If you didn’t own your company, but you were looking for a company to buy, would you buy your company? Let’s be more specific, if you were looking to buy a turnkey business that you could ‘simply’ step into, tweak a bit, scale further, and reap strong financial rewards, would you buy your company? Your reaction to that question tells you everything you need to know about your company’s current weaknesses and strengths. If you were looking for a company to buy, would you buy your company? Your...
Liz’s Leadership Insights Blog
Don’t Overcomplicate Your Strategic Plan Implementation
We all know developing a strategic plan is hard. We also know, implementing a strategic plan successfully is brutal. So don’t make your implementation process more difficult than it already will be. Keep it simple and focused on the results you want. Don’t make your implementation process more difficult than it already will be. Keep it simple and focused on the results you want. There is a common thread that runs through client scenarios when I’m told, “We can’t implement our strategic plan!...
Don’t Stop Now! Adjust
“We’re thinking we should just postpone this next quarter’s strategic plan update session. Everyone is really busy, and honestly, we’re tired. You know we’ve had these two huge, out-of-nowhere projects come up that have taken over our lives. The team has done great, but we’ve fallen behind on several strategic initiatives. I think it’d help everyone’s morale if we just gave ourselves a break. What do you think?” I know you’re all tired and understandably so. But I think you’d be making a...
Focus on Impact
I always find it interesting that, regardless of industry, the challenges facing the executives I work with come in waves of similar issues. As I write this, several clients are coming to the end of their fiscal year. As a result, they’re reassessing budgets, strategic initiatives, productivity, profitability, and the departure of a key team member or two. Needless to say, times are - again - very busy and challenging for them. To help them navigate these challenges and debate their next...
From Great Ideas to Implementation
After months of conducting industry research, several work sessions, debates, conversations, and meetings with industry leaders as well as with front-line team members, a client’s new strategic plan is complete. They’ve received board approval. They’ve just completed a leadership summit in which they shared their new plan with the rest of the management team and received wide support for the plan. With this much momentum and energy, why did the CEO ask, “What now? What should we do next?” From...