This document discusses common challenges that managers face with developing and executing strategy. It summarizes research that identified the top 10 strategy challenges faced by managers. The most commonly cited challenge is a lack of time to think strategically due to being overwhelmed with daily tasks. Other significant challenges include gaining commitment to the strategy from employees and establishing clear priorities. The document emphasizes the importance of strategic thinking and overcoming these challenges, as effective strategy is critical to business success and poor strategy can lead to prolonged underperformance or bankruptcy.
The American Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM) has identified employee engagement – inspiring and motivating people to excel at work – as the biggest challenge faced by its individual and company members. The traditional response of most organization leaders has been to throw money at the problem. In this executive brief, the author draws from his own wealth of leadership experience, and from the findings of numerous specialists in the field of leadership development and employee engagement, to offer a more compelling and effective alternative.
The American Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM) has identified employee engagement – inspiring and motivating people to excel at work – as the biggest challenge faced by its individual and company members. The traditional response of most organization leaders has been to throw money at the problem. In this executive brief, the author draws from his own wealth of leadership experience, and from the findings of numerous specialists in the field of leadership development and employee engagement, to offer a more compelling and effective alternative.
The 2012 Strategic Leader Survey exposes "the strategy gap" - why leaders aren't more strategic and why organizations don't plan and implement their plans - and shows how leaders can think and act strategically and instill planning and effective implementation in their organizations.
Download the free report here: http://www.strategicbusinessleader.com/strategicleadersurvey.html
Strategic management as group of human beingsMiroslav Šebek
There is vast content on strategic management as managerial activity or process in literature and internet too. On opposite, there is almost no material on strategic management as organizational body comprising human beings in these sources. The goal of this presentation is to find exact borders of strategic management in an organization and explain in a few examples why such exact definition matters.
Let’s start with what I suggest are some fundamental misconceptions about strategic planning. The biggest misconception is that strategy and planning are one in the same. How often, for example, do you hear people equate strategic planning with a “blueprint” or a “roadmap?” While those words are good metaphors for the word, “plan,” they fail substantially in capturing the meaning of “strategic” or “strategy.”
What keeps CEOs up at night?
“Leadership”, answered the President of one of India’s largest business conglomerates recently. “Do we have the right skills and capabilities to pull our strategy off,” reported a Global 500 CEO. “I worry that the current management team will not be able to take us where we need to go to next,” answered a third corporate leader.
Most CEO’s are satisfied with their strategies. Many are less satisfied with their performance. This Executive Insight Thought Leader centers on the imperative of leadership capability development as a business priority.
Deloitte University Press’s recent “Global Human Capital Trends 2014” report identified that re-skilling HR is a “top three” priority for enterprises worldwide. Yet only 15 percent of organizations say they are ready to respond to this trend, and even fewer (11 percent) say they are ready to implement workforce analytics.
What is driving this trend? How does the re-skilling of HR relate to workforce analytics?
In this webinar, workforce analytics experts Dave Weisbeck and Ian Cook will explore:
HR’s evolving role, from tactical to strategic player.
Key drivers of the “datafication” of HR.
Connecting the dots between strategy and analytics.
How to develop analytics acumen within HR.
Approaches for accelerating the adoption of analytics.
Becoming a truly strategic business partner.
Turning numbers into action: Case study examples of HR as a strategic partner.
Execution - The Discipline of getting things done GMR Group
This book was published in the year 2002 and I had read this book at that time. Revisited and read this book again just to evaluate the context. Even today the context of this book is very relevant.
Too many leaders fool themselves into thinking their companies are well run. They are like the parents in Garrison Keillor’s fictional Lake Wobegon, all of whom think their children are above average. Then the top performers at Lake Wobegon High school arrive at the University of Minnesota or Colgate or Princeton and find out they are average or even below average. Similarly , when corporate leaders start understanding how the GE’s and Emerson Electrics of this world are run- how superbly they get things done- they discover how far they have to go before they become World class in Execution.
Here is the fundamental problem: People think of execution as the tactical side of business, something leaders delegate while thy focus on the perceived “bigger” issues. This idea is completely wrong. Execution is not just tactics—it is a discipline and a system. It has to be built into a company’s strategy, its goals, and its culture. And the leader of the organization must be deeply engaged in it. He can delegate its substance.
We talk to many leaders who fall victim to the gap between promises they’ve made and results their organizations delivered. They frequently tell us they have a problem with accountability—people aren’t doing the things they’re supposed to do to implement a plan. They desperately want to make changes of some kind, but what do they need to change? They don’t know.
Execution is a specific set of behaviors and techniques that companies need to master in order to have competitive advantage.
Read this Summary ……
The 10 most interesting slides that helped our SaaS company raise 9 millionGoCanvas
Have you ever wondered what goes into a pitch deck? Or what slides matter? Here are the 10 slides that seemed to resonate most with VCs we met with our our journey to raising our latest $9 million in funding. Be sure to check the notes for explanations of each slide.
This tutorial teaches you how to employ the Product Canvas, an agile UX tool that helps you create a product with a great user experience and the right features. Download the Product Canvas at: http://www.romanpichler.com/tools/product-canvas/
Business Model Canvas vs Lean Canvas vs One-Page Lean StartupRod King, Ph.D.
The Business Plan is the traditional document that established businesses and non-profit organizations as well as startups, entrepreneurs, and innovators use to document their strategy and tactics for achieving goals in projects. However, the traditional business plan is voluminous, complex, filled with grand hypotheses (vision), and becomes increasingly irrelevant as a project proceeds in the real world.
