Four Reasons Why Your 2013 Strategy Will Fail (and What to Do About It)

This article is by Chris McChesney and Jim Huling. Chris McChesney is global practice leader, execution practice, and Jim Huling is a managing consultant, for FranklinCovey. They coauthored The 4 Disciplines of Execution:  Achieving Your Wildly Important Goals.

 

It’s likely that by now you’ve put the finishing touches on your strategy for 2013. And if you’re like most leaders, by now you’ve fallen in love with your vision for the year—goals achieved, teams engaged, customers delighted, and success rewarded.

While this vision plays in your head like a Spielberg movie, we want to echo sobering advice from a former heavyweight champion: “Everyone has a fight plan until they get hit in the face.”

The vast majority of leaders, 80% in one recent study, will fail to achieve the strategy they have laid out for their teams, and for most it won’t be because of any flaw in their planning.

After working with thousands of leaders and teams in every kind of industry, and in schools and government agencies worldwide, this is what we have learned: Your biggest challenge isn’t deciding what to do. Your biggest challenge is getting people to execute it at the level of excellence you need.

Our experience has shown there are four primary reasons teams fail to execute:

1. They have too many important goals.

Basically, the more you try to do, the less you actually accomplish. If you’re currently trying to execute five, 10, or even 20 important goals above the day-to-day operation, the truth is that your team can’t focus. That’s why your first challenge is focusing on one (or, at the most, two) wildly important goals, instead of trying to significantly improve everything all at once.  This is the discipline of focus.

Ford CEO Alan Mulally recently said it best: “You just can’t be world class on 97 different things.” Focus is a natural principle. The sun’s scattered rays are too weak to start a fire, but once you focus them with a magnifying glass they bring paper to flame in seconds. The same is true of human beings. Once their collective energy is focused on a challenge, there is little they can’t accomplish.

2. They hope for good lag measures (outcomes) instead of driving lead measures (behaviors). 

Lag measures are the tracking measurements of the wildly important goal, and they are usually the ones you spend most of your time hoping for. Revenue, profit, market share, and customer satisfaction are all lag measures, meaning that when you receive them, the performance that drove them is already in the past. That’s why you’re hoping. By the time you get a lag measure, you can’t fix it. It’s history.

Lead measures are quite different. They are the measures of the most high-impact things your team must do to reach the goal. In essence, they measure the new behaviors that will drive success on the lag measures, whether those behaviors are as simple as offering a sample to every customer in the bakery or as complex as adhering to standards in jet-engine design. This is the discipline of leverage.

Simply put, all actions are not created equal. Some have more leverage than others when you’re reaching for a goal. And it is those that you want to identify and act on.

3. They have a scoreboard designed for the leaders, not the players. 

People play differently when they’re keeping score. However, the truth of this statement is more clearly revealed by a change in emphasis: People play differently when they are keeping score. It’s not about you keeping score for them.

This is the discipline of engagement. The kind of scoreboard that will drive the highest levels of engagement with your team will be one that is designed solely for (and often by) the players. This players’ scoreboard is quite different from the complex coach’s scoreboard that leaders love to create. It must be simple, so simple that members of the team can determine instantly if they are winning or losing.

The highest level of performance always comes from people who are emotionally engaged, and the highest level of engagement comes from knowing the score—that is, knowing whether one is winning or losing. If your team members don’t know whether they are winning the game, they are probably on their way to losing.

4. They don’t hold one another accountable. 

Most teams view accountability as reactive and negative. If you say, “Come see me in an hour; we need to have an accountability session,” they can be fairly certain it’s not a good thing.

But what we’re describing here is a particular kind of accountability, the accountability that is created when a team actively meets every week to answer the question “Did we do what we committed to one another we would do?” When the answer is yes, when members of a team see their peers consistently following through on the commitments they make, they grow in respect for one another. They learn that the people they work with can be trusted to follow through. When this happens, performance improves dramatically.

Your team wants to win. They want to make a contribution that matters. However, many lack discipline, the disciplines of focus, leverage, engagement, and accountability that drive how a team executes. Bring these disciplines to the execution of your 2013 strategy, and your team not only will have the experience of winning on a key goal, they will become a winning team.

 

This article can be found at: 

http://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesleadershipforum/2013/01/25/four-reasons-why-your-2013-strategy-will-fail/

 

Courtesy FranklinCovey

©FranklinCovey. All rights reserved.

Starmanship is FranklinCovey’s exclusive partner in Lebanon

Can Conflict Cause Creativity?

Conflict is often viewed as one of the biggest roadblocks to achieving a shared goal. There are many instances in which it can bog down or completely derail a project from reaching completion. However, consultant Lina M. Echeverria, author of Idea Agent: Leadership that Liberates Creativity and Accelerates Innovation, argues that there is a hidden benefit to conflict: it can help your team achieve creative breakthroughs.

