The Biggest Challenge In Business - Isn't What You Think

Think about it for a minute....what is the biggest challenge in business?

Sure, you'll come up with a long laundry list of challenges: competitive pressures, growth and expansion, talent shortages, price sensitivity, margins, R&D, industry consolidation....and the list goes on forever...

Interestingly, these kinds of challenges are primarily external - and they change over time. Once a challenge has been addressed or solved, it's replaced by another challenge.

While daunting, none of these seemingly critical challenges are the biggest.

The biggest challenge? It's building an organization that can execute strategy, while overcoming the unending stream of daily surprises. The problems keep changing, but the need to have an organization equipped to solve the problems - never goes away.

To make it even more urgent, overcoming today’s challenges leads to growth - which makes tomorrow's challenges even more difficult. It's what we refer to as the "Execution Paradox": the better you execute, the bigger the challenges you'll face!

BOTTOMLINE: Building an organization that executes its strategy is the greatest core competence an organization can have -- and doing so is its greatest challenge. Building an organization that can plan, execute and address daily surprises is not easy.

Strategy development involves a few people, periodically, but execution involves every team member, every minute of every day. And the more employees that are involved, the more complicated it gets.

Is this the way it HAS to be?

After years of research and field testing, Six Disciplines has developed a complete strategy execution program to help you solve this biggest challenge in business. It helps your organization to get better - and stay better - with less stress and more fun. (and who doesn't want that??)

Four Key Aspects of Performance Management

According to a research project by consulting firm Watson Wyatt (as reported by Management-Issues) many organizations are being let down by their approach to employee performance management at just the point when they most need it to work for them.

According to the Watson Wyatt research, organizations often fall down on performance management by overlooking four key aspects:

1. The capability of line managers to manage poor performance and have "difficult" conversations, which can be addressed through coaching and training.
2. Employees' capability to set objectives, and provide and receive feedback, which can also be addressed through training.
3. Ongoing communication to ensure undue emphasis is not inappropriately placed on objective setting and end-of-year reviews to ensure that performance management is seen as the "way we do things".
4. Ensuring that performance management is placed in the context of overall business performance to provide employees with a "line of sight" and help them to understand how achieving their objectives help to deliver organizational success.

Solve The Right Problem And Everything Else Gets EASIER

As the leader of your organization, what would you be willing to pay... if you could:

• Get everyone on the same page (vision, mission, values, plans, projects)
• Find a more productive and effective way of working
• Ensure accountable results (fewer excuses, fewer surprises)
• Increase employee engagement, (enthusiasm, commitment and loyalty)
• Get a stronger return on investment from your workforce
• Grow an organization that becomes more predictable, consistent, balanced
• Reduce your risk, and lower the volatility of the rhythm of your business
• Increase the market value of your business

How can you do ALL of these things - at once? What would it be worth it to you - if you could?

ANSWER: By solving the one business problem that makes solving all other problems easier.

That's the driving concept behind Gary Harpst's best-selling book, Six Disciplines Execution Revolution. If you haven't read it, why not? It's not a matter of if, but when!

The Truth About Productivity

According to research published in Forbes Magazine:

"The real key to productivity--and thus performance--is not maximizing it at all costs. It is maintaining a level of consistency."

Haig Nalbantian, labor economist at Mercer HR Consulting found:

"It wasn't the companies with the highest productivity that were most profitable. It was those companies that consistently maintained their productivity that built the most value."

In other words, "great businesses can't crank through a job at record pace this month only to fall down on the next. Options traders may love volatility, but customers, vendors and shareholders decidedly do not."

Volatility is an indication of ability to manage (or mismanage). It is another way to view risk.

Higher productivity essentially acts like an intangible asset that carries significant market value.

Put another way, companies that maintain a decent level of productivity are rewarded more than those that hit higher highs but can't sustain them.

Says Nalbantian: "Companies get obsessed on reaching a level of productivity, when they should really be focusing on how they're going to sustain that level."

BOTTOMLINE: Consistency, predictability, a strong balance of strong strategy and strong execution - these are what produces the firms with the most value.

For more examples of how to increase value, read Chapter 11: Making Solving All Other Problems Easier" - from Six Disciplines Execution Revolution, by best-selling author and strategy execution expert, Gary Harpst.

The Impact of Organizational Coaching

Executive coaching has become as accepted in Fortune 1000 busineses as sports coaching is on the athletic field.

What is the ROI of executive coaching?

• Manchester Inc. reported that a survey of executives from large (mostly FORTUNE 1000) companies found that those who had participated in a coaching program characterized the ROI to be in the order of 6:1.
• In other words, a coaching program that cost $15,000 for six months would translate into $90,000 in cost savings for the organization.
• This research was cited by Fortune Magazine as representing strong confirmatory evidence supporting the effectiveness of executive coaching

The conundrum is this: executive coaching typically focuses on a thin layer of senior management. And while the ROI seems strong, what about the rest of the organization?

While I'm not suggesting that every employee be assigned an executive coach, a greater ROI can be achieved when "organizational coaching" is applied to unlock the potential of improved performance of every person in the organization.

I'm not referring to the fluffy stuff here. I'm talking about the kind of organizational coaching that provides much more impact on the ENTIRE organziation's ability to improve performance. These are the core competencies of learning, growing organizations:

• formulating strategy
• developing goals that can lead an organization
• creating initiatives and projects that support the goals
• assigning dates, deadlines, measures and accountability
• developing activity plans and monitoring progress
• cultivating innovation
• learning how to continually improve performance

Executive coaching has much to offer. Organizational coaching, however, is where real change occurs, and where the return on investment is the greatest.

Be Excellent Blog - Now Available for the Amazon Kindle

The Be Excellent blog, with nearly 1,500 blog posts on forumulating strategy, planning, aligning resources, executing strategy, innovation, employee engagement, and organizational learning, is now available for the Amazon Kindle - for only $1.99/month.

