|
On an airplane recently, I sat next to a person
who told me he works for a construction company that enjoys a tremendous
history, is transitioning to second-generation leadership, and is
maturing to a new level. Sound familiar?
After I told him that I am a professional speaker
and consultant, he started to pump me for some free advice. (I told
him he would get what he paid for.) He had me captive for 2 1/2
hours while we visited about his situation.
This basic point came out during our conversation:
The company is successful in spite of itself. The company had not
set aside time to periodically analyze "What is our business?"
Perhaps the founder had a mission, but that mission was no longer
articulated.
Years earlier, new ownership had bought the company,
but success and hard work had come at the expense of education at
all employee levels. Having a proactive focus was shelved for a
"Which fire should we put out today?" focus. Lots of management
but very little leadership was going on.
Finally, the new generation began to view the organization
differently. The current leadership began asking themselves "What
are we all about?" They also asked these questions:
-
What are the leadership team's values and
beliefs? How does the team communicate these values and beliefs
to employees and customers? What are the leadership team's strengths,
weaknesses, and fears? How do they affect the growth of the
business? How can the leadership team use these qualities to
the business's advantage?
-
What resources need to be invested to develop
the structure of the business? These resources include people,
physical plant and equipment, education, technology, and finances.
-
What role(s) do the leadership team members
play? How will present leaders allow aspiring leaders to gain
competence and confidence? How does present leadership assume
a "resource" role instead of a "doer" role?
-
How will progress be tracked? What's the
timeline? What savings in time and money can be expected? How
will these savings be measured?
A second point quickly became apparent: Every member
of the leadership team must recognize the need to analyze the business
and change what doesn't work. Once everyone accepts this need, the
team needs to create a plan to analyze the company and their roles
within it. And how might that plan be created?
1. Develop the plan as a team. Set aside specific
planning days to focus on the future. Ideally, these planning days
would take place at an off-site location devoid of everyday office
distractions.
2. The team needs to acknowledge that the plan is a work in progress
and will never be completed. Rather, the plan has measuring points
along the way as pieces of the plan are implemented. Be aware that
the notion that planning does not have an ending date (as most projects
do) can be disconcerting to some participants.
3. Commit the plan to paper to officially capture the organization's
mission statement; to summarize its values and beliefs; to list
its strengths, weaknesses and fears; and to document resources.
Moreover, this document specifies who will do what by when.
Many of us feel we don't have time to plan, but
few long-term businesses can afford that attitude anymore. Asking
the right questions and committing to team action are critical to
an organization's health and success.
|
