Executing Growth Plans
September 21, 2009
Welcome Back. We've got lots of in depth business strategy to share with you today.Many of the business leaders and managers I talk to each day ask me this question: Why is my strategic plan not being implemented:
All of us would like to find out why strategic plans don’t get implemented. What do you think? If you could jot down the answers to the following three questions and email them back. I will compile the responses from everyone and send you the results.
- Know your Strategy Statement: How does your organization differentiate itself from the competition?
- What are the top 2 or 3 initiatives that will implement the strategy?
- How will you know if your organization’s performance is on track?
Travel Strategy Planning… BEWARE Big Brother Is Watching!
August 26, 2009
Thought you might find this of value…
I travel the Illinois tollway system almost every day…words of warning from big brother.
Illinois will begin using photo radar in freeway work zones in July. One mile per hour over the speed limit and the machine will get you a nice $375.00 ticket in the mail. Beginning July 1st, the State of Illinois will begin using the speed cameras in areas designated as “Work Zones” on major freeways. Anyone caught by these devices will be mailed a $375.00 ticket for the FIRST offense. The SECOND offense will cost $1000.00 and comes with a 90-Day suspension. Drivers will also receive demerit points against their license, which allow insurance companies to raise Insurance rates.
One mile per hour over the speed limit and the machine will get you a nice $375.00 ticket in the mail.
This is the harshest penalty structure ever set for a governmental unit involving PHOTO speed enforcement. The State already has two camera vans on line issuing tickets 24/7 in work zones with speed limits lowered to 45 MPH. Photos of both the Driver’s face and License plate are taken. Pass this on to everyone you know who might be affected!!!
For more info: http://www.dot.state.il.us/press/r033005.html
Warmest Regards,
Bob
Business Strategy Navigation 2009 - Part 7
July 30, 2009
You Can’t Manage What You Can’t Measure
Management, by definition, requires intimate knowledge of what is being managed. And business knowledge depends on measurement. Good Strategic execution plans encourage and demand constant measurement of progress toward each initiative and objective. This measurement occurs via both internal and external feedback. Each consists of hard-and-fast performance measures (financial growth, percent customer retention) in key strategic areas, as well as qualitative responses to the changes taking place. The mechanism of measurement encourages adaptability: external feedback notifies managers of relevant (and sometimes urgent) changes in the environment, while internal feedback efficiently integrates employee innovation and input.
I’d like to hear from you on 2 measurements. 1. What are some of the metrics you use in your business? 2. How are we measuring up with the information we are providing here at BobJonas.com? Please let us know.
Tomorrow we will wrap up with Business Strategy Navgation as we take a look at “The Problem of Strategy.”
Strategically Yours,
Bob
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Business Strategy Navigation 2009 - Part 6
July 29, 2009
The Ride, Part II: Implementation
Once the ship has hit the water, it’s time to move. The most intricate and brilliant execution plan is worthless hidden in a desk drawer beneath a stapler and dirty coffee mug. Strategy’s beauty lies in its careful implementation-and ubiquitous involvement. Any disturbance of the status quo is bound to make waves among employees and managers all-too-familiar with alleged strategic panaceas. Front-liners must be assured that the strategy is relevant and necessary. The American Productivity and Quality Center suggests company-wide education and involvement: “There must be a sense of urgency and a convincing argument that the proposed [strategy] will mitigate wasteful, whimsical changes.”
A well-designed strategy avoids such “wasteful, whimsical changes” by consistently involving representatives from all areas and levels in its creation and implementation. None of the new initiatives is irrelevant, because each builds on the input of those it affects. None is an annoying surprise, because each initiative addresses a widely understood goal. And nothing happens suddenly or irrationally: “a management system does not appear instantaneously,” write Kaplan and Norton. “Because of its scope, complexity, and impact, a new management system must be phased in over time.” A Strategy International execution plan facilitates strategic planning with the benefits of short-term proactive change. It does not expect-or, indeed, allow expectation of-sudden results, but promotes steady, directed, creative work toward a discernable future goal. It harnesses the creativity and proactivity of all of the organization’s members in its movement toward a final objective.
Tomorrow we will delve into metrix, “You can’t manage what you can’t measure.”
Strategically Yours,
Bob
Business Strategy Navigation 2009 - Part 5
July 29, 2009
The Ride, Part I: The future trends and strategy
Magellan’s strategy was clear and simple: reach the Spice Islands via circumnavigation in order to secure spice trade for Spain and adventure for himself. His plan? Sail west, with prevailing winds. Seek (by trial and error) a channel through the enormous roadblock known as South America. Maintain knowledge of present position and plan for future direction.
It is safe to assume that during the two-year trip, Magellan and his crew constantly assessed this plan’s rationality and feasibility. It is also safe to assume that Magellan did not need a wide-ranging measurement rubric to track each strategic move. Here lies the difference between the Renaissance explorer and the Information Age manager.
To develop a business strategy, corporate leaders must identify and understand the future trends in their industry that will impact the demand for their products and services. The leaders need to create a database of activities. The Trends Analysis should result in a grouping of converging trends. These are the opportunities for future growth.
So how do the leaders drive the organization to succeed. They create a competition strategy. Michael Porter defined competitive strategy in 1996.
“Competitive strategy is about being different. It means… choosing to perform activities differently or to perform different activities than rivals.” “Strategy is making tradeoffs in competing. The essence of strategy is choosing what not to do.”
Further strategy is a unique way of creating and delivering value that pervades the entire organization. It is your enduring reason for being that makes your customers want you to flourish and thrive. It is what you do that creates value and makes you hard for others to imitate.
My definition of business strategy … an integrated and align set of strategic initiatives (tactics) all working together to create unique customer value and thereby unique customer perception.
Once armed with a well-framed strategy statement, a business must hit the road. Beat the pavement. Spend deserved time and resources creating a detailed, albeit flexible, roadmap that takes you from here (current reality) to there (objectives).
Again, commitment to adaptability is vital. Strategy, write Kaplan and Norton, “must reflect the structure of the organization for which [it] has been formulated.”
Both-the structure and the strategy-must be persistent but flexible enough to facilitate innovation and market adaptation. A strategy designed to propel a company toward an ambitious goal cannot be represented by a stodgy table or bar graph. The strategy map’s structured chaos perfectly captures the paradox of direction and flexibility that characterizes successful strategy. For this reason, Strategy International consultants help businesses create execution plans, aphoristic visual representations of the whole strategy process from confronted reality to trends, objective to initiative.
Tomorrow we’ll continue this discussion with part 2 of “The Ride: Implementation.”
Strategically Yours,
Bob
