In his book, Good to Great, Jim Collins credits level 5 leadership as a defining characteristic of those who guided their companies to great success by outpacing the average in his study. Beyond foundational leadership skills, Level 5 leaders added these defining traits:
Deming's PDCA continuous improvement approach can be well applied to most goals or decisions in business: - Plan (an outcome) - Do (try best solution to solve root causes) - Check (is it working) - Act (scale solution if working) - repeat Fast cycles = fast improvement. As with many problem solving approaches, Plan is …
People are your biggest asset. Your biggest cost. And your biggest risk. There are specific laws that must be adhered to when hiring and firing Benefits are costly, especially for smaller companies Learning and running HR compliance, benefits and payroll is time consuming Most businesses don't know about professional employer organization (PEO.) These providers take …
Use the ACT Checkup to learn how I went from ignoring culture to using ACT to build high performing teams. It is an exercise that is intended to teach how to build great culture and create high performing, more motivated teams at all levels. If you have direct reports, you are a leader and manager. …
Most business leaders assume that by working harder in the business, they will reach their vision. Instead what they need is a StrategyOS that delivers success in a dependable way. What is a Strategy OS and how can you use it in your business? Much like a computer operating system that runs programs to create …
A strategy process or Strategy OS helps leaders build and execute their business vision. But, the benefits are broader than even that ambitious goal. A well implemented Strategy OS also delivers a better quality of life. Let's explore these two benefits in more detail. Building and executing the Vision of your Business Model centers around …
This post is the second in a series describing how a Strategy OS delivers your Business Model. In Part 1, I described the elements of your Business Model. In this post, I give an overview of the Strategy OS itself that delivers that business model. Many businesses view strategy as an event that happens as …
Continue reading "A Strategy OS Delivers Business Success (Part 2)"
As you make personal New Year's resolutions this year, include adding a strategy process to your business. Resolving to implement a process leads to more success than goal setting alone. Process creates the habits that lead to goal attainment. Resolve to make these 7 habits part of your business processes for increased success this coming …
Continue reading "7 Resolutions to win at Business this New Year"
Many companies lose focus and progress on their strategies because their execution is too long-term and unfocused. Rocks fix this problem. Steven Covey's idea of Rocks is a "First things first" metaphor for prioritizing the most important activities and goals in life. In business, this idea can be applied to achieve greatness by building strategy …
Continue reading "Build Your Strategy to Greatness One Rock at a Time"
Some think of strategic planning as a one time or every 3 years exercise. In my experience, it is most beneficial to think about it as an ongoing process that has a key focus on a yearly cycle. This time of year is when many organizations refresh strategic objectives and tune longer term plans. Finishing …
Continue reading "The Strategic Execution Cycle – Quarterly Rhythm"
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