Liz's Latest Articles
6 COVID-19 Induced Reasons Why You Should Scrap Your Current Strategic Plan
When things start to settle a bit in your world as you adjust to the new reality caused by the global COVID-19 Pandemic, be prepared to dramatically revise your strategic plan. It’s no longer strategically viable. Whether your operations experience a positive or negative impact for two weeks or two years, the future work world you were envisioning when your plan was created no longer exists.
Can You Lead When Your Team is in Crises?
With most of the country now entering the second week of voluntary or mandatory quarantine and no or remote-work status, our personal and work worlds have changed. As a leader, be prepared to lead your teams to and through their emotional, psychological and physical reactions to the changes they’re experiencing. How you lead your teams in the second stage of change will exemplify how you can or can not lead in crises.
Why Are We Still Doing This?
During a recent quarterly strategic plan update session, the CFO had an epiphany. We had been discussing what they, as the senior staff, had done to communicate their new vision and mission to all staff. We had also discussed what they would be doing next to work with their teams to help them understand how each team’s efforts should support the new vision. As part of that discussion, I suggested the senior staff ask themselves and their teams this question: How will this (process, initiative, project, etc.,) move our Vision and Mission - and those we serve - forward? As we discussed this question further, the CFO sat back with a somewhat stunned look on his face.
Think Strategically - Ask Tough Questions
One of the questions I’m initially asked by a new strategic planning client is, “How will we know what we’re supposed to focus on with our new plan?” Well, the easy answer is, “You’ll focus on what you need to focus on,” but the more appropriate answer is, “You’ll focus on what your answers to some critical questions tell you to focus on.” Now you may be thinking, “Those sound like a couple of non-answers and they don’t sound strategic at all.”
Are You Building A Solid Leadership Foundation?
One of the many pleasures of my work is that I have the opportunity to observe, work with, learn from, and laugh with some incredibly good leaders. I also am able to experience others, who, though well-meaning, create more work, confusion, and frustration than they realize. One of the fundamental differences in these two types of leaders is that those who I view as ‘good leaders’ intentionally reassess and develop their own leadership skills while they dedicate time and resources to developing the leadership skills in others. Why? Good leaders realize one simple truth: The more skills their teams have, and the more united they are in their actions, the stronger they will perform. Win - Win - Win.