Kindle Blogs are auto-delivered wirelessly to your Kindle and updated throughout the day so you can stay current.

It's risk free—all Kindle Blog subscriptions start with a 14-day free trial. You can cancel at any time during the free trial period. If you enjoy your subscription, do nothing and it will automatically continue at the regular monthly price.

Find out more about the Be Excellent blog for the Kindle here.

Six Disciplines Client A to Z Meats - Family-Owned With A Big Future

A to Z Portion Control Meats, Inc. of Bluffton, Ohio, has a small family-owned company history and a big family-owned company future, in part, thanks to Six Disciplines.

Read about A to Z, and how they use the Six Disciplines strategy execution coaching program here.

"Musts" for High Performance Organizations

According to Susan M. Heathfield, Editor for About.com's HR blog, Six Disciplines contracted with market research firm, Research for Action, to survey 314 businesses that employ 10-100 people to determine the factors that were most important in their success. They found five factors that stood out as most significant. In fact, they found that “high performing organizations scored at least 100% better on these five factors than their competitors.”

These were the top five success factors:

•The strength of the senior leadership team.
•The organization’s ability to attract and retain quality people.
•The organization's ability to adopt a disciplined approach to the business including working “on” the business to create plans and align the employees to execute the business plans.
•High performing companies made strategic use of technology.
•High performing companies developed relationships with trusted outside providers such as attorneys, finance and accounting professionals, and insurance professionals.

You can read the complete research findings in this white paper, Five Secrets of High Performing Organizations.

Managing a Multi-Generational Workforce

The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) offers a good post on Managing a Multi-Generational Workforce.

Key findings:

• The workplace has always consisted of many generations working at one time.
• A new twist: The older generation is working past retirement age (23 percent of Americans age 65 to 74 are still in the workforce)
• This has led to many workplaces with a generation gap of more than 40 years between the oldest and youngest workers.

So how does a manager go about understanding the needs and priorities of each generation—from the younger Generations Y (age 27 and younger), Generation X (ages 27-35) to middle-aged Baby Boomers (age 35-60), to the older Silent Generation (60+)?

Here are NFIB's three tips on managing your age-diverse workforce:

1. Work with the communication styles of each generation.
2. Find out what motivates each generation.
3. Bridge the generation gap.

BOTTOMLINE: While these three tips go a long way to working with multi-generations, a baseline of daily activity planning for ALL groups is required. Individual planning of activities, done on a quarterly basis with status updates conducted weekly ensure that all planned activities that support the organizations goals are aligned across the organization - REGARDLESS of assumptions about communcation styles, personal interests, and motivations. Only then will you be able to assess progress toward goals, and be able to make corrections before it's too late. Individual planning reduces surprises, and reduces risk - helping to make your business environment less volatile - during times of uncertainty.

The Execution Economy

A while back, Rob May (formerly the BusinessPundit), referenced this piece at Bubble Generation, on one of our favorite topics: execution.

The premise?

• He's not saying that strategy doesn't matter.
• He is simply pointing out that in the past, good strategic planning could separate the great companies from the weak ones, but that everyone has been doing it so long that strategic thinking is a skill most successful companies already possess.
• That makes it difficult to say that your competitive advantage is a better strategy.

Rob's take:

"Creativity certainly helps, and definitely matters in the current economy, but my experience has been that poor execution is the single biggest downfall of most companies."

"It is just hard to get everyone to say what they mean, mean what they say, and do what they need to do. Speed of execution is more important, and distractions are more abundant, so as a result, execution is usually subpar."

Rob added: "I think lower barriers to entry, the commoditization of more things that once provided competitive advantage, and increased access to information are leading us into an execution economy where the winners will be the people that can get things done. I suspect that Michael Porter may be replaced by David Allen as the guru of the next decade."

BOTTOMLINE: Strategy is important (Porter), as is Execution/Getting Things Done (Allen). However, the Execution Revolution - the balance of both strategy AND execution (Harpst) - may be the most holistic approach to tie it all together.

Eight Rules for Adapting To The New Normal

In their new book “Chaotics: The Business of Managing and Marketing in the Age of Turbulence,” authors Philip Kotler and John A. Caslione establish a new framework for dealing with a prolonged period of economic change and uncertainty.

In the book, they offer a system of new strategic behaviors for dealing with the uncertainty that comes from turbulence’s chaos. Here are their eight new "rules" for adapting to the "New Age Of Normal."

Rule 1 - Keep recruiting. Focus on the bigger picture of long-term growth. Be careful about layoffs, because it’s expensive to re-hire and could be fatal if your best employees get scooped up by the competition.

Rule 2 - Keep training. During downturns, people need new and more advanced skills and knowledge. Use the downtime to increase education and to re-tool for the changing business scene.

Rule 3 - Keep talking. “Be honest with employees about difficult times,” they advise. Rumors are toxic. Nip them in the bud with candor.

Rule 4 - The CEO can’t do it alone. C-level executives and line managers need to be mobilized to meet with staff in small groups to interpret corporate strategy for the operational level and to stay focused on key tactical objectives.

Rule 5 - Nail down your core clients and markets. Focus on your main source of revenue. “Turbulence is not a good climate for venturing into new customer segments,” they say. “It’s time to secure the home front.”

Rule 6 - Push aggressively to win market share. Look at weakened competitors as a source of new business.

Rule 7 - Listen to clients and stakeholders. “Chaos has a way of changing everyone, including your core customers,” the authors say. “Their needs and wants are in flux.” Stay close. Redouble market research and customer satisfaction surveys. And try new advertising ideas. “You don’t want to find yourself relying on old marketing messages that no longer resonate.”