In a recent Soundview Author Insight interview, Echeverria addressed the concerns leaders have about conflict:

Conflict is one of the things that scares most leaders because it doesn’t feel good.  We have always been conditioned from early childhood not to fight.  Be good.  Be nice.  And it is not about encouraging fighting; it is about encouraging dialogue.  It is about encouraging the ability to disagree, to give other viewpoints and engage in a dialogue.  But as I say, it really feels in the pit of your stomach like, “Ugh, I don’t want to be here.”  So, what it takes first is a lot of courage once you have come to the realization that that conflict is an essential part of the creative process.

It is an essential part because people that are creative, that have a really good idea that others have not seen, are driven by this vision.  And this vision can be very, very powerful and they’re not going to stop because of any barriers until they achieve the mission.

So, when those viewpoints come from a different angle, you could have a lot of passion, each [person] pulling in a different direction or let’s say, pushing towards the center and trying to make [his or her idea] happen.  So, what is needed is to bring them to the team.  Have them understand that theirs is not the only way and that they need to learn to respect others while at the same time, helping them understand how their behavior can impact the dynamics of the team and can push others down.

 

Courtesy Soundview Executive Book Summaries

Starmanship is Soundview Executive Book Summaries’ Partner in Lebanon

Nothing Fails Like Success by Stephen R. Covey

Are you struggling to make changes or respond to changing conditions? I know many people right now are being forced to change the way they work or live because of our turbulent environment. What we might all consider in these times is what the great historian Arnold Toynbee once said:

Nothing fails like success.

What does that mean exactly? Well, if you consider the challenges you’re facing, you might just be using an old approach that isn’t equal to the challenge. In other words, when we have a challenge and the response is equal to the challenge, that’s called success. But once we have a new challenge, the old, once successful response no longer works. That’s why it’s called a failure.

We have to examine our paradigms (our view of things), our tools, our skills to determine if we’re approaching the problem in the right way. As a first step, we may even step back and make sure we’ve correctly defined the problem. Then we need to see if, based on the evidence of results or lack of results, if we need a new approach.

As you ponder your challenges, consider if you need a new mindset, a new skillset or toolset. You may need to adjust your view, try a different perspective or a new way to think about it. Then you may need to acquire some new skills or tools to tackle the problem. What ever the case, you may need to find a new model to drive success. This can be an exciting proposition because you will most likely find new growth and development in the process—this is success!

Remember: nothing fails like success. Be vigilant and be ready to continually learn and adapt to new challenges, which will surely come your way.

 

Courtesy FranklinCovey

©FranklinCovey. All rights reserved.

Starmanship is FranklinCovey’s exclusive partner in Lebanon

Empathic Listening Tips

Being understood by others is the greatest need of all. – Stephen R. Covey

In The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen R. Covey describes Empathic Listening as reflecting what a person feels and says in your own words to their satisfaction so they feel listened to and understood.  Empathic Listening is not listening to advise, counsel, replay, refute, solve, fix, change, judge, agree, disagree, question, analyze, or figure out. Whether you are familiar with The 7 Habits and are looking for a refresher or new to them all together, here are a few tips to remember when using Empathic Listening.

It is best to use Empathic listening when:

• Emotion if high.
• The other person does not feel understood.
• You do not understand the other person.
• Trust is low in the relationship.

Here are a few Empathic Listening starters, these should help you get started using Empathic Listening.

• So, if I am understanding you correctly you are saying…
• What I’m hearing is…
• You seem…
• You must have felt…
• You feel…about…

What tips have you learned as you have used Empathic Listening in your life at home or at work? We would love to hear from you.

 

Courtesy FranklinCovey

©FranklinCovey. All rights reserved.

Starmanship is FranklinCovey’s exclusive partner in Lebanon

Unleashing Potential through Secure Base Leadership

Whether you’re out in the woods camping, hiking the Long Trail, or climbing a mountain, you generally set up a base camp, and place you can return to for supplies, to rest, or to seek safety from the storm. This base camp is your security, a safe place to return to.

People can also be a secure base. A mother is a place of safety for a child to return to when he or she needs reassurance or when something scares them. In the workplace, a leader can be a secure base for their employees.

George Kohlrieser, in his book Care to Dare, defines a secure base as “a person, place, goal or object that provides a sense of protection, safety and caring and offers a source of inspiration and energy for daring, exploration, risk taking and seeking challenge.”

