Category: Strategy

If you’re the leader of an organization, what should you do when you develop an exciting, fresh strategic direction for your company? Before you rush in, take caution – you could do more bad than good if you don’t proceed carefully.

Imagine yourself as a CEO or MD, just returning from a two-day conference in New York. As you sit in the departure lounge, you’re filled with nervous energy. Three big ideas triggered by your exposure churn in your mind: your organization needs them to secure its survival in these trying times.

However, you also heard from a consultant who cautioned against implementing any new idea from the top down. If the implementation is complex, it’s easy for you to chase up the hill, only to realize that your troops aren’t behind you. How can you ensure that your business transforms in order to survive, while engaging staff at all levels along the way?

Would a town hall announcement do the trick?

The answer is usually “No.” As the leader, you must account for several gaps inherent in your leadership that could doom your effort. These must be accounted for in the way you roll out your ideas to ensure implementation.

Gap #1 – Your strategic thinking, versus that of others

Most CEO’s forget that while they are focusing on the company’s strategy 90% of the time, their direct staff is far less concerned. In my experience, the average leader wants managers who are short-term result-producers. As such, each manager spends no more than 10% of their time thinking about long-term strategy, triggered only by the advent of the annual retreat.

Therefore, managers develop strategic skills slowly, if at all. Consequently, many who are promoted to top positions end up floundering as they simply are not used to the long-term thinking needed to guide the enterprise.

This means that your bright, strategic idea might not be readily understood by your colleagues. While you came to these “sudden” insights based on your foreign exposure, it might take them much longer to arrive at the same conclusion. Therefore, you need to give them time to come up to speed, just to appreciate the nuances of your proposal. Don’t be impatient.

Gap #2 – Your executive’s engagement

While your top executives are used to managing their departments for quick results, they are probably not used to putting the hours into projects that have a long-term payoff. This can doom your strategy.

Most important strategic initiatives impact several departments at once. Also, the people who must implement them are usually far away from the CEO’s office. Therefore, top managers must have more than an abstract understanding; they need to show an emotional connection with the new project. That’s the only way to inspire those who need to set aside old behaviours and implement new ones.

Such executive bonds aren’t crafted via a town-hall speech, or by sending out messages on the importance of creating shareholder value. Instead, you must hold a commitment event – an occasion specifically intended to bring your top managers together in a public show of solidarity.

This usually takes place in a strategic planning retreat. By the time it concludes, each attendee has been asked to craft and engage with the new strategic plan. But it’s not a majority vote in which the losers are forced to sign up to something they don’t believe in.

Instead, there needs to be a sense that your three big ideas are self-evident: conclusions that any team of smart people would arrive at. As this happens, as the CEO, you must release any authorship of the original insights and allow others to build their own commitment, in their own words, for their own reasons.

Gap #3 – Their visible support

But this can’t be window dressing. Having everyone nod together is a start – the rubber hits the road when the plans hit the lower tiers of the organization. Now, leaders must engage staff so that they develop their own commitments as well, which cannot happen in an ordinary meeting.

The point of taking this circuitous route rather than just “issuing a directive” is that complex changes need the buy-in of many people who often don’t work together. The energy required to bring them to a single vision is considerable and doesn’t happen in an instant.

Don’t be fooled by those who offer instant assent. Instead, realize that success occurs only when staff members are applying private, discretionary time and effort.

This approach may not do much for the ego-driven CEO who is a magnet for credit and attention, but it’s the right one for the organization. In the long term, the best way to implement a new idea is through others.

Francis Wade is the author of Perfect Time-Based Productivity, a keynote speaker and a management consultant. To search prior columns on productivity, strategy, engagement and business processes, send email to columns@fwconsulting.com

Prefer to listen to or view this article?

If your company is using an outside strategy consulting firm like McKinsey, what is the best step to take after they leave? If their expensive advice is so useful, why might you still require another planning meeting?

Many of the most successful companies around the world avail themselves of the research services provided by firms such as McKinsey & Co, Bain & Company and Boston Consulting Group (BCG). Their formula is often the same: a prospective client presents them with a difficult problem. To find solutions, they assemble a team of young, bright MBA’s who tackle the issue in an intense three to four-month sprint. Working long nights and weekends, they delve into their database of past projects and proprietary data, relying on the stellar advice of their global network of experts.

Compared to the internal resources of the typical client, they have an unmatched ability to bring a firehose of assistance to a threatening blaze.

However, don’t believe for a second that they are providing a complete solution to your troubles. Instead, their final presentation is actually just the start. Here’s why.

#1 – They Solve Narrow Problems

An outside expert isn’t geared to tackle a wide range of your company’s complex issues. They agree to focus on a sharp, well-defined scope: a tight problem definition that is clear to both sides. Given their brief tenure, they define problems that can actually be solved in a short timeframe.