Rule 8 - Don’t cut business development. Maintain the marketing budget. Increase it if you can. “With the market being buffeted, your customers getting whipsawed, and your competitors making bold moves on your turf, turbulence is the worst time to cut anything in your marketing budget that targets your core customer segments. In fact, you need to add to it.” Shift money out of new customer segments if you need to.

(Hat tip to Rick Telberg, at CPATrendlines)

The Knowing vs. Doing Gap and The Need for Change

One of the most persistent challenges we face is to narrow the gap between knowing what needs to be done, and actually doing what needs to be done.

In fact, as business leaders, we collectively know quite a bit about what needs to be done. We've read the books, taken seminars, and listened to management gurus. We've even earned business in understanding what needs to be done.

Yet the challenge to somehow bridge this gap - continues...."

In order to bridge this gap between knowing and doing - we must change. And to do so, we must admit to ourselves that resistance to change is a definite part of the hurdle we continuously face as humans.

Change is hard - very hard. And in organizations, it's compounded by the collective numbers of team members, each with their own unique differences, their need to communicate and have meaning and purpose.

BOTTOMLINE: For an organization to achieve its potential, it's workforce must understand the purpose of the organization, where it's headed, and have an appreciation for the role everyone has in helping it to get there.

(Excerpts from Chapter 5, Six Disciplines Execution Revolution, by Gary Harpst)

Clarity - THE Key to Employee Engagement

As reported in Management-Issues, HR consulting firm Watson Wyatt confirms research that indicates clarity and communication are key to employee engagement.

Their findings:

• Managers who can clearly communicate where their company is going and why everyone is doing what they are doing - are generally much more successful when it comes to engaging their staff.
• Companies that provide their employees with a clear "line of sight" when it comes to vision and direction - tend to have a much more committed, engaged and productive workforce.
• The most important driver for ensuring employee engagement was strategic direction, with other key drivers of engagement being: employer communication, the attention given to customer focus within the organization, and performance management. (Perhaps surprisingly, pay and other rewards came to the bottom of the list.)

BOTTOMLINE: "Business leaders who articulate the business strategy give employees a clear 'line of sight' to how they can best contribute to the performance of their company. But the benefit goes beyond this. It helps to build trust in the company and its management, and creates a positive environment where all employees have well-understood shared goals."

Six Steps To Accountability

Obtaining commitment — or getting buy in — from your team members on new goals, procedures or methods remains one of the greatest day-to-day challenges for most business leaders.

Brian Cole Miller's book Keeping Employees Accountable for Results: Quick Tips for Busy Managers addresses this challenge square in the face.

The book offers solid advice to managers on how they can help employees to meet organizational goals by committing to them.

Miller’s book takes a very practical approach to obtaining commitment from employees; its many short, readable chapters are organized into a framework of six basic processes for obtaining commitment and holding employees to account:

1. Setting expectations
2. Inviting commitment
3. Measuring results
4. Providing feedback
5. Linking results to consequences
6. Evaluating your own effectiveness

BOTTOMLINE: Getting commitment (not compliance) is the first step in driving new culture changes to take place. Individuals can learn to become more accountable by understanding expectations, buying into the changes, measuring results, offering feedback and understanding both rewards and consequences of behaviors and activities.

Why Is Strategy Execution So Hard?

Poor strategy execution is the #1 reason why businesses fail in today’s marketplace.

Poor execution of the strategy is often the culprit -not the strategy itself.

Four reasons why your strategy execution may not be working:

1. Your strategy fails to recognize the limitations of your organization.
   Strategy execution makes huge demands on an organization’s capabilities and resources. While your organization can certainly transform its capabilities over time, there is a limit to how far and how fast. Recognizing what your organization can realistically deliver before crafting a new direction is essential to your business success.
2. Your employees don’t know how the strategy applies to their daily activities.
   Most companies don’t communicate strategy broadly or effectively to their employees. If your employees don’t know how the strategy affects their everyday activities, they aren’t likely to execute your company's strategy effectively.
3. Your organization’s business systems or processes can’t support the strategy. It’s difficult to implement a new strategy without changing the way the organization works. Does the workflow across your various departments and divisions support your intent? Can your systems and tools meet the demands of the new strategic vision? Pursuing a new strategy with old capabilities is a recipe for disaster.
4. Your performance measures and rewards are not aligned with the strategy.
   Are you creating measurement tools that make employees feel good about their performance but don’t really measure the company’s key success factors. Measurement and rewards must tie back to the specific employee behaviors and results sought – behaviors that support your company’s strategic vision.

Turning Great Strategy into Great Performance

According to research conducted by the folks at strategy/execution specialists Marakon (as published by the Harvard Business Review), companies typically realize only about 60% of their strategies’ potential value because of defects and breakdowns in planning and execution.

By strictly following seven simple rules, you can get a lot more than that.

1. Keep it simple, make it concrete. Avoid long, drawn-out descriptions of lofty goals and instead stick to clear language describing what your company will and won’t do. (Discipline I. Decide What's Important)
2. Debate assumptions, not forecasts. Create cross-functional teams drawn from strategy, marketing, and finance to ensure the assumptions underlying your long-term plans reflect both the real economics of your company’s markets and its actual performance relative to competitors.
3. Use a rigorous analytic framework. Ensure that the dialogue between the corporate center and the business units about market trends and assumptions is conducted within a rigorous framework, such as that of “profit pools.” (The Six Disciplines Methodology, as described in Six Disciplines for Excellence)
4. Discuss resource deployments early. Create more realistic forecasts and more executable plans by discussing up front the level and timing of critical deployments. (Discipline III. Align Systems)
5. Clearly identify priorities. Prioritize tactics so that employees have a clear sense of where to direct their efforts. (Discipline II. Set Goals That Lead)
6. Continuously monitor performance. Track resource deployment and results against plan, using continuous feedback to reset assumptions and reallocate resources. (Discipline IV. Work The Plan)
7. Reward and develop execution capabilities. Motivate and develop staff. (Discipline VI. Step Back)

BOTTOMLINE: Now, you understand a little more why the Six Disciplines strategy execution coaching program works for small and midsized businesses - while other business improvement approaches fall short.

