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Intentional Leadership — D3, W1, M10 — Strategy

Today, examine the core strategies your organization or team  is following. Are they easily explained and when written, do they fit on one page? If not, it’s time for some review and simplification. Challenge your team to do the same — simplify the core strategies each member of your team will follow in their specific roles that will allow them to support the organizational strategies — and fit them on one page.

Again, if they are too complicated and difficult to explain, understand, or follow, no one will use them.

Then, bring your team together and evaluate each person’s revised strategy. This exercise will allow you to determine whether individual members really understand the overall organizational strategies, and if they are on track to support the bigger picture goals.

This is a great opportunity to address any adjustments that need to be made and to refine individual and team-level strategies to ensure your team is on track to meet organizational goals.

Take some time, right now, to get started.

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Intentional Leadership — Month 10 — Strategy

Strategy bridges the present reality to a future vision by answering the question of how a mission will be implemented. *

In this 10th month of our Intentional Leadership journey, we will focus on strategy. This is one topic I am particularly fond of, as it is my greatest strength (according to the StrengthFinders assessment)!

In my experience, once you have defined your objectives — what you’re striving to achieve — you need to outline the strategies you will use to move in that direction, and from the strategy, you will move into the tactical actions. One might consider it the leader’s blueprint or playbook. By following a well-thought-out strategy, you will arrive at a predetermined destination, rather than wandering aimlessly in uncertain directions.

Think back a few years ago, when Toyota was under siege because of the “auto-acceleration” issues with its cars. Prior to these events, Toyota had been known for high-quality; once its quality assurance processes came into question, Toyota had to shift gears, significantly. And, fortunately, it did. It went from focusing on quality to focusing on service. That’s when they changed their position to providing two years of free standard maintenance — oil changes, etc.

Had the car manufacturer attempted to emerge from that crisis still focused on quality, it would have been the laughing stock, and no one would have taken them seriously. Humbling themselves and focusing on serving their customers allowed the company to make a come-back.

Hyundai went through a similar experience. Think back to 1986 when Hyundai — a South Korean automaker — entered the US market. They started off with a bang, which quickly turned to a thud! Hyundai suffered from quality defects, as well, and soon was the target of great ridicule. It, too, had to come up with a new strategy to persuade customers to give the company another chance.

The result: An unheard of market plan (for the time, at least) promising customers a 10-year, 100,000 mile transmission and engine warranty. It worked; skeptical buyers gave the manufacturer another chance, and the strategy paid off, reviving Hyundai’s image in North America.

The strategy paid off, again, in 2008 during the beginning of the latest economic downturn. Hyundai assured buyers that if they bought a new car from them, and subsequently lost their jobs, they could return the car, essentially eliminating a source of financial stress and potential damage to one’s credit rating. With financial security of consumers’ minds, it was a brilliant strategy, that, again, paid off for the automaker.

As a leader, it will be incumbent on you to define the strategy for your teams and organization. As we prepare to dig deep into the role strategy plays in our leadership lives, spend some time today pondering these questions:

What are the benefits of having a sound strategy?

How do you recognize when your current strategy needs changing?

How do you respond when you come to that realization?

In what ways could you leverage your team and/or your organization’s assets more effectively?

How well are you executing your strategy?

I’ll “see” you tomorrow…and am looking forward to exploring this topic with you over the next four weeks.

*From the Intentional Leadership book by Giant Impact

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Intentional Leadership Month 9 Wrap-up — Attitude

As we get further along into this Intentional Leadership journey, it feels as if I am moving through the months faster and faster. I know, rationally, it isn’t real; each month has the same amount of time (give or take a day depending on which month we are in), but it seems as if we just started this month’s exploration into attitude, and now we are at the end!

I’d like to share this thought from inspirational author and speaker, Charles Swindoll:

“The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failure, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness, or skill. It will make or break a company…a church…a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past…we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10 percent what happens to me and 90 percent how I react to it. And so it is with you…we are in charge of our attitudes. As a leader, embrace the opportunities change gives and lead and grow through it.”

His ending sentiment about the 10 and 90 percents, falls right into line with the yoga program I’ve been doing these past three months. The founder of DDPYoga, Diamond Dallas Page (yes, I’m doing a yoga program developed by a former World Heavyweight Wrestling Champion! And, it’s making a huge difference in my life!), talks about living life at 90% — the 90% that is our choice of how we will react to the 10% of things that happen.

This is also a lesson I teach about being intentional in all areas of our life; mindfully giving consideration to the potential risks, benefits, implications, and consequences of any given action — whether it’s through written or spoken communication or action / behavior. When we are thoughtful about these things, we allow ourself the option of responding (thoughtfully and intentionally) rather than reacting, which is emotional and immediate, and often does not turn out as well as we would prefer.

This feeds right into attitude because, as Swindoll, and so many others before him have said, we get to choose our attitude. When things happen in life, they aren’t inherently good or bad until we assign meaning to them. According to the Law of Polarity, you can’t have a good without there being a bad…so we get to choose.

In closing, this is one of the principles I was fortunate to be asked to teach this week, on how “choosing your attitude” can make a huge difference in how your life experience happens.

The my closing question is, are you ready to take charge of your attitude and take charge of your life? Remember, it doesn’t affect only you…Attitudes are contagious. Is yours worth catching?

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