First you need to understand the difference between strategy and tactics. State your goal – for example, getting to the meeting in the shortest time possible. Your strategy might be to avoid bad traffic. Possible tactics might include starting out before rush hour, cycling, taking public transportation or using alternative driving routes. However variables beyond your control will change your tactics: For example, you might not be able to take a certain route due to roadwork’s, there might not be a safe cycle part etc.
So how do you get your business strategy to work?
1: Hire the right people: Hire the people for the skills you need and assign them the right responsibilities. Build trusting relationships with them and let them do their jobs. Measure their results and don’t interfere unless absolutely necessary. Trust your employees with execution so you can focus on fixing speed bumps, aligning efforts, thinking strategically, and developing and inspiring talent.
2: Provide your staff with the right environment: First, acknowledge that employee engagement will make or break your business; most workers will do only what’s necessary to earn their pay. Don’t expect employees to engage without effort on your part. Giving them reasons to chose to engage takes significant, consistent work. Meet with team members regularly so you come to know them well as individuals. Learn what makes them want to stay with your firm and perform at their best. Don’t lump people into categories like millennials, or think you can motivate all employees with the same approach. Some seek career advancement and challenge; others value a balance between work and home. People’s key drivers will change several times throughout their careers.
3: Be prepared to change: Develop a culture that embraces and even welcomes change. After all, you can’t avoid it, so help your team adopt the attitude that change is inevitable – they may as well enjoy it. Point out the advantages of change, such as new opportunities and excitement. Make change incremental whenever you can. Foster a creative and innovative culture by recognizing and rewarding those who come forward with new ideas and better methods. Bring in different, diverse perspectives and integrate experimentation into your employees’ work. Never punish those who innovate and fail.
4: Deliver on your goals: Take your organization’s mission seriously, repeatedly communicate and explain it to your workforce. Connect work to individual goals. Build simple but agile strategies, and plan their execution clearly so that all employees understand their individual role and the impact of their contribution. Show them how they help the firm achieve its mission, and make sure everyone cares. Your organization and the people in it mean more than the work that gets done. People yearn to serve a higher purpose. Show them connection and they can reach unlimited achievement, especially if you let them execute in their own creative ways.
5: Clear out the noise: Focus on efficiency and speed of execution. Document all of your processes so that team members can see how things get done. Recognize good work that people complete quickly. Create a culture of speed by eliminating bottlenecks and making fast decisions. Accommodate the various ways workers prefer to engage. Don’t hold out for perfection; instead, strive for excellence. Don’t set the bar so high that execution grinds to a halt. Practice realism: Sometimes, good has to be good enough.
My approach: Develop the Groundhog day!
