| |
|
|
| questions |
How comfortable are you with your answers to these questions?
Creating the Inspiration
- What is your vision for the company? Is it meaningful, or just words on a paper?
- Of all competitors in your target market, are you the best positioned to achieve that vision (in terms of market position, strengths and weaknesses, and capabilities)?
- Does it capitalize on your strengths and minimize the impact of your weaknesses?
- Does your vision statement declare what you are going to do better than your competitors?
- Does it identify your target market?
- Is your vision something you wish will happen; or is it something you truly believe your company can make happen?
- Does your vision truly serve as a guide to your employees so that they can align their efforts in a common direction?
Charting the Course- Given your company’s strengths, weaknesses and potential capabilities, how
competitively advantaged is your company in the markets you are in?
- Does your strategy reflect the realities of your market, your competition and your company’s position in the market?
- Can you articulate a path to truly sustainable competitive advantage?
- Do you have strategic thought processes up and down the organization, or is the process of creating a strategic plan limited to a few people?
- Are you more focused on having a structured, often time-intensive and intricate
strategic planning process rather than on ensuring that there is an objective,
logical and crisp strategic thought process behind your strategy?
- Are you a CEO who gets distracted and overwhelmed by the day-to-day pressures
of the job, and in doing so leads in ways which are in direct violation of the rules
of strategy?
Shaping the Team
- Are the senior team members operating as a harmonious, highly functional team, or just as an assemblage of good individual performers?
- Do you have decision-making processes that always lead to the best actions for the company, or are they driven by other motivations?
- Have you created an environment where people want to work for your company and give their all in the process? Or are they just there for a paycheck?
- Do the senior team members have the requisite skills for the stage of the company’s evolution? Are they the right people for the task at hand?
- Are there changes in the senior team that need to be made, but you're concerned about upsetting the whole company or risking the loss of an important capability?
Translating into Action
- Does the operating plan have actionable tasks that are consistent with the strategy? Does the operating plan validate that the strategy is achievable?
- If fully implemented, does the operating plan ensure achievement of the strategy?
- Does the operating plan focus on the key change elements called for in the strategy?
- Do you regularly eliminate activities that are no longer central to the strategy in order to fund new initiatives that are?
- Is budgeting a rote process or is it a true resource allocation process that ensures adequate funding of important initiatives?
- Have you identified the high risk elements and developed contingency plans in the event that some are not fully achievable?
- Are all members of the management team clear on their responsibilities and are they committed to getting their actionable tasks done?
Following Through
- Do you assume that everyone will do their job and are you then disappointed when they don’t?
- Do all functional areas have clear, quantifiable objectives?
- Has the team identified milestones and do you have an adequate approach for measuring and tracking performance?
- Are you frequently surprised that results are not tracking with the plan?
- Does your process for managing provide you with an early warning system so that you can take timely remedial action and get back on track?
- How do you determine the root cause of a performance failure and how do you ensure timely recovery?
Communicating
- Is your plan for two-way communication as disciplined and complete as your other roles? Or is it really an afterthought?
- Does every employee truly understand your vision and strategy, and do they understand their role in supporting them?
- Are many things “secret” and cannot be openly shared with employees? Or do you operate with the maximum transparency possible?
- What do you communicate? The vision and strategy? The company’s progress? What do you do if things aren’t going well?
- Are employees comfortable providing you with honest feedback without fear of ridicule or recrimination?
- Are you usually in sync with your Board, or are you frequently surprising each other?
|
|
|
|