In recent years, many individuals and organizations have been abandoning the traditional business/strategic plan in favor of one-page documents that present project plans, business models, and ecosystems. The most common one-page project summaries are currently the tools of the Business Model Canvas, Lean Canvas, and One-Page Lean Startup. This presentation briefly introduces and compares these three business model (ecosystem) mapping tools especially using the workflow of 8 activities for Lean Startup Project Management.
Which business model (ecosystem) mapping tool is your favorite? And why?
What other tools are you using for summarizing, presenting, and managing your project plans as well as business models and ecosystems?
We look forward to hearing from you.
Best regards.
A reproduction of the official pitch deck template recommended by leading VC firm Sequoia Capital.
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE THESE PITCH DECK EXAMPLES & TEMPLATES:
> Airbnb pitch deck @ https://pitchdeckcoach.com/airbnb-pitch-deck
> Sequoia Capital pitch deck template @ https://pitchdeckcoach.com/sequoia-capital-pitch-deck
> FREE pitch deck template download @ https://pitchdeckcoach.com/free-pitch-deck-template
> Pitch deck guide with hints, tips, and a worked example @ https://pitchdeckcoach.com/pitch-deck-template
NEED HELP WITH YOUR PITCH DECK?
See how I can help then book a free call @ https://pitchdeckcoach.com/
MORE PITCH DECK RESOURCES @ https://pitchdeckcoach.com/pitch-deck-template#resources
This presentation is based on the top seller book "Business Model Generation" by Alex Osterwalder and Yves Pigneur. This book introduces the Business Model Canvas, the world's leading tool in creating and analyzing business models. This great tool allows you to sketch out your business model visually without starting with a scary business plan.
You can take my online course which covers more content, examples, quizzes, challenges and provides a certificate of completion.
Get course discounts and learn more:
www.playtactic.com
I hope you find this beneficial and good luck on your business model ;)
The 2012 Strategic Leader Survey exposes "the strategy gap" - why leaders aren't more strategic and why organizations don't plan and implement their plans - and shows how leaders can think and act strategically and instill planning and effective implementation in their organizations.
Download the free report here: http://www.strategicbusinessleader.com/strategicleadersurvey.html
Strategic management as group of human beingsMiroslav Šebek
There is vast content on strategic management as managerial activity or process in literature and internet too. On opposite, there is almost no material on strategic management as organizational body comprising human beings in these sources. The goal of this presentation is to find exact borders of strategic management in an organization and explain in a few examples why such exact definition matters.
Let’s start with what I suggest are some fundamental misconceptions about strategic planning. The biggest misconception is that strategy and planning are one in the same. How often, for example, do you hear people equate strategic planning with a “blueprint” or a “roadmap?” While those words are good metaphors for the word, “plan,” they fail substantially in capturing the meaning of “strategic” or “strategy.”
What keeps CEOs up at night?
“Leadership”, answered the President of one of India’s largest business conglomerates recently. “Do we have the right skills and capabilities to pull our strategy off,” reported a Global 500 CEO. “I worry that the current management team will not be able to take us where we need to go to next,” answered a third corporate leader.
Most CEO’s are satisfied with their strategies. Many are less satisfied with their performance. This Executive Insight Thought Leader centers on the imperative of leadership capability development as a business priority.
Deloitte University Press’s recent “Global Human Capital Trends 2014” report identified that re-skilling HR is a “top three” priority for enterprises worldwide. Yet only 15 percent of organizations say they are ready to respond to this trend, and even fewer (11 percent) say they are ready to implement workforce analytics.
What is driving this trend? How does the re-skilling of HR relate to workforce analytics?
In this webinar, workforce analytics experts Dave Weisbeck and Ian Cook will explore:
HR’s evolving role, from tactical to strategic player.
Key drivers of the “datafication” of HR.
Connecting the dots between strategy and analytics.
How to develop analytics acumen within HR.
Approaches for accelerating the adoption of analytics.
Becoming a truly strategic business partner.
Turning numbers into action: Case study examples of HR as a strategic partner.
Execution - The Discipline of getting things done GMR Group
This book was published in the year 2002 and I had read this book at that time. Revisited and read this book again just to evaluate the context. Even today the context of this book is very relevant.
Too many leaders fool themselves into thinking their companies are well run. They are like the parents in Garrison Keillor’s fictional Lake Wobegon, all of whom think their children are above average. Then the top performers at Lake Wobegon High school arrive at the University of Minnesota or Colgate or Princeton and find out they are average or even below average. Similarly , when corporate leaders start understanding how the GE’s and Emerson Electrics of this world are run- how superbly they get things done- they discover how far they have to go before they become World class in Execution.
Here is the fundamental problem: People think of execution as the tactical side of business, something leaders delegate while thy focus on the perceived “bigger” issues. This idea is completely wrong. Execution is not just tactics—it is a discipline and a system. It has to be built into a company’s strategy, its goals, and its culture. And the leader of the organization must be deeply engaged in it. He can delegate its substance.
We talk to many leaders who fall victim to the gap between promises they’ve made and results their organizations delivered. They frequently tell us they have a problem with accountability—people aren’t doing the things they’re supposed to do to implement a plan. They desperately want to make changes of some kind, but what do they need to change? They don’t know.
Execution is a specific set of behaviors and techniques that companies need to master in order to have competitive advantage.