Through his research, Kohlrieser discovered nine characteristics of a secure base leader:

1.  Stays Calm – a secure base leader remains composed and dependable, especially when under pressure.
2. Accepts the Individual – the leader shows caring for the human being before focusing on the issue or problem,
3. Sees the Potential – secure base leaders see the employee’s potential talent versus his current functioning or state.
4. Uses Listening and Inquiry – this leader has a preference for listening and inquiry rather than “telling” and advocacy.
5. Delivers a Powerful Message – secure base leaders are masters at coming up with pithy sentences, or what is called “bull’s-eye transactions.”
6. Focuses on the Positive – this leader is good at directing the Mind’s Eye of other people to focus on the positive rather than the negative.
7. Encourages Risk-Taking – this characteristic goes beyond acceptance to taking direct action.
8. Inspires Through Intrinsic Motivation – the secure base leader talks about what is inherently interesting and enjoyable, instead of just focusing on money and financial reward.
9. Signals Accessibility – people believe that secure base leaders are always accessible and available.

 

Courtesy Soundview Executive Book Summaries

Starmanship is Soundview Executive Book Summaries’ Partner in Lebanon

What GoldiLocks Can Teach Us About Learning

In the fable of Goldilocks and the Three Bears we learn about a young girl who wants everything “just right.” Throughout the story she is faced with several choices, which she tests and tries, and eventually  settles on the choices that are right for her. Does this sound familiar?

This Goldilocks Principle is how people are choosing to learn. With the Learning Explosion taking place all around us we too are faced with an endless array of learning choices. If we want to learn about ferrofluid, we can Google it, view a informative video on YouTube, read a book on it, or attend a live or virtual classroom. Like Goldilocks we can find information that is just right for our specific needs. If we don’t need the entire history of ferrofluid we don’t have to have it force fed to us in a hour long classroom.

But unlike Goldilocks, we will not be kicked off the internet for sampling from many resources. So, enjoy the learning buffet, and don’t settle for information unless it is “just right.” 

 

Courtesy FranklinCovey

©FranklinCovey. All rights reserved.

Starmanship is FranklinCovey’s exclusive partner in Lebanon

 

 

Keys to Total Quality by Stephen R. Covey

The key to a total quality company is a total quality person who knows how to program and use a compass. I’ve always liked the expression, “If it’s going to be, it’s up to me.” In reality, you and me are the keys to total quality. It’s what I call an inside-out approach to quality, and it’s a cure for the cynicism that often comes with “yet another program.”

As Donald L. Kanter and Philip H. Mirvis write in The Cynical Americans: Many companies undertook programs in hopes of gaining a quick fix for productivity, quality and morale problems. Such innovations were marked by fads and easily recognized as a sham. Cynics aptly called this the “program of the month” approach to change.

Programs of the month are characterized by external treatments of internal problems, by an outside-in approach. But quality cannot be inspected in it must flow from the hearts and minds of the people doing the job. You simply can’t manage yourself out of problems you behave yourself into. You can hire the hands and backs of people, but they volunteer their minds and hearts. To get quality, we need a principle-centered, character-based, inside-out approach, meaning that we start with ourselves our paradigms and motives. This often requires personal changes not personnel changes as it requires us to function effectively on four levels on the basis of four principles:

1. personal trustworthiness;

2. interpersonal trust;

3. managerial empowerment; and

4. organizational alignment.

Trust is the foundation of total quality, and trust is made up of both character (what a person is) and competence (what a person does). A corporate culture, like the human body, is an ecosystem of interdependent relationships. If we seek quality with something other than a principle-centered approach on all four levels, our efforts will be necessary but insufficient. Many managers suppose that if they correct the structure and systems (programs), the problems with people (programmers) will go away. The reverse is actually true if you correct the people first, the other problems will go away. Why?

Because people are the programmers, and they use systems and structures as the outward expressions of their own character and competence. Effective executives lead by principles. Principles are like a compass. A compass has a true north that is objective and external, that reflects natural laws or principles, as opposed to values which are subjective and internal. Values are maps. Principles are territories. And the maps are not the territories; they are only subjective attempts to describe the territory.

The more closely our values or maps are aligned with correct principles with the realities of the territory, with things as they are the more accurate and useful they will be. But, when the territory is constantly changing, when markets are shifting, any map is soon obsolete.

The map provides a description, but the compass provides more vision, and direction. An accurate map is a good management tool, but a compass is a leadership and an empowerment tool. We are too locked into certain mindsets, into management by maps, into old models. The old quality model is obsolete. It’s a road map. The key to creating a total quality company is to first create a total quality person.

The manager of corporate training for a major U.S. company recently told me: “The single most important benefit we’ve received from your Seven Habits program has been increased personal effectiveness because that’s the key to corporate results. By improving teamwork, communication and employee empowerment, the Seven Habits played an important part in boosting profits in our overseas operations by 90 percent the first year!” People who don’t make quality their number one priority won’t make it through these tough economic times, say winners of The Malcolm Baldrige Award.

The best way to predict your future is to create it. In today’s chaotic market, road maps are obsolete; only a compass can help you navigate the rough, changing terrain.

 

Courtesy FranklinCovey

©FranklinCovey. All rights reserved.

Starmanship is FranklinCovey’s exclusive partner in Lebanon