Posts Tagged ‘strategy’
Wednesday, May 11th, 2011
“In good times, sustainability can be a competitive differentiator; in lean times, it’s a defensive strategy and in really hard times, it can determine your survival.” - Richard Goode, Director of Sustainability at Alcatel-Lucent
As we have discussed in previous blog posts, sustainability as a business strategy needs to be uniquely defined for each company. Understanding the industry, company size, product or service line, the supply chain, and stakeholders’/stockholders’ concerns are all important to create a meaningful definition. Understanding sustainability may start with a definition, but sustainability is really a corporate wide strategy and culture that ultimately focuses on increasing productivity and/or the reduction of consumed resources without compromising product or service quality, competitiveness, or profitability. Embracing a true strategy of sustainability is never ending, as it ultimately should become part of the culture and fabric of the organization.
After defining sustainability for your organization, the next important question to ask is, “Where does our company stand as it relates to our sustainability initiative?” Many companies are quick to react to new initiatives without assessing what it really means for their organization.
Important questions to consider include:
- Where are they currently?
- Where do they want to go?
- What will it take to get there?
Similar to the beginning of the quality movement, many companies got on the bandwagon and implemented the concepts haphazardly with no intent or strategy, reaped some results from low-hanging fruit, but never really saw the full impact and the possible results that could have been theirs to realize.
Kevin Myette, Director of Product Integrity at Recreational Equipment Inc (REI) says that “sustainability is the next quality movement … and it is no longer just for big companies.”
If sustainability is viewed as a strategy to be developed over time, then there needs to be a systematic approach to be able to move from where your company is now to where it wants or needs to be. Our systematic approach looks at sustainability through the progression of five levels.
Level 1: Recognize
At this level, an organization begins to recognize that something needs to be done. Perhaps outside forces such as industry regulations or stakeholders’/stockholders’ concerns are driving some action; however, there is no real strategy in place. In fact, if industry standards are driving whatever sustainability action currently exists, the organization is most likely acting out of shear conformance.
Level 2: Initiate
At this level, management agrees that it is time to look at sustainability as a business strategy. Management begins to see a solid business case for why sustainability makes sense in their organization and management begins defining their strategy for sustainability. Short-term, measurable results start being obtained.
Level 3: Implement
At level 3, there is a clearer understanding and awareness of what sustainability really means to the organization. A detailed action plan has been created and communicated to employees, customers, and all other stakeholders. Larger projects within the initiatives are beginning to get traction and see results.
Level 4: Operationalize
At level 4, there is full commitment to the sustainability strategy and the action plan is in full force. The organization is maximizing its people and processes to ensure a positive impact on the environment while seeing improvements in their own profitability and core business measurements.
Level 5: Transformation
The value of continuous sustainability is now embedded in the organization’s culture. It is part of how they think and make decisions. There is a commitment to continually review where they stand on sustainability issues, and they are committed to take the necessary action steps today and in the future.
At what level is your organization currently? Where should you be?
Tammy A.S. Kohl is President of Resource Associates Corporation. For over 30 years, RAC has specialized in helping businesses achieve high levels of excellence and success by adopting sustainability as a critical success factor of organizational success. Learn how at www.resourceassociatescorp.com or contact RAC directly at 800.799.6227.
Tags: defining sustainability, Kevin Myette, Lucent, profitability, REI, Richard Goode, strategy, Sustainability
Posted in Sustainability | No Comments »
Wednesday, April 27th, 2011
Of the many issues with which we wrestle each day, one certain truth is: the future will not look like the present. Global competition, technology, and innovation will define the future. Yet many leaders continue to lead, manage, and operate as they have in the past.
There is a story by Price Pritchett in which he recounts his experience of viewing firsthand a life and death struggle that occurred just a few feet away from where he was sitting. He was watching a fly burn out the last of its short life’s energy in a futile attempt to fly through the glass of a windowpane. The frenzied effort of the fly gave no hope for survival. Ironically, had the fly just flown in another direction, it could have easily escaped through an open door.
All too often, we are like the fly. We try harder doing the same things, when instead we need to do different things. We must break the shackles of conformity, challenge the routine, and break out of existing paradigms. At the core of succeeding in today’s competitive environment is the ability to constantly improve and reinvent the way we do business. The key to working smarter is knowing the difference between motion and direction, between activity and focused action.
To lead, we must be adept at balancing what must stay constant with what must change. Nurture a culture in which people are encouraged to seek new and better methods, while feeling secure in the familiar and in the future success of their organization. Align all resources and strategies toward the realization of the vision and goals.