Read this Summary ……
The 10 most interesting slides that helped our SaaS company raise 9 millionGoCanvas
Have you ever wondered what goes into a pitch deck? Or what slides matter? Here are the 10 slides that seemed to resonate most with VCs we met with our our journey to raising our latest $9 million in funding. Be sure to check the notes for explanations of each slide.
This tutorial teaches you how to employ the Product Canvas, an agile UX tool that helps you create a product with a great user experience and the right features. Download the Product Canvas at: http://www.romanpichler.com/tools/product-canvas/
Business Model Canvas vs Lean Canvas vs One-Page Lean StartupRod King, Ph.D.
The Business Plan is the traditional document that established businesses and non-profit organizations as well as startups, entrepreneurs, and innovators use to document their strategy and tactics for achieving goals in projects. However, the traditional business plan is voluminous, complex, filled with grand hypotheses (vision), and becomes increasingly irrelevant as a project proceeds in the real world.
In recent years, many individuals and organizations have been abandoning the traditional business/strategic plan in favor of one-page documents that present project plans, business models, and ecosystems. The most common one-page project summaries are currently the tools of the Business Model Canvas, Lean Canvas, and One-Page Lean Startup. This presentation briefly introduces and compares these three business model (ecosystem) mapping tools especially using the workflow of 8 activities for Lean Startup Project Management.
Which business model (ecosystem) mapping tool is your favorite? And why?
What other tools are you using for summarizing, presenting, and managing your project plans as well as business models and ecosystems?
We look forward to hearing from you.
Best regards.
A reproduction of the official pitch deck template recommended by leading VC firm Sequoia Capital.
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE THESE PITCH DECK EXAMPLES & TEMPLATES:
> Airbnb pitch deck @ https://pitchdeckcoach.com/airbnb-pitch-deck
> Sequoia Capital pitch deck template @ https://pitchdeckcoach.com/sequoia-capital-pitch-deck
> FREE pitch deck template download @ https://pitchdeckcoach.com/free-pitch-deck-template
> Pitch deck guide with hints, tips, and a worked example @ https://pitchdeckcoach.com/pitch-deck-template
NEED HELP WITH YOUR PITCH DECK?
See how I can help then book a free call @ https://pitchdeckcoach.com/
MORE PITCH DECK RESOURCES @ https://pitchdeckcoach.com/pitch-deck-template#resources
This presentation is based on the top seller book "Business Model Generation" by Alex Osterwalder and Yves Pigneur. This book introduces the Business Model Canvas, the world's leading tool in creating and analyzing business models. This great tool allows you to sketch out your business model visually without starting with a scary business plan.
You can take my online course which covers more content, examples, quizzes, challenges and provides a certificate of completion.
Get course discounts and learn more:
www.playtactic.com
I hope you find this beneficial and good luck on your business model ;)
12 March 2015 Employee Benefit Plan Review■ Focus On … Pla.docxdrennanmicah
12 March 2015 Employee Benefit Plan Review
■ Focus On … Planning
T
imes are changing. Affordable Care
Act (ACA) compliance, an aging and
shrinking workforce, technology, and
medical and pharmaceutical advance-
ments are on a collision course that is chang-
ing the face of compensation and benefits. As
a result, senior leadership is relying on their
employee benefits professionals more than
ever to help them navigate and mitigate risk.
The secret weapon is deceptively simple: an
Employee Benefits Strategic Plan.
Employee Benefits
Strategic Plan
For some, “strategic planning” is a series
of formulaic meetings that result in a report
that ends up on a shelf, rarely referred to or
used until the next cycle. For a select few,
however, it is a crucial part of the organiza-
tion’s sustainability—a road map used to guide
decisions.
Organizational strategic planning sets pri-
orities and goals for the future. An Employee
Benefit Strategic Plan employs the same
approach but is specific to the total compensa-
tion approach of the organization. Simply put,
in an environment of consistently rising health-
care costs and shifting healthcare regulations,
it is essential for organizations to create long-
term strategies with short-term objectives and
have a quick-response review process in place.
The fiscal realities of increasing healthcare
costs mixed with ACA unknowns can impact
your organization’s financial performance in
several ways. It may drag down shareholder
value, become a drain on company perfor-
mance, or negatively impact the culture and
human capital within a business. Yet, with all
these negative impacts, most organizations still
do only a superficial short-term employee ben-
efits plan for themselves.
What constitutes a strategy and how do
we actually build a plan? A good definition of
strategy is “… choosing to perform different
activities that will provide a sustainable compet-
itive advantage.” It is a way of thinking about
the world and approaching business. Strategic
planning is a process to produce innovative and
creative ideas that serve as the core framework
for the organization and design its future.
By adopting a strategic employee benefit
planning process, organizations can make deci-
sions regarding their benefits with significantly
less stress for all involved.
How to Create a Strategic Plan
Most strategic planning models share a com-
mon discover/analyze/design/build/review struc-
ture. This process appears to be simple, but it
does have complex and powerful components
within each category.
First, confirm that the organization is ready.
Building a comprehensive plan requires com-
mitment from the top down.
Next, make sure all stakeholders are repre-
sented. In addition to the C-Suite and human
resources (HR), the committee should include
representatives of all major employee groups
and functions. It is not uncommon for a stra-
tegic planning committee to have 12 or.
