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Anti-Strategy and Information Gaps – Part VII

Anti-Strategy and Information Gaps – Part VII

By: Bruce Dougan   |     June 26, 2015

Information trapIn our earlier posts on Anti-Strategy—situations wherein well-intentioned employees act against company interests—we’ve explored this all-too-common issue, some of its symptoms and how it shows up in various business functions. Today we consider the root cause: poor and/or untimely information availability and its damaging effect on a company’s culture. Absent information, particularly in a dynamic business environment, people tend to project fears. The resulting self-preservation mode can foster either of two extremes, Anti-Strategy cultures: “robotic” or “chaotic.” The robotic culture cultivates “drones” throughout the organization and a business that’s stuck in neutral or worse. On the other hand, the chaotic culture features extremes of “survival of the fittest” at the expense of organizational harmony and effective execution. The table below broadly portrays the two types of cultures fueled by poor information and how related Anti-Strategy problems play out. Anti-Strategy and Information Gaps

To battle Anti-Strategy and close the Information Gaps every company must:

  • Create and live by a clear statement of the company’s purpose and its defining and guiding mission, vision and values
  • Develop the Company Strategic Plan 5.0™, the means by which it realizes its goals and objectives as well as creating a culture consistent with its mission and vision
  • Determine Action Plans that show the “how to” part of delivering the strategic plan: Strategic Execution
  • Establish key performance indicators (“KPIs”) to ensure the work is progressing
  • Communicate, communicate, communicate!

Following these steps which are part of Group50’s Business Hierarchy of Needs® will provide all stakeholders with a clearer sense of purpose and they can see how their efforts and results align with the strategic goals.  We will discuss “Cascading Objectives” and the tools to enable them in a future blog. Communication, follow-up, leadership commitment and refreshing your strategies and metrics is a necessary ongoing, key business process ensuring that Information Gaps don’t prevail. Most companies feel the effects of Anti-Strategy and Information Gaps in one area or another, but often don’t know why. As part of its Company Physical®, Group50 offers a Data Acquisition and Management Assessment focused on identifying how to properly set up management dashboards that will eliminate the information gap.

If you want to find out how you can eliminate Anti-Strategy in your company, you can reach us at (909) 949-9083 or send a note to info@group50.com or request more information here.

The following articles provide more insight on the impact of Anti-Strategy at the functional level.

  1. HOW CAN ANTI-STRATEGY KILL YOUR ORGANIZATION? – PART II
  2. “ANTI-STRATEGY”:  A DEATH KNELL TO THE SUPPLY CHAIN – PART III
  3. THE IMPACT OF ANTI-STRATEGY ON MARKET EFFECTIVENESS – PART IV
  4. ANTI-STRATEGY – HOW SALES COMPENSATION CAN ACCELERATE IT – PART V
  5. FROM “ANTI-STRATEGY” TO ACTIONABLE STRATEGY – PART VI
  6. ANTI-STRATEGY AND INFORMATION GAPS – PART VII
  7. “ANTI-STRATEGY” AND THE COMMUNICATION CONUNDRUM – PART VIII
  8. INOCULATING INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AGAINST ANTI-STRATEGY – PART IX

Feel free to share this link to the Anti-Strategy series with colleagues who might find this of value to them and their organization.

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About the author: Bruce Dougan is the head of Group50’s Organization Design and Development Practice which provides Talent Management assessments and workshops.  Bruce and the Group50® team are all former executives from well-known manufacturing and distribution companies who understand what it takes to design, train, develop and motivate organizations to successfully implement a company’s strategic plan. Group50® has designed a series of strategic assessments, workshops and strategic execution tools that will optimize your organization. Call us at (909) 949-9083 or email us at info@group50.com.

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This entry was posted in Anti-Strategy, Organizational Development, Weekend Thought, on June 26, 2015

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