Growth Ideas For Times of Economic Uncertainty

The normal reaction of businesses during times of economic uncertainty is to pull back, spend less, and wait things out. The contrarian view is to use this time wisely as a strategic planning platform for future growth.

Instead of adding fuel to the economic "death spiral," smart business leaders see this time as one of increased resolve, focus and determination.

Thinking about what opportunities to look into - for the next wave of economic growth? Don't wait - consider one or more of these now, and you'll be in a better position than your competitors:

1. Introduce new products or services to current customers
2. Cross-sell existing products or services to current customers
3. Sell existing products or services to new markets/customers
4. Eliminate low-growth/slow growth products and services from your portfolio
5. Anticipate changing customer needs/wants (for the next wave)
6. Track your competitor's reactions and activities
7. License your product or service
8. Franchise your product or service
9. Set up strategic alliances or partnerships
10. Globalize your product or service

BOTTOMLINE: With all the doom and gloom, use this time period wisely. Focus on the internal activities and results you can measure and have a impact upon. Continue to execute your strategic plan, and look for appropriate activities to "stop doing" (that don't negatively impact your strategic vision.) If activity begins to slow down, use the time to research new growth opportunities and options.

Six Drivers of Organizational Change

Scott Anthony, president of Innosight, an innovation consulting and investing company, summarized six drivers of organizational change at Harvard Business Online, based on a panel discussion he moderated with CEOs from Dow Corning, Eastman Kodak and Procter & Gamble.

The six common themes of successful organizational change:

1. The need for a crisis or some kind of “burning platform” to motivate transformational change
2. A clear vision and strategy … that allows room for iteration
3. A recognition that transformation is a multi-year journey
4. A need to put the customer or consumer in the center of the transformation equation
5. The critical importance of demonstrating to skeptics that different actions can lead to different results
6. The need to over-communicate to employees, customers, stakeholders, and shareholders

BOTTOMLINE: In order for change to successfully begin in an organization, there needs to be a need - a reason. After all, "if nothing changes, nothing changes" (which is the inverse of "different actions can lead to different results.") Even Einstein said "“Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”

Once a sense of urgency has been established, a clear vision and strategy must be created and, if anything, over-communicated - particularly to all team members. If every person in the workforce understands the goals of the organization, plans their daily activities to support those goals, and continually aligns their actitivities and monitors results, it goes a long way to supporting continual improvement and change within an organization.

(Hat tip to George Ambler over at The Practice of Leadership)

The Value Of Continuous Business Coaching

Research bolsters our belief in the value of coaching.

Talent management analysts Bersin & Associates discovered the important role coaching plays in a survey of 750 organizations and 55 executives. Bersin wanted to get a feel for the top business problems today, challenges related to talent in our companies, and processes used to recruit, retain and develop employees.

Their research reveals that performance management is one of the most important things organizations can do for employees, because when we are managing performance, the most effective thing we can do is coach.

Among the organizations surveyed, coaching ranks at the top of 22 processes which consistently drive the highest business impact.

The results of continuous coaching? Higher levels of engagement, leadership, flexibility and performance.

BOTTOMLINE: Read Chapter 8, Accountability Coaching, in the bestseller book Six Disciplines Execution Revolution by Gary Harpst, for a complete discussion on the value of continuous coaching.

Executive Coaching - Worth The Money?

A recent Wall Street Journal article invited readers to comment on "Executive Coaching - Worth The Money?"

Wow! This one has people's attention!

Our views about it here at Six Disciplines:

• Executive coaching is a good first step, but it’s kind of like treating the symptom, not the real problem.
• What perhaps makes more sense is to work on solving the one business problem, that if solved, makes all the other problems – easier.
• By it’s very nature, executive coaching implies that it’s just for the executive (typically, just for the CEO)
• While this may indeed be necessary, focusing only on the executive of a small business does little/nothing for the rest of the organization.
• The rationale is if you coach the senior executive on their key responsibility (strategy formulation) – BUT, what about all the rest of the workforce that is charged with executing the strategy?
• What is really needed is a comprehensive coaching program that helps the CEO and senior executive team (on issues they need to focus on, i.e., strategy formulation, goal setting, choosing vital few objectives) – the middle management (on issues they need to focus on, i.e., initiative and project management) – and the rest of the workforce (on issues they need to focus on, i.e. aligning their daily activities to work on projects and initiatives that support the goals and overall strategy of the company.
• This kind of coaching builds accountability across the entire organization – not just at the executive level.
  The payback/ROI is much stronger if the entire organization is engaged in program like this (as opposed to only focusing on the CEO/executive)

BOTTOMLINE: Executive coaching is a good start. Don't forget about the benefits of coaching -- for the REST of the organization!

Excellence Is An Enduring Pursuit - It Requires An Enduring Approach

Is excellence important to you? Do you want it to be?

Although leaders vary in their definitions of excellence, and how best to achieve it, most agree that excellence is a never-ending pursuit and that whatever their challenges and opportunities are today, they will be different tomorrow.

Leaders often face these ten challenges:

1. Communication—people lack clarity and direction, limiting innovation
2. Accountability—measurements of and responsibility for results are insufficient
3. Engagement—people don’t seem to care as much or aren’t sure of their role
4. Alignment—activities aren’t connected with mission and strategy
5. Direction—disconnect between planning, strategy and execution
6. Transition—a desire to “pass the torch” successfully
7. Control—things “feel” out of synch
8. Frustration—excessive friction in daily work
9. Risk Management—profit variability versus growth rate
10. Consistency - not sticking with an ongoing method, persistence

Your challenge at the moment is a symptom of a deeper need to systematically increase your capability to address future challenges.