4 Reasons CEOs Struggle to Align Employee Goals to Corporate StrategyKhorus
As CEO, your job is to ensure your company is profitable. If your employees aren’t sure how their job contributes to that purpose, you might be fighting an uphill battle. Getting your employees on the same page with the executive team starts with recognizing where the breakdown is occurring. As they say, the first step to recovery is admitting there is a problem.
One of the most revealing metrics in determining if your employees understand their purpose is if they can answer the simple question, “What is it you do every day and how does that affect why we exist?” If not, it’s likely due to a lack of communication from the top down – that means you. This eBook can serve as a wakeup call for any CEO wondering how they can get the most out of their employees and ensure everyone is working towards the corporate vision.
Research SMART goals and other goal setting strategies in the Univ.docxbrittneyj3
Research
SMART goals and other goal setting strategies in the University Library and
review
the "Making SMART Goals Smarter" article located in the
Week 5 Electronic Reserve Readings
.
Refer
to the stages of coaching and mentoring found on pg. 18 of
Student-Centered Coaching
.
Design
a professional learning opportunity for coaches of teachers who need to implement effective instruction in order to meet their students' needs.
Create
an 8- to 10-slide presentation for your professional learning opportunity, in which you address the following:
Identify three possible target areas in which growth may be warranted and provide justification for each area selected.
Write three goals for each target area--two SMART goals and one goal using another goal setting strategy that you discovered.
List strategies for fostering awareness, modeling, and providing motivation during the stages of coaching and mentoring.
Discuss professional learning communities and explain how you might incorporate them as a coach or mentor.
Include
speaker notes, APA-formatted in-text citations, and a reference slide.
Week 5 - readings
Making SMART Goals Smarter Goal-setting In this article… Study the differences between goals and objectives and get some valuable insights on how to use SMART goals in a health care organization. A critical role of leadership is goal setting.1 As our health care system continues to evolve, physician executives will be called upon to play increasingly proactive roles in formulating appropriate goals for their respective health care organizations (HCOs). With what looks like a major perspective shift from provider-driven volume to consumer-driven value,2-4 physician leaders will be entrusted with the responsibility of ensuring high standards of care throughout the extended process of resource realignment. How well they are able to formulate effective goals will have, no doubt, a major influence on the future success of their respective HCOs. In times of system turbulence, goal initiation is usually a far better alternative than goal response. It should be noted initially that, as popular as the concept of SMART goals has become in recent years, it is also somewhat of a misnomer. The terms goals, sub-goals, and objectives are often used interchangeably, which has often been the source of unnecessary confusion, and as goal-setting theory continues to develop as a useful body of knowledge, related application benefits can be markedly improved when their differences are more clearly understood. Together with an HCO’s mission, vision, strategies and tactics, goals and objectives serve as the foundation elements for most major programmatic initiatives. An organization’s mission is basically its reason for being. Its vision describes where it wants to be in the future, and its values are a statement of the principles that form its moral foundation.5 Collectively, they are the basis for devising the supporting goals and object.
Why organizational strategy matters
Top performing companies successfully leverage their organization more effectively than rivals and derive over 64% more profit per employee than next-tier performers.
Few companies though look at their organization as strategically and holistically as they might - which is surprising considering the extent to which organization capabilities and performance drive business value today.
We contend that absent such consideration and definition, gaps and misalignment will frustrate business strategy and desired performance objectives will not be met. It’s as simple as that.
Developed and implemented effectively organizational strategy enables companies to convert strategic intent into sustainable and high performance results.
A description of the 2015 business environment and the need for value creation through people.
Perceptions on HR and its priorities
Emerging models of HR
A HR strategy approach.
www.mantle.co.nz
StrategyMan Vs. The Anti-Strategy Squad: Chapter 1Rich Horwath
What happens when a superhero comic book collides with a strategy text book? The new business graphic novel "StrategyMan vs. The Anti-Strategy Squad: Using Strategic Thinking to Defeat Bad Strategy and Save Your Plan."
1. For many managers, the
word strategy conjures
up thoughts of gigantic
PowerPoint decks,
binders collecting dust
and general confusion. A
survey by Roger Martin
of the Rotman School of
Management found that
67 percent of managers
believe their organization
is bad at developing
strategy.
Harvard Business School
professor David Collis
is even more direct:
“It’s a dirty little secret:
Most executives cannot
articulate the objective,
scope and advantage of
their business in a simple
statement. If they can’t,
neither can anyone else.”Martin’s research supports
this point: 43 percent of managers cannot state their
own strategy.
What seems to be the cause of this lack of perfor-
mance when it comes to strategy? My research with
500 managers at 25 companies identified the top 10
strategy challenges and the frequency of each chal-
lenge by company:
1| Time (96 percent). The
most commonly cited
strategy challenge is time.
With more responsibilities
and fewer people to han-
dle them, many managers
are overwhelmed with
activities. While checking
lots of tasks off a to-do list
each week may foster a
sense of accomplishment,
activity doesn’t always
equal achievement. If the
individual tasks aren’t
strongly supporting the
strategy, then we may fall
into the trap of activity
for activity’s sake. When
there are lots of things to
do, managers feel guilty
stopping to take time to
think strategically about
the business. After all,
most performance reviews don’t include a big box
for“Thinks strategically for six hours a week,”with the
rating of“Exceeds Expectations,”marked in it. When
there is a lot to get done, time to think is often the
first thing to go.