Initially, it may seem strange to you, their client. The consultants appear to be trying to do less, actively resisting the temptation to do more. This sometimes lead to tensions. Some look at the huge price-tag (US$1-2 million) and believe that at that level, every issue should be resolved by their high-powered team.

But that’s not how it works, with good reason.

As expert problem-solvers, they operate a bit like surgeons. Within their narrow specialty, they are called into crisis situations to tackle your organization’s issues no-one else can. They represent an immediate investment of time and money to carry out a critical intervention. As such, it’s unprofitable and unwise for them to “boil the ocean”. Their value lies in their ability to go deep very quickly, not to understand a great deal of complexity.

That’s why, when their job is done, they need to walk away. They should never usurp the responsibility for the long-term health of the company. That should remain the primary job of you, the client. Likewise, the implementation of their recommendations should not be in their role.

#2 – Their Solutions Have an Expiry Date

An outside consultant’s advice might be the best possible answer to a given problem…right up until the date their intervention ends. After that, all bets are off.

Case in point: if COVID-19 has taught us anything, it’s the fact that dramatic disruptions do take place. Imagine if, after receiving a consultants’ report, a pandemic were to break out. The unfortunate timing could render the contents meaningless.

This is why it’s critical for clients to act on specific advice immediately, never allowing it to languish. Does this mean that they should rush to implement the suggestions without question?

#3 – Outside Experts Aren’t Your Company’s Primary Strategists

Ultimately, the fact is that consultants can’t understand the entirety of your business in just a few months. This means they shouldn’t become your organization’s chief strategists. That job remains in the executive team, led by the CEO.

Whether their recommendations confirm, deny or augment prior wisdom, your senior managers should consciously incorporate them into their thinking. But there’s a caveat. Not every recommendation they made is worth pursuing. Why? They simply cannot take into account all the factors necessary to lead your business into the future.

As such, the chances of their report being completely correct are low, especially in the areas in which they tend to be weak: cultural differences, human resources and change management. While their technical analysis might be on point, it won’t be perfect.

Turning their findings into something valuable requires some hard, additional work, regardless of the price-tag paid. Your team’s combined wisdom is needed to treat the expert advice as only a single input among many: an element of the organization’s strategic management, but never a replacement.

The final decisions remain in the hands of your executives. They must now plan a complete strategy, short and long term, that builds on the report. The first post-McKinsey meeting is therefore just the start of a new planning cycle, albeit one that has the advantage of some fresh insights.

This article was originally published in the Jamaica Gleaner.

Prefer to listen to or view this article?

If your company is using an outside strategy consulting firm like McKinsey, what is the best step to take after they leave? If their expensive advice is so useful, why might you still require another planning meeting?

Many of the most successful companies around the world avail themselves of the research services provided by firms such as McKinsey & Co, Bain & Company and Boston Consulting Group (BCG). Their formula is often the same: a prospective client presents them with a difficult problem. To find solutions, they assemble a team of young, bright MBA’s who tackle the issue in an intense three to four-month sprint. Working long nights and weekends, they delve into their database of past projects and proprietary data, relying on the stellar advice of their global network of experts.

Compared to the internal resources of the typical client, they have an unmatched ability to bring a firehose of assistance to a threatening blaze.

However, don’t believe for a second that they are providing a complete solution to your troubles. Instead, their final presentation is actually just the start. Here’s why.

#1 – They Solve Narrow Problems

An outside expert isn’t geared to tackle a wide range of your company’s complex issues. They agree to focus on a sharp, well-defined scope: a tight problem definition that is clear to both sides. Given their brief tenure, they define problems that can actually be solved in a short timeframe.

Initially, it may seem strange to you, their client. The consultants appear to be trying to do less, actively resisting the temptation to do more. This sometimes lead to tensions. Some look at the huge price-tag (US$1-2 million) and believe that at that level, every issue should be resolved by their high-powered team.

But that’s not how it works, with good reason.

As expert problem-solvers, they operate a bit like surgeons. Within their narrow specialty, they are called into crisis situations to tackle your organization’s issues no-one else can. They represent an immediate investment of time and money to carry out a critical intervention. As such, it’s unprofitable and unwise for them to “boil the ocean”. Their value lies in their ability to go deep very quickly, not to understand a great deal of complexity.

That’s why, when their job is done, they need to walk away. They should never usurp the responsibility for the long-term health of the company. That should remain the primary job of you, the client. Likewise, the implementation of their recommendations should not be in their role.

#2 – Their Solutions Have an Expiry Date

An outside consultant’s advice might be the best possible answer to a given problem…right up until the date their intervention ends. After that, all bets are off.

Case in point: if COVID-19 has taught us anything, it’s the fact that dramatic disruptions do take place. Imagine if, after receiving a consultants’ report, a pandemic were to break out. The unfortunate timing could render the contents meaningless.

This is why it’s critical for clients to act on specific advice immediately, never allowing it to languish. Does this mean that they should rush to implement the suggestions without question?