Since excellence is an enduring pursuit, it requires an enduring approach. A business excellence program is an organized approach to grow a leader’s ability to deal with an ever-changing—and increasingly challenging—business environment. The program needs to grow with the business and enable leaders (and all employees) to align their plans and activities to support the strategies and achieve its goals. Over time, the practice of activity alignment becomes a habit, increasing your ability to continually learn and improve performance.

BOTTOMLINE: An enduring business excellence program has four components: 1) a repeatable methodology to drive leadership; 2) external coaching for accountability; 3) a system to align the activities of every team member every day; and 4) a community of like-minded people to accelerate learning. Only when these four synergistic elements come together can leaders expect to see enduring change in themselves and in their organizations.

Book Review: Six Disciplines Execution Revolution

"I really enjoyed this book for the simple reason that it addresses an issue which could very well be the decisive factor for any organization in pursuit of success—an illusive target in today's chaotic environment.

The author, Gary Harpst, is right on target with his sub-title: "Solving the One Business Problem That Makes Solving All Other Problems Easier." Let's identify that one business problem right up front—execution.

Much of this book is everyday common sense that we've been hearing for years. The author has re-framed basic knowledge that is anything but new to today's business leaders. His approach is appropriate because this priceless knowledge has also been avoided like the plague for just as long."

Read the entire book review here.

(Harry K. Jones is a professional speaker and consultant for AchieveMax®, Inc.)

Is Your Mission Statement a Secret?

In a recent study by the Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp) in conjunction with HR.com titled "Taking the Pulse: Mission Statement" the researchers found that, while almost 84% of organizations asked have a mission statement in place, only 62% of those companies said that just half of their employees could repeat the company mission statement if asked.

In some organizations the memory loss is more acute: Two of 10 companies said that just 10% could echo their mission statement.

Alarming? You bet!

Yet, apparently, the problem isn't the result of a lack of effort or a bland mission.

A full two-thirds said their mission statement has been effectively communicated to all employees, and almost half the companies surveyed said their mission statement "inspires" employees to a high or very high extent. Still, 35% of polled companies feel that their mission statement influences their employees' behavior to a high or very high extent.

"To really get your mission statement message across, leaders need to overcommunicate and, whenever possible, build elements of their mission statement into other correspondence. Without constant reinforcement, companies shouldn't be surprised if employees can't remember what their mission statement says."

BOTTOMLINE: To have your workforce understand how their daliy activities support the mission of your organization, they MUST be aware of and understand your mission!

The Great Strategy Execution Formula

Ideas are worth nothing unless executed. They are just a multiplier. Execution is worth millions.

Explanation:
AWFUL IDEA = -1
WEAK IDEA = 1
SO-SO IDEA = 5
GOOD IDEA = 10
GREAT IDEA = 15
BRILLIANT IDEA = 20

NO EXECUTION = $1
WEAK EXECUTION = $1000
SO-SO- EXECUTION = $10,000
GOOD EXECUTION = $100,000
GREAT EXECUTION = $1,000,000
BRILLIANT EXECUTION = $10,000,000

To make a business, you need to multiply the two.

The most brilliant idea, with no execution, is worth $20.
The most brilliant idea takes great execution to be worth $20,000,000.

(Thanks to Derek Sivers for the insight)

Execution and The Middle Manager

According to vice dean of Wharton's Executive Education, Thomas Colligan:

"Many companies are seeing significant turnover in middle management ranks, and with significant turnover, they don't have the ability to execute strategy. Top management can spend all their time creating strategy, but without someone there to implement it, where are you at the end of the day?"

From the Knowledge@Emory article article: "Caught in the Middle: Why Developing and Retaining Middle Managers Can Be So Challenging," here are the key findings:

• Middle managers are essential in organizations, in part because they link senior management and the rest of the company. They are "the glue across upper and lower levels as well as horizontally with other departments."
• According to a 2007 Accenture survey of middle managers around the world, 20% reported dissatisfaction with their current organization and that same percentage reported that they were looking for another job.
• If middle managers are so valuable, why would they report dissatisfaction and leave their companies? A primary reason is lack of advancement opportunity.
• While most organizations don't readily admit to neglecting middle managers, it can happen because senior managers tend to be so consumed with strategy, particularly in today's rapidly changing markets.

Given the high cost of turnover and the importance of middle managers in executing strategy and change, how do you "do the right things" to help those people move up?

• Individual plans that are connected to corporate goals, and access to educational opportunities can play a big role in increasing retention rates.
• Another solution gaining popularity today is coaching: "You don't think you need a coach? Tiger Woods has three."They are mostly used for top managers, but you are starting to see them used for middle managers as well.
• Participation can also be key in reducing turnover. "Really involving middle managers and allowing them to participate in a change decision, design and implementation will lead them to have more buy-in and ownership so when they have more accountability."
• Communication is a key element for finding ways to engage midlevel managers in understanding a company's new strategic initiatives -- "helping people at the middle understand in more tangible terms what they need to do. This may include more concrete objectives, examples and messages so that people who interface with customers or run processes understand where the company is and what it needs to do differently."

Team Leaders - The Key to Employee Engagement

A recent global workforce study of 90,000 employees in 19 countries conducted by global professional services firm Towers Perrin reveal that it is the manager (team leader) who is the greatest catalyst for exceptional employee performance.

The evidence of managerial influence is clear:

• Only 21% of the employees surveyed around the world are engaged in their work, meaning they're willing to go the extra mile to help their companies succeed.
• Some 38% of employees are partly to fully "disengaged."
• Firms with the highest percentage of engaged employees collectively increased operating income 19% and earnings per share 28% year over year.
• Companies with the lowest percentage of engaged employees showed year-over-year declines of 33% in operating income and 11 percent in earnings per share.