2| Commitment (72 percent). Gaining commit-
ment from others to support and execute the
strategy vexes many managers. Often referred to as
The Strategic Thinking
Manifesto
By Rich Horwath
2. 2
buy-in, commitment can be challenging for sever-
al reasons. If the people expected to execute the
strategy aren’t aware of it, or don’t understand it,
then commitment will be non-existent. According to
a study out of Harvard Business School, a shocking
95 percent of employees in large organizations are
either unaware of or don’t understand their com-
pany strategies. This finding may be rejected out
of hand by some senior leaders, but it’s crucial to
find out just how high that percentage is for your
group. Another reason buy-in is lacking is because
many people don’t understand the reasons behind
the strategy and how it will help them achieve their
goals. A study of 23,000 workers found that only 20
percent said they under- stood how their tasks relate
to the organization’s goals and
strategies. If leaders fail to share
why the strategies are in place,
and don’t translate them to peo-
ple’s respective work, the level of
commitment will be minimal.
3| Lack of priorities (60
percent). A great cause of
frustration among managers
is the overall lack of priorities
at the leadership level. When
everything is deemed important,
it creates an overflowing-plate
syndrome. If clear priorities are
not established up front, then it
becomes difficult for people to
determine what they should be
working on and why. This lack of priorities prevents
people from taking things off of their plate, resulting
in the frustration of feeling spread too thin by too
many initiatives. A lack of priorities is a red flag that
the difficult work of making trade-offs—choosing
some things and not others—was not accomplished
in setting the strategy. Good strategy requires
trade-offs, which in turn help establish priorities by
filtering out activities that don’t contribute to the
achievement of goals.
4| Status quo (56 percent). Numerous studies in
the social sciences have shown that people prefer
the status quo to change. When people change
strategy, inevitably they are changing the alloca-
tion of resources, including how people invest their
time, talent, and budgets. Since strategy involves
trade-offs, certain people will be gaining resources
and others losing resources. Obviously, those slated
to lose resources are going to prefer to keep things
they way they are. Another factor in the preference
of the status quo is the“if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,”
mentality. For groups that have experienced success
in the past, the idea of making changes to the strate-
gy flies in the face of common sense, so their ques-
tion is,“Why change what made us success- ful?”
What they may not realize is that changes in market
trends, customer value drivers, and the competitive
landscape may be making the current strategy obso-
lete. In leading a revival at Starbucks during his sec-
ond stint as CEO, Howard Schultz said,“We cannot
be content with the status quo. Any business today
that embraces the status quo as an
operating principle is going to be
on a death march.”
5| Not understanding what
strategy is (48 percent). Even at
the highest levels of organizations,
confusion abounds as to what
exactly is a strategy. Perhaps due to
its abstract nature, strategy tends
to mean different things to differ-
ent people. It’s often confused with
mission, vision, goals, objectives,
and even tactics. Failure to provide
managers with a universal defini-
tion of strategy, and clear examples
to refer to leaves the term open to
interpretation, creating ineffective
plans and inefficient communication. To determine
the level of understanding in your group, provide
each manager with a 3”× 5”notecard at your next
meeting and ask each person to record their defini-
tion of strategy along with an example. Collect the
cards, read them aloud to the group, and tally the
number that defined strategy in the same way. UCLA
professor Richard Rumelt describes the problem this
way:“Too many organizational leaders say they have
a strategy when they do not. . . . A long list of things
to do, often mislabeled as strategies or objectives, is
not a strategy. It is just a list of things to do.”
6| Lack of training/tools for thinking
strategically (48 percent). Many managers aren’t
considered strategic simply because they’ve never
been educated on what it means to think and act
To more effectively
develop and
execute strategy,
it stands to reason
that we need to
better understand
it. In order to better
understand it, we
need to be skilled
at thinking about it.
3. 3
strategically. For many years in the pharmaceutical
industry, district sales managers were not asked
to be strategic, because the blockbuster business
model combined with the reach and frequency
sales approach proved to be a winning formula.
However, changes in the industry—including
healthcare reform, geographic differences in
managed care, reimbursement policies, and the
emergence of Accountable Care Organizations
(ACOs)—now require district sales managers to
strategically allocate their resources and make
trade-offs between different opportunities to grow
their business. Research has found that 90 percent
of directors and vice presidents have received no
training to become competent business strategists.
It shouldn’t be a shock then that a Harris Interactive
study with 154 companies found only 30 percent of
managers to be strategic thinkers. The disconnect on
proficiency in strategic thinking
can sometimes occur between
a CEO’s perspective and the
perspective of senior executives.
A global survey showed that
while only 28 percent of
CEOs felt their teams needed
improvement in strategic
thinking, more than half of the
non-CEO executives indicated
that strategic thinking skills were
in need of improvement. Procter
& Gamble CEO A. G. Lafley says,
“There simply is no one perfect strategy that will
last for all time. There are multiple ways to win in
almost any industry. That’s why building up strategic
thinking capability within your organization is so
vital.”
7| Lack of alignment (48 percent). Getting people
on the proverbial same page is difficult when it
comes to strategy. The challenge lies in the fact that
different groups within the organization have their
own goals and strategies. Sometimes they align
with others, but often times they don’t. When there
is misalignment, power struggles erupt and instead
of working with one another, managers from differ-
ent areas work against each other to ensure their
priorities take precedence. Lack of alignment can
also occur between executive teams and the organi-
zation’s board of directors. Some organizations use
their board to provide input into the development
of strategy and some use the board to review the al-
ready completed strategy in a Q&A-format presenta-
tion. Selecting the optimal intellectual exchange and
setting appropriate expectations for contribution
can be critical to a CEO’s success. A survey of 1,000
corporate directors found the number-one reason
for success and the number-one reason for failure
in CEO appointments dealt with strategic alignment
between the CEO and the board.
