Many people believe that continuous improvement is a culture.  It certainly is in the eyes of the Japanese and many others, but is continuous improvement really a culture or something else? …Read More

Organizations that aren’t guided by clearly articulated strategy and objectives have a tendency to wander and fall apart. Their foundation is weak and they have inadequate structural supports. They don’t have something to use as a litmus test for making decisions.

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There are lots of reasons why failure in Strategic Execution™ is so common and why only 10% of all companies execute their strategic plans effectively. Many companies do strategic planning, and may even have a well-documented process. However, the process itself has become a hollow drill—a once-a-year exercise to get a financial plan to the bank and pacify the board—instead of a meaningful way to assess the business and set a meaningful course. As well, many …Read More

Understanding and being understood are among the most basic needs of all people. The same is true for businesses wishing to execute well, adapt to change, and effectively execute the company’s strategy. A common business language aligns a company’s operating organization and connects it with senior leaders and other key stakeholders. Further, a common, performance-based language helps avoid …Read More

My daughter is graduating with a master’s degree in Healthcare Informatics (a broad academic field encompassing computing technologies and development in healthcare). I asked her what here career plans were with a degree in this very hot field and her answer surprised me. She said that she wanted to lead teams of people who were responsible for designing and implementing new healthcare systems and the organizations to leverage them. I was intrigued by that answer. What title would that be, I asked. She said she didn’t believe it existed, because most organizations have different groups who are responsible for technology and organizations.

She went on to explain …Read More

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The Business Hierarchy of Needs ^® is a compilation of three levels of activities. As our work on effective strategic execution continues, we have found that most companies haven’t developed strategic execution and change management processes that provide consistent and effective implementation of their strategic objectives. Every organization …Read More

Performance Management is a critical part of a company’s business strategy. As shown in Level 2 of the Business Hierarchy of Needs®, performance management is the bridge between strategy and results. As we have spoken to senior executives around the United States, we have found that their perception of performance management is more tactical than strategic.  We have found that functional organizations also see performance management as a check the box activity. Most companies view “performance management” …Read More

When I was a general manager of a leading consumer business in the mid-90’s, one of my managers came to me one day and challenged me with the statement: “We are over-emphasizing leadership and under-emphasizing management.” I pondered that, not understanding his point initially, and subsequently concluded that he was right and went about changing my leadership approach to bring management and leadership into right balance. Since that time, however, whether in my role as a business executive or presently as a consultant, I continue to see the “over-led and under-managed syndrome” regularly, even in …Read More

During a keynote address at IIR’s Balanced Scorecard Forum, Robert Kaplan, a leading international business management guru, revealed “that less than 10% of formulated strategies are executed effectively” and an international survey indicated that consistently executing strategic objectives were in the top three concerns of CEO’s and corporate boards. Kaplan also added “that it is a well know fact that organizations who have a formal strategy execution process dramatically outperform the rest”. Effectively and consistently implementing corporate strategy requires all stakeholders to be aligned to those objectives, understand their role in achieving them and be accountable for effective implementation. If your company doesn’t have a formal process, then the hard work is figuring out what one looks like. A strategic execution process must …Read More