behaviors and tactics associated with each one.  This blog space is not sufficient for doing them justice.  But here is a high level overview of the four abilities: 

1) Affirm strategies.  This is the first step to take to drive speed, because people need to know where they’re going and need to be motivated to go there.  An affirmed strategy is not only correct, it’s also alive—that is, complete, clear, well communicated, and well understood by all stakeholders.

 2) Drive Initiatives.  This ability involves follow-through.  Our research shows that, after affirming the strategy, leaders cannot simply “sponsor” the initiative.  Many of the skills that support this leadership ability are project-management skills:  unfamiliar territory for many senior leaders, but territory that they need to master.

 3) Manage the Climate.  Climate is what it feels like to work in a place.  Managing climate is a matter of understanding its dimensions and the leadership tactics whose use improves it.  If you can change your organization’s climate in positive ways, you will also improve your employees’ motivation and increase speed of execution.

 4) Cultivate Experience.  Like solar, wind, and water power, experience is everywhere—and it’s rarely captured and put to good use.  Many leaders don’t know how to cultivate the experience of their employees and colleagues—how to capture it, make it visible, refine it, and harness it so that it becomes a powerful driver of results.

 For a recording of the North America and Europe Webinar, click here

Webinar Questions 2/3: Ten Ways Fast Companies Accelerate Strategy Execution

by Steve Barry

In a previous blog entry, I wrote that we would use this space as a means to answer questions from our recent webinar on the 10 Ways Fast Companies Accelerate Strategy Execution.  (Please click here  for a recording of the webinar).   Here is part 2 of our answers to your questions. 

Question:  Can you elaborate on the four speed traps?

 Sure.  In each of these scenarios, the organization has strengths upon which to build, but it also has identifiable vulnerabilities that slow or even derail sustainable strategy execution.  Here are some brief snapshots of some other common organizational speed traps. 

Speed Trap 1:  “Not My Problem”

–     This is where clarity is emphasized to the exclusion of other people factors. 

Common symptoms:

• People are clear about what the strategy is but less clear about how to execute it. 
• The strategy turns into fragments that each function or division interprets differently, causing people to selectively execute the strategy in ways that protect their turf.
• Silos result from conflicting priorities; data and resources are withheld; trust erodes. 

Speed Trap 2:  “Everything to Everyone”

–     Agility is emphasized, while clarity and unity are overlooked. 

Common symptoms:

• If you asked seven different people to describe the company strategy, you’d get seven different answers.
• Strategy is too high-level:
    -People don’t know what they should start and stop doing—so they do everything.
    -Leaders state initiative objectives that seem to link to strategy, but at too high a level.  It’s difficult to know how to act on them, measure progress and hold people accountable, or even identify projects that don’t align.
• Every “hot opportunity” in the marketplace is pursued, confusing customers and eroding profits.    

Speed Trap 3:  “Myopia Utopia”

–     Unity is emphasized at the expense of clarity and agility.

Common symptoms:

• A strong push to maximize shareholder value through “all hands on deck” efforts in order to hit the numbers.
• Agreeable, loyal team players are rewarded even if that means avoiding obvious strategic issues.
• Pressure for short-term performance is so high that there’s little experimentation or reflection.

Speed Trap 4: “ Boiled Frogs”

–     These firms have high clarity and unity, but low agility (this was the profile of all of the webinar participants’ firms).

Common symptoms:

• These firms have a very clear strategy and strong execution abilities.
• A high degree of pride in the company excludes thoughts or events outside the company.
• Too narrow a focus on internal process improvement can overvalue quality, while undervaluing speed to market.
• Susceptibility to losing market share to smaller, more nimble competitors.

 For a recording of the North America and Europe Webinar, click here

5 New Strategic Initiatives That Are Creating Business Impact Right Now

We asked our colleagues across Forum to share strategic initiatives that have a positive impact for clients.

We see a gradual shift away from short-term focus on results, and a renewed emphasis on the implementation of strategic initiatives to take organizations forward.  Here are some examples:

1. Re-engage employees through focus on growth
Clients are re-engaging their people and developing new products, services and markets. The enthusiasm generated by these ‘growth’ conversations positively impacts their organizational climate and injects renewed optimism for 2010 and beyond.

2. ”Back to Basics”
Several clients are using this time of economic turmoil to re-assess their strategic plan and focus on the individual gaps standing between them and their strategic goals.

For example, a regional energy company is ‘going back to the basics’   They have placed an emphasis on understanding the fundamental service skills and are focusing time and energy on the critical skills of customer service for front line representatives.    

Another example is a not-for-profit organization embarking on a 24-month plan to enhance leaders’ abilities to sustain success and to develop new opportunities for growth.

3. Retain Talent
I have noticed increased thinking about how to retain and motivate top talent. For example, a leading investment firm is assessing the climate of its sales force and preparing managers to create a high-performance environment.

4. Leverage Six Sigma
A global pharmaceutical company has started a thorough Six Sigma initiative.  However, rather than focus on systems, they are focusing on the numbers (increasing consistency and reducing variation).  Initially they are aligning their revenue-producing sales and marketing teams, attaining their buy-in using basic indicators such as call rates and customer segmentation data.  The business then plans to focus on high performance, enriching and improving every action based on global benchmarks.

5.  “One-firm firms”
Organizations seek to gain market share by pooling their combined capabilities to better serve clients in “one stop”.  Collaboration is the key to this initiative.  For example: 

• A large Middle-Eastern conglomerate with global operations is breaking down internal barriers to communication and collaboration in order to accelerate growth.  They see learning as the key lever in this effort, and they’ve created a common language and approach across the sales organization.