8| Firefighting (44 percent). Make no mistake,
a firefighting mentality starts at the top of the
organization. If managers see their senior leaders
constantly reacting to every issue that comes across
their desk, they too will adopt this behavior. Fire-
fighting then becomes embedded in the culture
and those that are seen as the most reactive, oddly
enough, garner the greatest recognition. Managers
who thoughtfully consider each
issue before responding don’t
seem to be doing as much as the
firefighters, when in reality, they’re
exponentially more productive.
“Let’s think about that,”is a simple
but powerful phrase that can elimi-
nate reactivity within your business
and culture. The next time you
receive an e-mail marked urgent
or someone comes charging into
your office with how to react to a
competitor’s activity or a new flavor-of-the-month
project, reply with“Let’s think about that.”Then stop
and consider how this helps you achieve your goals
and supports your strategic focus. To do so, deter-
mine the probability of success, impact on the busi-
ness, and resources required. If after this analysis, the
new task doesn’t appear to support your goals and
strategies, kindly inform the relevant parties that,
relative to the other initiatives you’re working on,
this doesn’t warrant resource allocation.
9| Lack of quality/timely data and information
(36 percent). Strategic thinking is defined as the
ability to generate new insights on a continual basis
to achieve competitive advantage. An insight is the
combination of two or more pieces of information
or data in a unique way that leads to the creation
of new value. So, at the core of strategic thinking is
the information or data, which we piece together in
“Let’s think about
that,” is a simple
but powerful
phrase that can
eliminate reactivity
within your business
and culture.
4. 4
unique ways to come up with new approaches, new
methods, or new solutions for providing superior
value to customers. Managers who aren’t receiving
timely, high-quality information and data regarding
the key aspects of their business are going to be
hindered in their ability to think strategically—and
the ability to understand this information is critical.
A study showed that 62 percent of workers cannot
make sense of the data that they receive. Without
clear priorities and methods for understanding,
categorizing, and sharing insights, managers at all
levels will continue to struggle with generating new
ways to achieve their goals and objectives. Research
by the consultancy McKinsey &
Company verified the challenge
managers face when it comes
to profitably growing their busi-
ness on strategic insights:
A fresh strategic insight—some-
thing your company sees that
no one else does—is one of
the foundations of competitive
advantage. It helps companies
focus their resources on moves
that separate them from the
pack. Only 35 percent of 2,135
global executives believed their
strategies rested on unique and
powerful insights.
10| Unclear company
direction (32 percent). It’s
difficult for managers to set
strategy if there isn’t clear
strategic direction at the business unit and corporate
levels. In some organizations, there are strategies at
the business unit and corporate levels, but they’re
kept secret. Evidently, this secrecy is to prevent
competitors from finding out their strategy. While it’s
understandable to keep proprietary processes and
future intellectual properties secret, it makes little
sense to keep strategy hidden away. If strategy is
how to achieve the goals and objectives, it’s impossi-
ble to gain full engagement and proper commit-
ment from employees in rolling out the strategy if
they don’t know what it is.
The other main reasons for unclear company di-
rection are lack of process to develop strategy, a
“we’re too busy to plan”approach, and ignorance as
to what comprises sound strategy. Managers from
more than 500 companies have taken an assessment
I developed called,“Is Your Organization Strategic?”
and the average score is 45 percent, a failing grade,
indicating there are many rudderless companies out
there that are strategically adrift.
The Importance of Strategy
How many of these challenges does your team face?
More important, what are you doing to overcome
them? The inability to effectively navigate strategy
challenges can have devas-
tating long-term effects on
an organization. Research by
The Conference Board has
shown that 70 percent of
public companies experienc-
ing a revenue stall lose more
than half of their market
capitalization. Additional re-
search attributes the primary
cause of these revenue stalls
to poor decisions about
strategy. While it’s convenient
to blame an organization’s
failings on external factors
such as the economy, deci-
sions about strategy account
for failure a whopping 70 per-
cent of the time.
While most managers be-
lieve strategy is an inherent
factor in their organization’s success, several studies
also document the support for this claim. One study
concludes that,“strategy has a positive and signifi-
cant effect on a firm’s performance. Specifically, it is
found to influence both the growth and profitability
of a firm.”Another study summarized its findings
as,“strategy contributes to profitability differences
between successful and unsuccessful companies.”
Finally, a ten-year study out of Harvard Business
School showed that firms with clearly defined and
well-articulated strategies on average outperformed
competitors by 304 percent in profits, 332 percent in
sales and a whopping 883 percent in total return to
shareholders. Yes, strategy does matter.
When poor decisions about strategy are made and
5. 5
an organization goes through a revenue stall, it’s
been shown that, on average, low performance
continues for more than 10 years. Unfortunately, this
prolonged period of poor performance can lead to
bankruptcy. Research on 750 bankruptcies during a
25-year period showed that the number-one factor
behind these bankruptcies was bad strategy. Con-
trary to popular opinion, the researchers attributed
the failures to flaws in the strategies themselves, not
to poor execution of the strategies. Therefore, it’s
important to be skilled at crafting strategy.