#3 – Outside Experts Aren’t Your Company’s Primary Strategists

Ultimately, the fact is that consultants can’t understand the entirety of your business in just a few months. This means they shouldn’t become your organization’s chief strategists. That job remains in the executive team, led by the CEO.

Whether their recommendations confirm, deny or augment prior wisdom, your senior managers should consciously incorporate them into their thinking. But there’s a caveat. Not every recommendation they made is worth pursuing. Why? They simply cannot take into account all the factors necessary to lead your business into the future.

As such, the chances of their report being completely correct are low, especially in the areas in which they tend to be weak: cultural differences, human resources and change management. While their technical analysis might be on point, it won’t be perfect.

Turning their findings into something valuable requires some hard, additional work, regardless of the price-tag paid. Your team’s combined wisdom is needed to treat the expert advice as only a single input among many: an element of the organization’s strategic management, but never a replacement.

The final decisions remain in the hands of your executives. They must now plan a complete strategy, short and long term, that builds on the report. The first post-McKinsey meeting is therefore just the start of a new planning cycle, albeit one that has the advantage of some fresh insights.

This article was originally published in the Jamaica Gleaner.

It’s often said that a good disaster shouldn’t be squandered. If you were to follow this maxim for 2021, how could you make the most of last year’s twin evils: a recession and a worldwide pandemic?

Most executive teams are happy to have survived to the end of 2020 in one piece. Thankfully, their companies are still running and few employees have succumbed to the COVID-19 illness. They feel a sense of achievement at overcoming an unprecedented attack.

However, this is a low standard. In the years to come, some will ask: “What big things did your leaders do with the pandemic?” In other words, how did you take advantage of the dramatic changes underway to ensure the company’s future?

Although most won’t have an answer, here are a few questions you can pose now. Use them to make the most of the havoc wrought by last year’s tumult.

1) Do you have the right talent?

Under normal circumstances, most CEO’s and board chairpersons don’t like to rock the boat. While they may secretly want a company filled with top talent, they decide that it’s just not worth the fight. Instead, they settle for so-so standards, believing that you can’t have an organization of star performers.

Here’s another approach: the best football teams keep a list of potential replacements for every position. Looking forward, they plan for a time when each incumbent cannot improve his/her level of play. As such, no-one is granted an indefinite guarantee. Instead, these organizations continually scan the horizon for potential replacements.

Few local companies challenge their employees in this way: in fact, only a handful conduct proper performance reviews. This failure leaves them short – lacking the systems required to put top talent in seats. Consequently, when the time comes to make dramatic changes due to outside circumstances, they falter.

For example, in 2021 few companies escape the need for an urgent digital transformation. However, only a handful have the capacity needed to convert this strategic imperative into a reality. If your company has no active plan to upgrade its human resource strength, change your approach now, before the next interruption occurs.

2) Are you innovating enough?

Some time ago, an executive complained to me about the lack of a critical input to their company’s business. While it could be acquired locally, it was only available sporadically. We talked informally about taking strides to secure a steady supply.

Today, a decade later, the firm remains in the same spot. They failed to craft the strategy required, a weakness that COVID has “attacked”. If they had only taken the right steps at the right time, this would not be a concern. In fact, it would be an enormous source of competitive advantage leading to happier customers.

In my company, we were too slow in our pivot to offer an online version of our 2-day strategic planning retreat. Believing that COVID would pass in the near future, we waited…but now we expect companies to ask for lower cost, virtual retreats as a matter of course. We learned that innovation is easier to teach than to apply.

The truth is, when only a trickle of evidence is available, you need tremendous creativity to imagine what your customers and suppliers will need. Yet, there are standard, proven approaches to produce reliable, game-changing innovations. For example, use the Jobs to Be Done technique I mentioned in a Gleaner column from Nov 18 2016.

Here is a test – if you don’t have a list of practical innovations lined up for possible execution in 2021, you probably aren’t taking advantage of the pandemic. Teach your staff how to use the latest techniques and apply them even when it’s hard.

3) A Culture of Proactive Resilience

Jamaican companies know how to react to disasters: they are tough survivors. But few can make repeated operational changes which create room for transformational shifts. Unfortunately, CEO’s often behave as if their job is only about capably adjusting to outside fluctuations.

However, there is another approach: to always look to do more with less, thereby preparing your company to tackle the next disaster before it even appears.

The fact is that today’s pandemic is tomorrow’s hurricane, fire, or new digital competitor. These are just a few disruptions which can do serious damage to your enterprise. Consequently, you should be prepared by driving an enduring culture of continuous improvement.

Ultimately, this self-renewing corporate culture is more likely to succeed against rude surprises. It prepares your staff to tackle challenges effectively. This is the only way to ensure your firm’s success: the kind of place which sees the next disruption as an opportunity to transform itself for the better. Far from being wasted, it’s welcomed.