Friday 11 June 2010

Structures and systems that fully support people in bringing their best to their work on a consistent basis

There are three primary reasons why great strategies fail to get executed:

1) people are not in the right roles
2) people charged with execution don’t really now what the strategy is
3) strategy has not been personalised by people charged with execution

To change these sad scenarios:

Match people to roles


Often before I undertake a performance improvement project with clients, I review service and product delivery roles from board to leaders, leaders to employees, and employees to customers and other stakeholders. More often than not many roles have not been clearly defined, and if they have been, there is almost always a mismatch between many people and the roles.

Your service and product delivery structure must be designed without people in mind and then you match people to roles. If you currently have people not matched to roles then you have massive productivity issues, low engagement of people, and you are missing out of a myriad of opportunities for growth.

Explain strategy to people charged with executing it and get them engaged

Firstly, define your strategy in no more than six words. See previous post for details. People can remember six words. They can’t remember your strategic plan that is gathering dust in your cupboard.

Secondly personalise strategy by ensuring every employee has a written performance possibility plan that details their personal and business goals for the next 90 days that when achieved mean your strategy is being executed. Personal as well as business goals are crucial. Your employees do not care about your business goals. They care about their goals, and when they see that you are helping them to achieve their goals they will gladly help you achieve yours.

Adam Werbach’s PSP (Personal Sustainability Practices) White Paper has some great insights into the concept of personal and business goals. You can download it here.

For 45 tools, tips, and techniques for making the above happen you can purchase my ebook here for just $5. An extraordinary offer considering the massive return you could achieve through implementing my concepts.

Structures and systems that fully support people in bringing their best to their work on a consistent basis combined with being able to describe your strategy in six words, pursuing enlightened self-interest, turning values into virtues, and compelling stories without spin (see previous posts of June 9th, 7th, 4th, and 2nd) are five of what I believe are the 8 critical factors for success in modern business.

Be the difference you want to see in the world
Ian
Founder Differencemakers Community
Please download my ebook about the 8 critical factors here.

Please join me in Manchester on July 7th for a one day summit on the 8 critical factors. Details here.

To invite me to conduct such a summit for your organisation please visit here.

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