The Rise of Strategic Thinking
To more effectively develop and execute strategy,
it stands to reason that we need to better under-
stand it. In order to better understand it, we need
to be skilled at thinking about it. And for a decade,
strategic thinking has been cited as the number one
most valued skill in managers by numerous sources
including the Wall Street Journal, Chief Executive
Magazine, HR Magazine and the American Manage-
ment Association. Procter & Gamble Chief Executive
AG Lafley supported these research findings when
he wrote,“The explicit goal was to create strategists
at all levels of the organization … The idea is to build
up strategy muscles over time, in different contexts,
so that as managers rise in the organization, they are
well prepared for the next strategic task.”
As a manager assumes higher levels of responsibility,
he or she makes decisions in-
volving larger sums of resources.
These resource allocation deci-
sions have an exponentially great-
er effect on the organization’s
business outcomes, ranging from
enduring success to the finality of
bankruptcy. Therefore, the need
to be a sound strategic thinker
increases as a leader rises to the C-suite. Harvard
Business School associate professor Boris Groys-
berg’s research confirms this premise:“One theme
that ran through our findings was the requirements
for all the C-level jobs have shifted toward business
acumen. To thrive as a C-level executive, an individu-
al needs to be a good communicator, a collaborator
and a strategic thinker. For the senior-most execu-
tives, functional and technical expertise has become
less important than understanding business funda-
mentals and strategy.”
Results from the Corporate Board of Directors survey
confirmed that the number-one trait of active CEOs
that make them attractive board candidates is stra-
tegic expertise. Not only does a leader need to be
able to generate fresh strategic insights on a regular
basis, he or she needs to be able to harness insights
from their employees’best thinking as well by fa-
cilitating strategy conversations. The ability to then
package their strategic thinking and communicate
strategy in a simple, persuasive and concise manner
is just as critical. Pepsi CEO Indra Nooyi concludes,
“To me, the single most important skill needed for
any CEO today is strategic acuity.”
The GOST Framework
At the heart of most strategy challenges is a lack of
clarity as to what strategy is and how it differs from
some of the other key business- planning terms. If
you think that this lack of strategy knowledge only
plagues new managers at the lower levels of the
organization, take a look at the following quotations
I’ve collected during my work from CEOs describing
so-called strategies that aren’t strategies at all:
• Become the global leader in our industry.
• Use innovation to build customer-centric
solutions.
• Grow our audience.
• Strengthen core business,
execute new initiatives, and
reduce costs.
• Increase sales 25 percent in
emerging markets by pursuing
growth opportunities.
The examples demonstrate how
frequently the terms goals, objectives, strategies,
and tactics are used interchangeably. I developed a
simple framework called GOST (Figure 1.0) to help
managers at all levels use and teach others to use
these business-planning terms appropriately. A goal
is a target. It describes what you are trying to achieve
in general terms. The following is an example of a
goal for a regional sales director:
At the heart of
most strategy
challenges is a lack
of clarity…
6. 6
Goal: Win the national sales contest for our region.
An objective also describes what you are trying to
achieve. The difference is, an objective is what you
are trying to achieve in specific terms. The com-
mon acronym used to help flesh out an objective is
SMART: specific, measurable, achievable, relevant,
and time-bound. Objectives should meet these
criteria, and they should flow directly from the goals
you’ve already set. As evidenced in the following
example, the objective matches up with the corre-
sponding goal established earlier:
Goal: Win the national sales contest for our region.
Objective: Achieve $25 million in sales by the end of
the third quarter of this year.
Figure 1.0
Goal Objective Strategy Tactic
What What How How
General Specific General Specific
Once we’ve identified the goals and objectives, then
we can determine the strategy, which is the path
to achieving them. Strate-
gy and tactics are how you
will achieve your goals and
objectives, how you will al-
locate your resources to suc-
ceed. Strategy is the general
resource allocation plan. The
tactics are specifically how
you will do that. Using the
previous example, we can
see how the strategy serves
as the path to achieving our
goals and objectives.
Goal: Win the national sales
contest for our region.
Objective: Achieve $25 million in sales by the end of
the third quarter of this year.
Strategy: Focus selling efforts on expanding share
of wallet with current customers.
Tactics: Have district sales managers work with
sales reps to schedule appointments with the top
five customers for each territory. Prepare a sell sheet
showing dollarized value of using our products in
combination. Videotape three customers using two
or more of our products in combination. Purchase
iPads and put new sell sheets and videos into a pre-
sentation for use during customer meetings. Create
a dollarized, value-close, talking-points checklist to
assist district managers and reps in expanding share
of wallet.
If your managers are having trouble differentiating
between strategy and tactics, they can use the“rule
of touch.”If you can reach out and physically touch
it (e.g., sell sheet, training DVD, etc.), it’s a tactic. The
concept of strategy originated in the military arena
thousands of years ago. Even that far back, Chinese
general and philosopher Sun Tzu said,“All the men
can see the tactics I use to conquer, but what none
can see is the strategy out of which great victory is
evolved.”
It’s often said that strategy is long-term and tactics
are short-term. In reality, long-term and short-term
descriptors for strategy and tactics may or may not
apply. A strategy that successfully helps you achieve
your goal within three months
might be short-term compared
to tactics used for years to come
in fending off a tough compet-
itor. Using time as the criterion
for distinguishing between strat-
egy and tactics is common, but
misinformed.
Since we can’t see or physically
reach out and touch strategy, it’s
often skipped in favor of going
straight to tactics. A good num-
ber of the business plans I’ve
reviewed over the past 15 years
list goals, objectives, and tac-
tics, skipping strategy all together. If strategy is not
determined before tactics, there is no way of intel-
ligently changing course when objectives and their
corresponding milestones are not being achieved.