BOTTOMLINE: The challenge for businesses is clear: To get and maintain a competitive edge, organizations must not only attract customers, they must attract and engage the most talented employees. Moreover, it is the quality of the relationship between managers (team leaders) and direct reports (team members) that defines an employee's level of engagement

People don't leave organizations; they leave poor managers. The quality of team leader-team member relationships depends on the quality of the management best practices each team leader uses. Effective team leaders:

• Clearly articulate, measure and monitor job expectations
• Uses fair, and regularly scheduled (1:1 status meetings) for measuring progress and performance
• Uses both motivational and inspirational best practices for performance-related behavioral change
• Uses multiple methods for communicating change, accountability, expectations and consequences

What Do High-Performing Companies Track?

Want to be a high-performing company? Then track your talent. A new study on HR metrics by i4cp shows that higher-performing companies are more apt to measure talent-related metrics than lower performers. Common talent-related metrics include movement within the organization, quality of hires, quality of promotions and the cost of training/development.

Key findings:

• 93% of higher performers measure employee engagement, compared with 79% of lower performers. In this economy in particular, engaging the workforce is of paramount importance.
• 93% of higher performers utilize employee engagement surveys, compared with 78% of lower performers.
• 90% of high performers report the use of satisfaction surveys for such measures, compared with 68% of lower performers.

The study - commissioned internally by i4cp - also found several other significant traits for high-performing organizations. For example:

• 71% of higher performers measure compliance or completion of diversity plans (52% in lower-performing companies)
• 61% of higher performers, compared with 39% of lower performers, consider employee referral rates.
• 78% of lower-performing organizations measure total labor cost to cost revenue percentage, compared with 55% of high-performing organizations.

BOTTOMLINE: "The contrast is striking - it most likely reflects the attitude that low-performing organizations see their employees a mere expense and not a source of competitive advantage."

The Importance of Time Tracking - Part II

In this Harvard Business Publishing report, "Are You Spending Your Time the Right Way?" we're again reminded how important time tracking is to productivity, and ultimately, to executing strategy.

Key insights:

• Though most managers understand that time is their scarcest resource, few make the effort to gain a strategic perspective on how they spend their hours each week.
• Still fewer make a regular practice of keeping track of how the priorities they say are most important align with the way they actually spend their time.

Recommendations:

1. Break your responsibilities into categories - both strategic and tactical—identify not more than six.
2. Ask yourself what percentage of your time you should be spending in each category. To answer, factor in the competing claims on your time: the activities that enable you to generate the most leverage, the company’s strategic priorities, and the short-term needs of your supervisors, direct reports, and customers.
3. Check for alignment with your manager. Check with your manager and key colleagues; ask them to share their time allocations, if possible. Sharing time allocations with a team gives a group focus and cohesion.
4. Audit your time. Take out last week’s calendar, and evaluate it using your newly established time allocations for each category. This will give you a sense of how much adjustment will be necessary going forward. Record how you spend your time in a time-management log—for many, this very discipline is half the battle.

BOTTOMLINE: Now that you have a plan for leveraging your time, "all you need to do" is be ruthless in your execution of it. (Which of course, takes discipline...)

Five Keys To High Performance Organizations

According to research firm Gartner, high performing organizations (HPOs) share five characteristics:

1. They set ambitious targets and consistently and continuously achieve those objectives.
2. They display a strong sense of purpose through shared values both inside (among employees) and outside the organization (among customers, suppliers, and other stakeholders).
3. They have a strategic focus and alignment so that employees know how they are contributing to the results of the organization.
4. They have the agility to adapt to changing circumstances quickly.
5. And, finally, they have a common and shared business model throughout the organization.

BOTTOMLINE: Emulating these organizations requires a focus on performance management. The journey toward becoming a high-performance organization is never-ending, and it's full of pitfalls and detours. Still, every step along the way is worthwhile because it improves the company in some manner. For the HPO, the journey is the destination.

Part III. How You Can Evaluate Six Disciplines - Risk Free?

CEO Gary Harpst explains how you can evaluate the Six Disciplines strategy execution coaching program - risk free.



If you'd like more information, visit www.SixDisciplines.com.

Part II: What Can We Do About The Problem Of Strategy Execution? (Video)

CEO Gary Harpst describes what can be done about the biggest problem in business, and introduces Six Disciplines.

Part I: The Biggest Problem in Business - Video

What's the biggest problem in business? It ISN'T what you think!

CEO and best-selling author Gary Harpst explains what the biggest challenge in business is, and why we can finally attack this problem in a revolutionary new way.

Strategy Execution and High-Impact Firms

In June 2008, the SBA published a new report: High-Impact Firms: Gazelles Revisited.

This new study revisits and expands upon some of the conclusions about rapidly growing firms conducted in the 1980s. Specifically, this report examines firms with significant revenue growth and expanding employment.

The revealing research findings about “high-impact firms” are summarized as follows:

• They are relatively old, rare and contribute the majority of overall economic growth.
• They exist in all industries, in almost all regions, states and counties.
• They represent only 3% of all firms, yet they account for almost all private sector employment and economic growth in the economy.
• On average, they are 25 years old.
• They usually go through a 4-year growth phase, in which time, growth doubles.
• In the four years after a high-impact firm undergoes its high-growth phase, only about 3 percent die.
• 75% of them fail to sustain their high-impact status after the 4-year growth phase.

For community organizations that have a strategy focused on an economic development platform, the implications and benefits of acting on this data are significant. Those who do will recognize the value of cultivating high-growth firms versus trying to increase entrepreneurship across the board, or trying to attract relocating companies.