Alignment is the balanced harmony between people, processes, resources, and departments. It is a matter of aligning your vision with people, strategy, structure, and processes with focus on the customer and a foundation of core values. Because they are interdependent, they must be congruent. When all five critical components are aligned, results will continue to improve. If there is conflict between any two issues, there can be dissolution of the whole. If people have the knowledge necessary to create positive change, but your processes make it too difficult for them to do so, motivation will wane and maintaining the status quo remains easier. If you are able through a shared vision to raise the level of motivation that exists in your organization, but your structure restricts innovation or high levels of productivity, the improvement will be temporary at best. All of the parts are important to the whole. Everyone becomes focused on doing the right things right, which results in organizational health, accelerated positive change, and strategic growth. Encourage people to be responsible for their own performance. When all five critical organizational components are aligned with a focus on the customer, results will continue to improve.
“I am enthusiastic over humanity’s extraordinary and sometimes very timely ingenuity. If you are in a shipwreck and all the boats are gone, a piano top buoyant enough to keep you afloat may come along and make a fortuitous life preserver. This is not to say, though, that the best way to design a life preserver is in the form of a piano top. I think that we are clinging to a great many piano tops in accepting yesterday’s fortuitous contrivings as constituting the only means for solving a given problem.” R. Buckminster Fuller (July 12, 1895 – July 1, 1983) was an American engineer, author, designer, inventor, and futurist.
Tammy A.S. Kohl is President of Resource Associates Corporation. For over 30 years, RAC has specialized in helping businesses achieve sustainable results through management consulting, strategic planning, leadership development, executive coaching and youth leadership. For information on creating a leadership succession plan visit www.resourceassociatescorp.com or contact RAC directly at 800.799.6227.
Tags: alignment, Change, global competition, Price Pritchett, processes, R. Buckminster Fuller, strategy
Posted in Strategic Planning | No Comments »
Friday, January 21st, 2011
A recent survey published by Boston Consulting Group and MIT revealed that there is no single, established definition for sustainability. Some companies engaged in sustainability focus solely on environmental issues while others include economic, stakeholder, and governmental issues. The study also revealed that although companies differ in their definition, sustainability is a force to be reckoned with and is a concept that is here to stay. (The Business of Sustainability, 2009, Boston Consulting Group)
In our research, sustainability emerged out of the concept of “going green.” Because of outside pressure from the community and special interest groups and in an effort to meet new regulatory requirements, some industries were forced to change how their processes and products impacted the environment and people. Even through the last 18 months of economic challenges, sustainability has not gone away. Companies have been forced to remain in compliance while figuring out how to make progress with less capital and resources. Therefore, we can assume sustainability is more than just going green … although being green is a big part of it.
 To senior management the question is, what does sustainability mean to your business? Leadership teams often lack a full understanding of how to apply the concepts of sustainability to the context of their strategic plan, their operating processes, their employees’ attitudes and skills, and their stakeholders concerns. In our experience, the successful implementation of sustainability will have a measurable and positive impact on the planet, through their people, and the result is improved profitability. Therefore, it is highly likely that sustainability will be defined conceptually as a megatrend, which applies equally to all types of organizations. Organizations that have defined what sustainability means to their business and who have a successful implementation model are seeing significant benefits. Based on the success of early adaptors, sustainability has proven to provide a sound business case of creating value through innovation and employee involvement.
Most organizations need to be presented with measurable reasons why embracing or incorporating a new strategy like sustainability makes sense. Early adaptors like WalMart, IBM, Nike, and GE are measuring value in key business areas. It is our experience that similar outcomes are just as possible in the small and mid-size markets.
The benefits have been shown to include:
- A Stronger Brand
- Greater Pricing Power
- Greater Operational Efficiencies
- More Efficient Use of Resources
- Supply Chain Optimization
- Enhanced Ability to Enter New Markets
- Enhanced Ability to Attract, Retain, and Motivate Employees
- Increased Customer Loyalty
- Reduced Environmental Impact
- Improved Innovation
In our experience, an organization should not tackle sustainability overnight without first understanding its strategic intent and developing a sustainability implementation plan. It’s not difficult, but an organization needs to understand what it is doing, why it’s doing it, and how it’s going to measure it. Most importantly what sustainability requires is, first and foremost, commitment from the leadership of the organization. “You cannot implement these kinds of programs bottom-up, it’s impossible. It’s always top-down, always. Because it is a cultural change, you cannot do it organically.” George Kern, CEO, IWC
After commitment is established, sustainability needs to be defined for your organization. What outcomes do you want to accomplish in what time frame? How will you measure the outcomes? How will you communicate your plan and establish buy-in with your employees and other stakeholders? These questions are important and need to be addressed before implementation begins. The answers to these questions need to be laid over the existing strategic plan. Do these new objectives require any course corrections? If your organization does not have an existing strategic plan, it will be critical to develop one that includes sustainability, as sustainability is not a strategic plan in of itself. Another often over-looked requirement is structure. Since many of the sustainability initiatives require interdepartmental cooperation there needs to be a systems linkage in both innovation and tactical implementation.
