We’ve all heard Peter Drucker's saying, “Culture eats strategy for lunch [or breakfast].” I am, of course, not going to disagree with that statement. However, given the work world today, it’s not enough. Culture doesn’t just eat strategy for breakfast or lunch. Culture eats strategy as an appetizer. Then it eats strategy for breakfast, lunch, dinner, dessert, a snack, etc. A poor company culture will eat up and spit out your organization if its cultural framework, strategic priorities, and...
Liz’s Leadership Insights Blog
Don’t Create a Laundry List. Create a Strategic Plan
It happens frequently. It happens with C-Suite executives as well as with mid-level managers. It happens when the excitement of DOING things to transform the organization takes hold. ‘It’ is when the strategic planning team focuses more on what they’re going to DO instead of what they want to ACHIEVE. It is when they stop thinking strategically. It causes teams to create laundry lists instead of strategic plans. …when the strategic planning team focuses more on what they’re going to DO instead...
Stop Boring Strategic Plan Updates
An association executive director asked during a recent coaching conversation, “Am I doing something wrong, or why are the strategic plan review meetings I hold with my senior staff so boring? My Director of Operations said yesterday, ‘It feels as if all we’re doing is tracking stuff so we can mark it off this master plan.’ You know what? She’s right. That’s exactly what it feels like.” Well I wish I could say I was stunned by his revelation, but I wasn’t. Because, tracking strategic plans...
Starting a Strategic Initiative? Clarify Your Culture First
Now that you’ve finally hired the additional project team members needed, and you’ve checked, checked, and triple-checked your strategic initiative’s plan and deliverables, it’s time to start your project, right? Wrong. Before you start any strategic initiative, clarify with your team the role the project plays in supporting your organization’s mission, and how each team member fits in. The more clearly every team member (veteran and new) understands how the project and their work –...
Stay Relevant. Be Strategic. Do What Matters Most
The COVID pandemic has changed not only how and where we work, it’s also changed our priorities and perspectives. What used to be a typical day at the office, has become an extended day of jumping between working remotely, home schooling our kids, serving as on-site technical support for our kids and as remote support for our parents, all while monitoring the status of our grocery delivery to ensure the doorbell doesn’t announce its arrival during a virtual client meeting. What used to be a...