Following are some game-changing implications for your community organizations to consider, particularly before going into next year’s strategic planning process:

• What kind of impact could your organization have on your community’s economic development if you could help to cultivate the number of local high-impact firms from say, 3% to 4%, or perhaps even 5%?
• What if your community organization could recommend systematic approach to enable companies to get to the high-impact stage sooner -- and stay there longer?

BOTTOMLINE: The answers to both of these questions are outlined in the new bestselling book, Six Disciplines Execution Revolution. Growing the number of high-impact firms, getting them to the high-impact stage sooner, and getting them to stay there longer, are all essential drivers behind the revolution in strategy execution that’s already underway.

Find out more by attending an upcoming webcast.

10 Ways to Increase Passion at Work

Michelle Neujahr is an expert in Organizational Excellence Development.

In a recent post, she offers her take on "10 Ways to Increase Passion at Work."

1. Hire smart.
2. Get a good fit.
3. Train.
4. Communicate with passion.
5. Set goals.
6. Recognition.
7. Use surprise.
8. Ask.
9. Care.
10. Take risks.

BOTTOMLINE: "Nothing great in the world has ever been accomplished without passion.” Or in other words – nothing great will be accomplished in your business without passion."

The Six Disciplines Business Opportunity

Watch this 6 minute slidecast "The Six Discipines Business Coaching Opportunity", presented by CEO and Founder, Gary Harpst.

View more presentations from Skip Reardon.

The Balance of Strategy and Execution - Video

The balance of strategy and execution is one of the toughest challenges in business.

But there is now a revolution taking place in the way your business can approach it.

In support of Gary Harpst's new book, Six Disciplines Execution Revolution, watch this short video and see him explain how you can tackle this toughest challenge in business.

Business Acceleration Comes To Pittsburgh

CEO and Best-Selling Author Gary Harpst Brings
The “Business Acceleration” Tour To Pittsburgh

Keynote Speaker Brings Revolutionary New Approach To Accelerate Business Performance and Predictable Growth In Local Communities

April 23, 2009 —CEO and best-selling author Gary Harpst will continue his 50-city speaking tour “Business Acceleration: Breaking The 3% Speed Limit,” in Pittsburgh, PA on June 3, 2009 at the Regional Learning Alliance in Cranberry Township from 8:00 am - 10:00 am. The event is being co-sponsored by Pareto Consulting, a Pittsburgh-based consulting firm, and licensed Six Disciplines coaching provider.

“Pittsburgh currently ranks 4th in the nation among large metropolitan areas for its number of “high-impact” companies, those that produce both significant revenue growth and expanding employment,” said Harpst. “Yet only 3% (2.45 percent) or 2,675 our of Pittsburgh’s 109,040 businesses are considered to be high-impact. Why does it have to be less than 3%? And perhaps more importantly, what are we going to do about accelerating growth for the other 97 percent of businesses in Pittsburgh? That’s specifically what I’ll be revealing at the Business Acceleration event on June 3th,” added Harpst.

To register for the Pittsburgh event, visit: http://50citypittsburgh.eventbrite.com.

Pareto Consulting Joins the Six Disciplines Business Coaching Network

Pittsburgh-based Firm Sees Growth through Strategy Execution Coaching Program

FINDLAY, OHIO - April 20, 2009 — Six Disciplines announced today that it has added Pittsburgh-based Pareto Consulting to its nationwide network of business coaching organizations that offer the Six Disciplines® strategy execution coaching program to its clients. Six Disciplines is unique in the burgeoning industry of business coaching because of its completeness, which involves the synergy of a repeatable business-building methodology, accountability coaching, an execution software system, and a shared community to accelerate organizational learning.

“Forward-looking CEOs are starting to understand that their biggest challenge is not what they think it is,” said Gary Harpst, founder and CEO of Six Disciplines. “They’re finally figuring out that it’s all about the balance of strategy and execution,” “Pareto Consulting understands the tremendous opportunity ahead of them with Six Disciplines, and because of their expertise and proven success, we’re excited to welcome Pareto to our coaching network.”

“Being able to offer the Six Disciplines Program to our clients adds an adjacent service focused on execution to our consulting practice and the marketplace desires an execution-focused service” said Fiore Londino, Partner with Pareto Consulting. “By using Six Disciplines, our clients will be able to connect their vision to their strategies, and align their plans and activities for more consistent and predictable execution,” said Sherryl Nufer, Partner with Pareto Consulting.

As an introduction to the Greater Pittsburgh area, Pareto Consulting will be hosting an exclusive presentation by Six Disciplines CEO Gary Harpst on June 3, 2009 from 8:00 am – 10:00 am, at the Regional Learning Alliance, 850 Cranberry Woods Drive, Cranberry Township, PA 16066. The event in Pittsburgh is a continuation of Harpst’s 50-city speaking tour. His insightful presentation, “Economic Acceleration: Breaking the 3% Speed Limit” is based upon his best-selling book, Six Disciplines Execution Revolution. To register for the event, visit: http://50citypittsburgh.eventbrite.com/.

About Pareto Consulting, LLC
Pareto Consulting, located in Pittsburgh, PA, provides consulting services to assist organizations in strategic and business planning, talent management, meeting facilitation and executive development and coaching. Pareto helps organizations concentrate on the 20% of the efforts that will achieve 80% of the needed results. Visit http://www.pareto-consulting.com/.

About Six Disciplines
Six Disciplines offers a complete strategy execution coaching program, optimized for small and midsized organizations. The Six Disciplines program enables organizations to get better – and stay better – with less stress and more fun. The breakthrough program is detailed in the best-selling book “Six Disciplines Execution Revolution” by founder and CEO Gary Harpst. Six Disciplines is offered exclusively through a growing nationwide network of franchised Six Disciplines coaching practices. Visit http://www.sixdisciplines.com/.