As evidenced by the research, sustainability is not going away. If your organization recognizes this fact and positions itself as a sustainable organization you will have a sizeable competitive advantage while also improving our planet.
Tammy A.S. Kohl is President of Resource Associates Corporation. For over 30 years, RAC has specialized in helping businesses achieve high levels of excellence through sustainability. Learn how at www.resourceassociatescorp.com or contact RAC directly at 800.799.6227.
Tags: environmental issues, GE, IBM, innovation, MIT, RAC, regulation, Resource Associates Corporation, strategy, Sustainability, WalMart
Posted in Strategic Planning, Sustainability | 1 Comment »
Thursday, July 29th, 2010
Valueship is not a new concept. Those who are leading successful companies are doing so because they are practicing valueship.
James L. Heskett, former UPS Foundation Professor of Business Logistics at the Graduate School of Business Administration, Harvey University, and Leonard A. Schlesinger, the George Fisher Baker Jr., Professor of Business Administration, senior associate dean and director of external relations for Harvard Business School, have studied the correlation between leadership, behavior, and organizational performance. They found that leaders of the best-performing organizations defined their jobs as:
- Identifying and constantly communicating commonly held values
- Shaping such values to enhance performance
- Ensuring the capability of people around them, and
- Living the commonly held values
Never before has Valueship been more important than today. Role models, athletes, corporate leaders, and government officials are accused and convicted of crimes both small and large. Our daily entertainment consists of television and video games filled with violence, impropriety, and questionable values. Implicit in all of this is a subtle approval of behavior we then verbally condemn. By our actions or our apathy, we are setting the standards and values or lack of them for our employees, our children, and the next generation. The need for Valueship can be seen in every profession, rank, and industry. The important decisions we make in life and in business should be influenced by values.
Valueship is a process of leading people and organizations with as much focus on doing the right things as doing things right. When people, processes and structure are in alignment with the values, vision, and strategy, the individual and the organization is balanced and the actions of each produce positive results for the other. When people feel as if they are an important part of the organizational whole, are committed to the goals and values of the organization, and see the leaders living these goals and values, they will generally be motivated to do good and even exceptional work. The result is a strategic alignment of resources and true organizational cohesion.
Value-based leadership begins with identifying core values. Core values are the basic principles that we have chosen to guide our actions. Core values define beliefs, standards, and acceptable behavior. Once determined and communicated throughout the organization, they guide and govern the decisions and actions of the individuals and the organization. The core values shape the organizational culture the behavior and the actions of all who are associates with the organization. The core values provide the framework for decisions, priorities, and actions.
Many people have given little more than a passing thought to identifying the values that govern their personal behavior, and even fewer organizations have done so. Instead, they accept the values of others or let situations determine the values. In almost all cases in which values are not clearly defined, good decisions are more difficult to make. Without values, people are easily influenced and decisions are subject to frequent change or compromise. Situational values confuse people and create problems and complexity.
Successful leaders make important decisions based on a set of core values and do the right things for the right reasons. In an organization, personal values may differ. A leader will help everyone focus on common values that will engineer a desire for cooperation and teamwork, without invalidating those personal differences. What are your values? Can you easily and specifically identify them? What about people throughout your organization? Are they committed to the organizational values?
“My firm belief is that values are the buoys in the channel of commerce. During the course of your career, you’ve got to make thousands of decisions. You’ve got to react to what happens every day. But if you can’t tie your decisions back to your core values, you get lost. Totally lost.” James R. Houghton, former chairman and CEO of Corning Incorporated.
Tammy A.S. Kohl is President of Resource Associates Corporation. For over 30 years, RAC has specialized in helping businesses achieve sustainable results through management consulting, strategic planning, leadership development, executive coaching and youth leadership. For information on creating a leadership succession plan visit www.resourceassociatescorp.com or contact RAC directly at 800.799.6227.
