Answer Me This!

Vision….check!

Strategy…check!

Now you should be asking some tough questions (!) to help translate your enterprise level strategy to an operational perspective. While evaluating your operational alignment you should be asking these simple questions…

Three Questions:

1. What should you keep doing?

2. What should you stop doing?

3. What should you start doing?

As Jim Collins would say...be sure to confront the brutal facts.

Motivation...

INTRINSIC MOTIVATION

A MESSAGE FROM MR. PINK

Daniel Pink says much that’s worthy of being repeated...

AGAIN AND AGAIN!

Something that adhered to my brain somewhere along the ascent to captivation with the words of Mr. Pink was this:

Intrinsic motivation is the most sustainable driver of engagement…OK, sure - hopefully we know that. But what motivates people intrinsically?

MASTERY

People want to learn and grow and ACHIEVE. It’s an inherent need – People want to do their best...but be prepared to give people a good reason why their best selves are required (...which brings us to the second intrinsic motivator).

PURPOSE

People work for the “why” not the “what or who or how (or anything else)”. Imagine your people are volunteers - for what purpose are they working...

(you better have a compelling one!).

AUTONOMY

People want a self-directed future. They want to aspire, and feel like they have control over the possibility of achievement. Where are the opportunities for providing people with autonomy at work? Well, there's four of them…

            Task: What we do.

            Technique: How we do it.

            Team: Who we work with.

            Time: When we do it.

For your ability to apprehend the inner nature of things,...Thank you MR. PINK!

Value, The Difference it Makes.

Creativity is not innovation.

And being different is not the same as differentiation.

The difference – Value!

You need to... 

understand what’s valued,

...and deliver THAT!

Strategy, Putting Leadership In It

“The need to...

create   and   re-create   reasons

for   a   company’s    continued   existence

...sets the strategist apart from every other individual in the company. He or she must keep one eye on how the company is currently adding value and the other eye on changes, both inside and outside the company, that either threaten its position or present some new opportunity for adding value.”

The strategist is “…the guardian of organizational purpose,…bringing it to the center time and time again, even as the center itself evolves…Keeping all the parts of a company in proper balance while moving the enterprise forward…”

Excerpted from “Putting Leadership Back into Strategy” by Cynthia A. Montgomery (Harvard Business Review, 2008)

Hedgehog Concept - The Three Circles

Jim Collins discovered through his comprehensive research that many organizations struggle to make the large leap from “Good” to “Great”. Collins observed that great companies base their strategic decisions on a simple concept crystallized by asking three questions of the enterprise. Collins calls this the Hedgehog Concept.

Three Questions:

1. What can you be the best in the world at?

(This may not be something you’re currently engaged in. Also, consider what you can't be the best in the world at.)

2. What are you passionate about?

(Great companies have discovered what their passionate about.)

3. What is your economic driver?

(Discover what single measure - profit per x – that effectively generates sustained cash flow and profitability.)

The intersection of the three circles is then translated into the simple concept that guides your strategic activities.

Reference:

Collins, Jim. 2001. Good to Great. Harper Business.

Mouse Flavoured Food.



“If cat food were really for cats,
it would come in mouse flavour!”
– Seth Godin

DuLux thought it wise to start marketing their brand of paint to women after it was discovered that 60% of the household paint decisions (i.e. which brand to buy?) were made by women. Wise indeed.

People play 5roles in a buying decision:

 Initiator

 Influencer

 Decider

 Buyer

 User

The key here is to understand who’s occupying the various roles in the buying decision,

and speak their language!

…or you could continue selling mouse flavoured food.

Food for Thought.