The year of Excellence mantra by the International Central Gospel Church last year for a very important reason for instance seeks to define the directional behavior of its members to align with its values and Strategic principles (vision) of influencing society through Christ with clear focus on admonishing its members in pursuing and leading an excellent life. This strategic agenda is not different from other institutions that have profit making, growth agenda etc as strategic priorities.
The strategic attention of excellence stems from an objective of seeking to impact its members and the society to live above shoddiness, mediocrity and short-sightedness etc. It stands therefore to reason that, strategies are very important in the realization of any well- meaning dreams, goals and objectives. And as vision is imperative to life, so is strategy imperative to vision. With that hindsight experience, stay with me as I discuss strategy relative to execution and the actualization of goals and objectives.
Drawing references from the change series 3 (fear of change, the positive side), I recorded that all great visions must have equally compelling strategies and the needed discipline to achieve impactful results. That notwithstanding, the drive for change (growth, excellent performances in leadership and in all roles) could be illusive in the absence of a compelling vision (strategy) and more importantly the discipline for its execution. How? Very simple.
Strategy is seen as the roadmap through which the desired results are accomplished. It stands to reason that, what happens in between (goal and achievement) is critically fundamental. This important gab must be addressed with strategy, operational and people processes working together as Strategic implementation tools fine-tuning for success. Let’s look at how these tools speak to the subject matter…..
The Strategy Process:
This process discusses an open conversation of team selection, technical, production and the financial resources needed for the execution. There must be a robust dialogue to surface the realities of the business where accountability, follow through and reward mechanisms are instituted to incentivize the best performers so to ensure the plans are on track.
The Operational Process:
An organization’s ability to transform its inputs into outputs is core to its implementation agenda. Each institution or organization is made up of interrelated processes (value chain) that must be seen to align to hold the core (marketing, production, finance etc) together to address wastefulness (Capacity). Admittedly, excess capacity is wasteful and costly, too little too means dissatisfied customers (stakeholders) and lost revenue. So what?.. The right capacity building must have accurate forecast of demand, the ability to translate into capacity requirements and process in place capable of meeting expected demands. This operational process in the value chain is the fulcrum for the actualization of all intended plans, therefore needs greater attention.
The People Process:
The People process addresses the question of who to select, recruit and or employ to perform what (roles). A great strategy with wrong caliber of people is a fiasco. Hence, having great people to compliment a great strategy ensures phenomenal results. In consequence, it is also possible to experience the following scenarios in a polyvalent organizations. Where we have….
- The right strategy with the wrong people
- The wrong strategy with the right people
- The right people with the right strategy
- The wrong strategy with the wrong people
What then becomes the fate of such organizations and the probable measures to adopt when faced with any of these situational predicaments? Well, the obvious situation can be taken a look at in another discussion…let’s journey on.
The Building Blocks of a good Strategy:
Let me build the case that businesses that execute prosecute with vigor, intensity and depth. Essential to building a good strategy communicates to whether the team observes and critically are guided by the following:
That…..
- What needs to be accomplished (current vrs desired state) is clearly stated.
- What needs to be communicated (who relays what and with whom) is made known timely.
- How Stakeholders must be communicated to (when, frequency, channels and tools) must be trustworthy, efficient and reliable
- How the teams’ communication strategy drives positive behaviors (engage, educate, generate, mobilize) must be proficient and well informed.
- Understanding your stakeholders and how they will perceive outcomes (know and understand, their drives and motivations) are all fundamentally crucial for a strategy to stand the full test of time as good and effective.
Having dealt with that, how do we as individuals contribute to strategy formulation and execution? I call it finding our fits. What role do you play in strategy formulation and implementation processes of your teams, group and organizations? Are you a Dreamer, Thinker, the Story Teller or the Leader? It’s important to identify yourself with any of these different levels to ensure you galvanize your energies synergistically to promote the formulation of the strategic plans of that institution.
The Dreamer:
Is the originator of all ideas and plans. Even though he/she is regarded not so important in the circle of peers and often has his dreams shot down as wishful thinking, he brings abstract concepts and unimaginable paradigms to reality. The dreamer stands on the mountaintop of imagination, creates dreams where there is none. He’s an inventor and initiator of projects.
The Thinker:
He’s the dreamer’s companion. He listens to the dreamers thought and ask fundamental questions essential to formulate a model to address visual, emotional, functional and financial impacts. The Thinker often plays the devil’s advocate in his relationship with the Dreamer. He raises questions of financial, marketing, functional and the brand advantages of doing business the way proposed. Because the Thinker is a right-brain person he/she wants things documented, spelling out in great specificity the argument for proceeding towards the actual planning and design. He/she is phenomenal to be with.
The Storyteller:
The Storyteller’s nickname is the performer. His role in the process is to generate excitement by digging deep into the dreamers’ vision and the thinker’s formulation of the vision and looks at the means to creatively sing the story to the people (all Stakeholders). The storyteller indeed is the means through which the Dreamer and the Thinker find their voices.
And The Leader?
All responsibilities are laid at the doorstep of the business leader. He takes accountability for fulfilling the dreams of where the organization is going, how to get there, when to be there and how winning will look like when the results are achieved. The leader knows the story, buys the story, lives the story, committed to the story and tells the story to give a picture that it can be lived and experienced.
Interestingly, the leader possess the passion of the Dreamer, the intellect of the Thinker, and the joy of the Storyteller. He/she’s skillful in concentration, discrimination, organization, innovation and communication. There’s no escaping the leader’s overriding accountability if the dream is to become a reality. The finality of all things rest on on the leader.
In conclusion, our search for excellence through visionary strategies and with the help of the Holy Spirit, let’s be reminded that with hard work alone we can accomplish remarkable results but hard work with engineered methods and systems will perform seeming miracles.
Intrigued and informed? Well, wait until you experience another thought provoking insight in the next series dubbed IN SEARCHH OF EXCELLENCE Pt2: Discipline, the core to Strategy Execution.
Discovery….thinking solutions, shaping visions.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
The writer is the CEO and Strategic Partner of AQUABEV Investment and Discovery Consulting Group. He is an Executive Director and the Lead Coach in Leadership Development and best Business Management practices for Discovery Leadership Masterclass.
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