Tags: Corning, Harvard, Leadership, people, process, RAC, Resource Associates Corporation, strategic alignment, strategy, UPS, Values, valueship
Posted in Values | No Comments »
Wednesday, June 30th, 2010
 No matter how well informed you may become, no matter how much knowledge you acquire in your field, it is important to remember that very few have ever accomplished more or gone far in any endeavor without the assistance and cooperation of many people. Leadership, goal achievement, and effective communication are inseparable, and they are all inextricably tied to trust. Valueship provides the values, direction, and strategy that support and guide behaviors.
Open and honest communications are always important, but in times of major change, communication is critical. When people are unsure and insecure and feel as if they don’t know what’s going on rumors and innuendos abound, and blame generally gets placed on management. Not knowing is worse than knowing (even bad news). Take the time to communicate face-to-face if possible, one at a time. This gives you an opportunity to show your concern and respect. It also gives you and them the opportunity to address questions and feelings, as well as discover the best solutions. What and how you communicate is critical.
Communication is the exchange of ideas between two people. It involves more than telling. Effective communication is “connecting.” Effective communication results in understanding and it involves feeling. It is an active two-way process. It is not accurate to think that when we communicate with others, we transfer a precise piece of information from one mind to another. Words in and of themselves do not have explicit meanings that are unaffected by other influences. Instead, people have meaning for them. The meaning that any one person places upon words is influenced by gestures, expressions, intonations, and beliefs.
It is in the sharing of ideas and thoughts and emotions between 2 or more people that communication occurs. Exchanging facts or data is only part of the process. The feelings and emotions that develop during the course of any transaction strongly influence the behavior of those involved, and ultimately the outcome of the conversation. Human behavior is rarely a result of strictly logical and rational thought. Effective communication hinges on our ability to make emotional contact with the listener.
Once you understand the role that emotions play in communication, you can begin to put yourself in the other person’s shoes. This is called empathy, and it is a quality that can be cultivated by developing genuine interest in other people. It is far easier to do this when you are authentic, genuine, and honest.
Empathy is not to be confused with sympathy, nodding your approval, or simply agreeing with another person’s point of view so as to appear understanding. Empathy is recognizing the fact that others are entitled to their beliefs, just as you are, that they have certain needs to satisfy and goals to achieve, just as you do. Communicate with both words and actions that reveal genuine interest in people as individuals and in what they say and feel. They need to know you appreciate their efforts and their accomplishments are recognized. Knowing their needs, you can chart a career path designed to give them what they want and contribute to the overall achievement of the organizational goals. People respond positively to this type of leadership because they realize that they are actually only doing what you sensed they wanted to anyway.
For some reason, many people believe that the ability to speak articulately is an important prerequisite to successful communication. St. Francis of Assisi said that we should “Seek first to understand then to be understood,” It is impossible to find out what someone is thinking or feeling unless we listen to what they are trying to tell us. In valuing others, what others are trying to tell us, we establish value for what we are trying to communicate to them. By valuing others we add value to ourselves.
Tammy A.S. Kohl is President of Resource Associates Corporation. For over 30 years, RAC has specialized in helping businesses and individuals achieve high levels of excellence and success. Learn how at www.resourceassociatescorp.com or contact RAC directly at 800.799.6227.
Tags: communication, empathy, Francis of Assisi, Leadership, RAC, resource associates corp, Resource Associates Corporation, strategy, Values
Posted in Communications, Leadership | No Comments »
Wednesday, August 26th, 2009
Is your business drifting in the waters of economic challenge and uncertainty?
Don’t be embarrassed if the answer is yes as many companies of all sizes are “managing through” the current challenges before them. Managing through the daily turmoil starts out as a great strategy. Everyone within your organization “hunkers down” and starts to focus on what needs to be done on a daily basis to manage resources. Each decision is critical to the success of the next day, the next week and so on. But, the hunkering down syndrome (managing through it) is a great short-term strategy at best. As a long-term strategy, hunkering down is drifting with no particular destination in mind. As you drift, your competitors take advantage of new market opportunities and market possibilities that you could have capitalized on for business growth had you not been drifting.
Stop drifting! Continue to make the right and necessary decisions today but do not lose sight of where you want your company to be one year from now, three years from now, and ten years from now. The strategic decisions you make or don’t make today will have an exponential impact on the future of your business. Continue to take the time to review your strategic objectives, critical success factors, and necessary action steps. Current circumstances may force you to change course, but making a course correction today will ensure you end up at the right destination tomorrow.
“If you want to achieve success, make today the day you stop drifting.” – Napoleon Hill
Tags: business growth, drifting, market opportunities, market possibilities, Napoleon Hill, strategic thinking, strategy, Success
Posted in Strategic Planning | No Comments »
|