We can begin to
understand the
financial value
to individuals of
strategic thinking by
evaluating the impact
of transforming their
unproductive time to
productive time.
7. 7
Having a high-performance car (tactic) doesn’t help
you reach the other side of the river if there isn’t a
bridge (strategy) to cross it. With no strategy in place,
it’s easy to fall into a game of tactical roulette, where
you continually chamber a new tactic and pull the
trigger, hoping something hits its target. But, sooner
or later, you’ll be looking at a dead plan.
The Fusion of Strategy
& Innovation
The common core of both strat-
egy and innovation is insight. An
insight results from the combi-
nation of two or more pieces of
information or data in a unique
way that leads to new value for
customers. A McKinsey & Company study of more
than 5,000 executives showed that the most import-
ant innovation trait for managers in high-performing
organizations is the ability
to come up with insights.
Unfortunately, McKinsey’s
research also showed that
only 35 percent of global
executives believed their
strategies are built on
unique insights. And only
25 percent of managers
believe their companies
are good at both strategy
and innovation.
Innovation is the contin-
ual hunt for new value;
strategy is ensuring we
configure resources in
the best way possible to
develop and deliver that
value. Strategic innova-
tion can be defined as the
insight-based allocation of
resources in a competitive-
ly different way to create
new value for select customers. Too often, strategy
and innovation are approached separately, even
though they share a common foundation in the form
of insight. By becoming a more effective strategic
thinker, a leader is better prepared to drive strategy
and innovation together.
The Value of Strategic Thinking
Can a manager learn to be strategic? Studies of
identical twins separated at birth shows that approx-
imately one-third of a person’s abil-
ity to think creatively comes from
genetics while two-thirds comes
through learning. My work with
thousands of executives around the
world shows a 30 percent increase
in knowledge of strategic thinking
principles following developmental
programs. The knowledge increase
is coupled with behavioral enhance-
ments that come with being more
strategic including insight generation, prioritiza-
tion, trade-offs, planning, problem solving, decision
making and resource allocation to name a few. As
professor Michael Watkins
of Switzerland’s IMD busi-
ness school says,“There’s no
doubt that strategic thinking,
like any other skill, can be
improved with training.”
In addition to the knowl-
edge, behavioral and skill
benefits of developing one’s
strategic thinking capabil-
ities, there are significant
financial benefits as well. The
research presented earli-
er regarding the financial
implications of great strategy
(increases in total return to
shareholders, sales and prof-
its) and poor strategy (com-
moditization and bankrupt-
cy) demonstrate the value
at the company level. That’s
where most analysis stops.
However, if we look deeper,
we can discover the financial returns generated by
the individuals who think and act strategically.
Strategy is about the intelligent allocation of re-
sources and time is often considered the most
The common
core of both
strategy and
innovation is
insight.
8. 8
valuable of these resources. To think strategically is
to allocate one’s time effectively so it is productive.
Unproductive time is spent putting out fires, react-
ing to urgent but unimportant matters and working
on misdirected strategies. We can begin to under-
stand the financial value to individuals of strategic
thinking by evaluating the impact of transforming
their unproductive time to productive time.
Let’s look an intact team of 10 managers. We’ll use a
base of 2,000 working hours per year per manager
(40 hours per week x 50 weeks). Research has shown
that 25-40 percent of the average manager’s time
is unfocused and not highly productive. To be ultra
conservative, let’s use half of the number at the low
end of this range and assume only 12.5 percent of
the average manager’s time is unproductive. We’d
then conclude that one hour of each day (12.5% x 8
hours/day) is unproductive. If we multiply the one
hour per day x 5 days per week, we get 5 hours per
week that’s unproductive.
Multiplying the 5 hours per week x 50 weeks per
year, we get 250 hours of unproductive time per
year per manager. Using the average U.S. salary
for the following job titles according to salary.com
and Glassdoor, we can then calculate the benefit of
strategic thinking skill development that transforms
unproductive time and activity into productive time
and strategic activity:
Despite using an extremely conservative estimate of
the average amount of unproductive time per man-
ager, the financial losses are significant. If you can
transform your current annual losses to gains, and
add them to new revenue dollars generated from
improved strategic thinking, the financial gain can
be spectacular.
Great strategy doesn’t magically emerge from Ex-
cel spreadsheets or elaborate PowerPoint decks. It
comes from managers who can think strategically. It
inspires confidence, sets direction and creates com-
petitive advantage. Most important, great strategy is
developed by great strategists.
Rich Horwath is the CEO of the Strategic Thinking Institute where he has
helped more than 50,000 managers around the world develop their strategic
thinking capabilities. Rich is the author of the new book, Elevate: The Three
Disciplines of Advanced Strategic Thinking (Wiley, 2014). He is a New York
Times and Wall Street Journal bestselling author on strategy and has
appeared on ABC, NBC and FOX TV. Sign-up to receive your free copy of the
Strategic Thinker newsletter by visiting www.strategyskills.com
Level Annual Salary Salary Per
Hour
HoursWasted Per
Year $ Lost Per Manager $ Lost forTeam of 10
Marketing Mgr. $ 85K $42.50 250 $10,625 $106,250
District Sales Mgr. $100K $50.00 250 $12,500 $125,000
Director $130K $65.00 250 $16,250 $162,500
VP $147K $73.50 250 $18,375 $183,750