Category: Transformation & Strategy

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Leaders, here are 3 ways to grow, and inspire others to keep growing

Aligned Momentum - Mastery Mindsets
Mastery Mindsets are critical to business vibrancy

When I wrote the book The Pivot: Orchestrating Extraordinary Business Momentum, I was somewhat surprised when after boiling down all the possible indicators of what makes a leader successful in leading a vibrant business, and achieving Aligned Momentum, there were just six (listed at the end of this article).

Mastery Mindsets is the second key indicator in the first group of three, which indicate a readiness for brilliant execution of strategy. Your business cannot be vibrant, and you and all those in your organization cannot be nimble, without the openness, curiosity, courage, integrity and grit to continue to grow. Continued growth is the path of mastery.

You may be wondering how “vibrant business” is defined. I define it as:

A vibrant business commands the highest valuation, stays ahead of the competition, and is a great place to work.
Continue reading “Leaders, here are 3 ways to grow, and inspire others to keep growing”

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Want a Vibrant Business? Gain Clarity (Get Clear & Be Clear)

Get clear and be clear. As a leader if you do anything very well, be a master of communication so that everyone is clear and aligned toward strategic objectives.

Want people to be both aligned and engaged? Be clear in a way that connects what they desire for themselves to what the business needs from them in their role.

Continue reading “Want a Vibrant Business? Gain Clarity (Get Clear & Be Clear)”

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Are You Ready for Performance Breakthroughs? Track these 6 Key Indicators

Aligned Momentum Key Indicators
Measure Readiness for Extraordinary Momentum and Performance Breakthroughs

Executing a plan requires alignment. Executing on time requires momentum. Executing brilliantly, including shifting quickly when the facts change while staying on track with strategic objectives, requires Aligned Momentum.

Aligned Momentum Key Indicators help you track progress in your Pivot from an incremental, traditional and/or rigid business culture to a culture with Aligned Momentum. Aligned Momentum leads to brilliant execution of strategy.

Aligned Momentum Key Indicators

To support brilliant execution of strategy

  • 1) Clarity: Getting clear, being clear.
  • 2) Mastery Mindset: Open, growing mind.
  • 3) Nimble Decision-making: Best next step.

To prepare you for a better future

  • 4) Strategic Thinking: Play the movie.
  • 5) Talent Adaptability: Roles fit strategy.
  • 6) Coaching: Manager as coach.

Continue reading “Are You Ready for Performance Breakthroughs? Track these 6 Key Indicators”

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Want to reach your desired destination? Be focused & nimble

To keep momentum and reach your desired destination… be focused & nimble.

Focus is important. “You get what you focus on,” which in a business is typically what you measure. Keeping track of progress and outcomes helps with focus.

But you also must stay nimble – open, aware, and adaptable – to move around obstacles or to adjust a course. Sometimes what is being measured is not leading toward longer term strategic objectives. And sometimes strategy needs to change.

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Take Your Best Next Steps

Best Next Steps
Best Next Steps for Extraordinary Momentum

This first post in the Extraordinary Momentum Series offers 5 key ideas to help you get clear about best next steps, and how you can help others get clear about their best next steps.

When you are nimble, you are aware and open. You rarely get blocked or stuck. If you do – if someone, something, or even your own mindset or limiting beliefs – get in your way, you have what it takes to move around, over, under, through.

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Empower others to initiate change. Leaders orchestrate.

Employee Engagement-41pct Disengaged

Those of you who know me or are getting to know me… understand that I am all about business vibrancy. In my terms, that translates to a nimble organization, continuously building its business value, and a great place to work. An organization with these traits has what I call “Aligned Momentum,” which I show in the visual above this post and write about in my book (you can find an excerpt here).

For over 20 years the average results from employee engagement surveys have shown a rate of disengagement at over 30%. Aon’s recent 2017 Trends in Global Employee Engagement reports that 41% of employees are disengaged and feel undervalued.

What this reflects, at least in part, is a lack of empowering employees to initiate change – a critical step in a Pivot toward Aligned Momentum.

Continue reading “Empower others to initiate change. Leaders orchestrate.”

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Alignment Series #3: When strategy changes

In Series #1 and #2 I discussed the best steps for aligning people with strategy and how to know when strategy must change.

In this post l get to the execution part of a change in strategy and answer, “How do you re-align people when strategy must change in a way that changes their daily work?”

For their Sept 2015 newsletter, Palladium Group, founded by the fathers of the Balanced Scorecard, Robert Kaplan and David Norton, asked a few thought leaders including me to provide guidance to their readers on this subject.

How Do You Align Culture with Strategy?

Want to get what you expect, even when your expectations change frequently as your company grows? Create clarity around how problems will be discovered, communicated and solved. Communication between individuals and managers can ensure that decisions are made, and resources are allocated smartly – and aimed at keeping execution on track with strategy.
Continue reading “Alignment Series #3: When strategy changes”

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Alignment Series #2: How do you know when strategy must change?

In the first post of this series, I shared three proven steps in aligning people with strategy.

During times of significant change, alignment requires more attention from leaders and managers. This is especially the case when what is required to execute a new strategy involves more than small tweaks in people’s daily work.

How do you know when strategy must change?

John Caplan, former CEO of Open Sky, explained this well in a talk recorded on Inc. Only subscribers can view the article so I’ll just share a few notes from his talk. Continue reading “Alignment Series #2: How do you know when strategy must change?”

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Alignment Series #1: How to align people with strategy

Strategies change. At least they should – in order to even just keep up with the change around us.

This series addresses Alignment. How can you align your people with strategy? How do you know when strategy must change? (even when it hasn’t been a year)? How do you re-align people when strategy must change in a way that changes their daily work?

Let’s talk about the first step – aligning people with strategy (when the strategy does not require significant change in roles or the work people do). Continue reading “Alignment Series #1: How to align people with strategy”