• One of our Asian clients implemented a successful, cross-functional collaboration initiative to deliver customer value. This initiative is championed by the General Manager, which has enabled it to gain traction.

What strategic initiatives would you add to this list?

Webinar Questions 1/3: Ten Ways Fast Companies Accelerate Strategy Execution

by Steve Barry

For a recording of the North America and Europe Webinar, click here

I recently co-hosted, along with my colleague Henry Frechette, a Forum webinar for North America & Europe entitled “The 10 Ways Fast Companies Accelerate Strategy Execution.”    The topic of Acceleration seems to be a hot button topic – participants had more questions than we had time to answer.  We’ll use this blog to answer these questions over the next week.  The first question was:   Can you expand your message to include how to be successful in resource constrained firms?

Though Henry answered this question on the webinar, here is a bit more food for thought regarding resource constrained firms.  Consider the following equation from Bigler & Norris’ book, The New Science of Strategy Execution:

 Cycle time = Actions in progress / processing speed

In the webinar, we talked a lot about the denominator (processing speed).  But simply reducing the numerator (the # of strategic initiatives you have in place) may actually be a good place to start for resource constrained firms.  Take a thoughtful approach to reviewing the strategic initiatives you have in place.  Does the estimated cash benefit outweigh the time and resources they are using?  Are they truly helping your firm improve or innovate?  Prioritize them.  Are there any “pet projects” that can be eliminated?   This should help to free up resources and enable you to be more strategic and successful. 

For a recording of the North America and Europe Webinar, click here

Webinar questions 3/3: Using Climate to Drive Employee Engagement

by Tom Atkinson

For a recording of the North America and Europe webinar, click here. 

 Here is the final question raised by participants in our recent Forum webinar for North America and Europe entitled “Using Climate to Drive Employee Engagement.”  I was joined by climate expert Henry Frechette of Forum and by Joe Price of Aflac—which has recently boosted the performance of its sales force by helping managers shape climate.

 

What employee-related things does the manager overlook most often?  How does this influence climate?

Managers often focus on achieving business results—and rightly so.  But, in order to be effective, they must focus not only on the result but also on the process.  For example, when a production problem occurs, does the manager use it as an opportunity for the team to learn and develop new capabilities, or is she more focused on just getting the product out the door?  The most effective managers look through two lenses:  one on the business results (what the team accomplishes) and the other on the “people processes” (how the team achieves results).  We’ve noticed a blind spot of even the most effective managers:  losing touch with how the team is working and how their own actions as managers affect the team, especially in stressful situations.  The value of assessing climate involves managers becoming aware of this blind spot and taking action to illuminate it.

For a recording of the North America and Europe webinar, click here.

AsiaPac Webinar questions: Using Climate to Drive Employee Engagement

For every webinar that Forum hosts for a North American and European audience, we also host a separate version for our audience in Asia-Pacific. The Asia-Pacific webinars include presenters, insights, and case studies from across the region. Recently we hosted a webinar called Using Climate to Drive Employee Engagement for Asia-Pacific  (click here for a recording). The audience included participants from Delhi to Sydney, from Tokyo to Singapore.

We were asked a number of questions at the end of the webinar—more than we had time to answer. Here are the ones we couldn’t answer in the webinar:

1. How do you weight the value of training managers in emotional intelligence in relation to the value of training them in change management?

Change management often focuses on the process. Though it’s an essential part of any change initiative, if we don’t address people’s emotional resistance and comfort zones, the process will struggle—or fail. A truly successful change initiative must address both the process and the people to ensure that it has the buy-in required to make it work. This is the value of incorporating emotional intelligence into our initiatives. For specific weightings, look at each organisation/team individually to discern the level of EQ and understand the climate.

 

2. How do you bring managers to embrace the tremendous impact they have on climate?

We help them see themselves as leaders of people—not just managers of a process. Many managers move into a people-leader role because they want to make a difference or a positive impact. We need to empower them to do just that.

 

3. How do you remain optimistic and create a positive climate when you are under-resourced, with no sign of any resource changes in the future?

First of all we need to accept this as the new business reality and get clear about what the opportunities are. Don’t underestimate the impact of the leader buying into the “new” way of doing things. We may not agree with it—but we must accept it as the way things are. How do we make the best of it? How do we use this challenge to grow our leadership practice? We need to invest time daily in developing an optimistic mind-set. Then it is essential that we take the “chess” approach, building on our people’s strengths. It does require an investment up front and a deeper level of strategic thinking, but it will help us and the team to maximise our leverage in all our activities and create a greater level of engagement.

  

4. What different or additional management practices can be used to address a climate in an M&A situation?

Change and ambiguity create stress because we feel as if we are not in control. We feel as if things are happening to us. As leaders, we need to bring back a sense of control, a sense of certainty. If we don’t, we will create a leadership void, and someone or something will fill that void—usually at the watercooler, in less-than-optimistic conversations. Here are four key steps we can take:   

1. Manage our personal climate. Be in a resourceful, grounded, optimistic state.
2. Communicate clearly and regularly—even if it is only to say that nothing has changed. Do not allow rumours and gossip to take root.
3. Set short-term measurable (achievable yet challenging) goals to give the team a sense of accomplishment on a weekly basis.
4. Shift the focus to what the opportunities are and how we as a team add value to the organisation, the M&A process, and our customers. Ask our team (and ourselves), “What are the opportunities here? What can we learn from this?”