80% of Companies Thinking More Strategically During Downturn

A recent poll of the Strategic Planning Community (SPC), a business social network of strategic planners hosted by the Association of Strategic Planning (ASP), shows that for the most part, the knee-jerk reactions to the downturn have passed and most companies are moving towards more strategic moves.

Key findings:

• 82% reported that their companies are now thinking more strategically. Companies still operating in a purely tactical and survival mode, will likely find themselves being left behind when the economy turns.
• This result matches well with a recent Bain Consulting survey of global corporations where they report that “Almost eight of ten executives agree “our company will use this recession to improve our competitive position”

BOTTOMLINE: "For those who plan to exit this downturn successfully, now is the time to be repositioning for the new market realities and beginning to execute on steps to ensure successful exit."

(Hat tip to Michael Kanazawa)

Change Management IS Changing How You Manage

Why do so many change management programs fail?

In their new book, Transforming Your Leadership Culture, authors John McGuire and Gary Rhodes, of North Carolina's Center for Creative Leadership argue that it's because they focus too much on changing systems, processes and procedures -- and not enough on changing the people and the culture of the organization.

Key findings from their research:

• Effective change management has to start from the top.
• Leaders cannot delegate transformation to others and, without leading first by engagement and example, success is very unlikely.
• Culture change has to be a personal process first and foremost.
• Change also comes when beliefs change.
• Successful change starts with the beliefs of the senior leadership team and spreads into the middle of the organization. From there, it is likely that momentum will build as successive levels of employees buy into change.

BOTTOMLINE: In essence, change management is about doing exactly that: changing how you manage.

Questions to Address In Planning Retreats

In this Strategy+Business article, "Sharpening Your Business Acumen," the authors offer a six-step guide for incorporating external and internal trends into your strategy planning retreats.

They suggest the high-level questions to address include:

1. What is happening in the world today?
2. What does it mean for others?
3. What does it mean for us?
4. What would have to happen first (for the results we want to occur)?
5. What do we have to do to play a role?
6. What do we do next?

BOTTOMLINE: In Six Disciplines for Excellence, Discipline VI. Step Back, includes Step VI-A, Review Externals. It is one of the key steps used as input to updating your organization's mission, vision, values and strategic position.

All Six Disciplines clients go through this exercise as part of an initial planning retreat. Here are some client observations about the Six Disciplines unique approach to planning retreats:

"Retreats have generally been very frustrating in order to really come to consensus and agreement. Other times we’ve gone through this process even with board members and others, you come out trying to get a mission statement crafted or whatever and it is a year-long process. However, with Six Disciplines, we got more done in those three days than in any planning retreat I’ve ever been involved in." (Patrick Fitzgerald, WBGU)

"Before we went into this, we were lacking things like goal-setting and strategic planning...the retreat helped us to come together with some real ideas cross-departmentally of what we need to be working on. (Karl Hemminger, Findlay Publishing)

"When we went through the retreat process and brought our Six Disciplines plan back and shared it with our board, there was absolute unanimous support around that table: “You guys have done a great thing here." (Doug Peters, GreaterFindlay, Inc.)

Small Business Advantages for Innovation

Intuit and Emergent Research recently released a research brief on small business innovation.

A key finding of the research is that small businesses have six inherent attributes that make them natural innovators. These include:

• Personal passion: Personally invested, most small business owners are willing to try new approaches to make their business more successful.
• Customer connection: A deep and direct relationship with the market and customers helps small businesses understand customer needs, identify new opportunities, and fix problems quickly and efficiently.
• Agility and adaptation: Unlike large corporations, small businesses can quickly adapt to changing market conditions and implement new business practices.
• Experimentation and improvisation: When pursuing new opportunities, many small business owners and managers aren’t afraid to experiment and improvise, accepting failure as part of the path to success.
• Resource limitations: Small businesses are adept at doing more with less. And these resource constraints lend to their innovative mindset.
• Information sharing and collaboration: Small businesses traditionally rely on strong social networks to share information and inspire innovative thinking. Online social networks extend and amplify this practice.

The entire report and related materials are available at www.intuit.com/futureofsmallbusiness.

(Hat tip to Steve King, who published this post on the AppGap)

Seek Perfection But Settle For Excellence

Congratulations to the University of Findlay's men's basketball team - 2009 NCAA Division II National Champions.

A perfect season (36-0) - culminating is a National Championship.

It doesn't get any better than this.

Want an even better story of leadership about game winner Tyler Evans? Read "University of Findlay basketball player a class act."

If that story doesn't get to you, check your pulse!

Management Tools for 2009

Over the past three decades, management tools have become a common part of executives' lives. Whether trying to increase revenues, innovate, improve quality, increase efficiencies or plan for the future, executives have looked for tools to help them. The current environment of globalization and economic turbulence has increased the challenges executives face and, therefore, the need to find the right tools to meet these challenges.

To help inform managers about the tools available to them, in 1993 Bain & Company launched a multiyear research project to gather facts about the use and performance of management tools.

Every year or two since, Bain conducted research to identify 25 of the most popular and pertinent management tools. Their efforts to understand the continually evolving management tools landscape have led them to add five tools to this year's guide:

• Decision Rights Tools
• Downsizing
• Online Communities
• Price Optimization Tools
• Voice of the Customer Innovation.

Three of these tools are relatively new and two, Downsizing and Price Optimization Tools, may be increasingly relevant to managers in the current economic environment.

Download the PDF of the Management Tools 2009 Guide from Bain - here.

Why Is Strategy Execution So Hard - Part II

Effective execution of strategy seems to be an elusive goal. As Fortune Magazine noted in 1982, "Less than 10% of strategies effectively formulated are effectively executed."

After two decades of the application of modern business principles, the problem remained. Fortune again noted in 1999, "In the majority of cases - we estimate 70% - the real problem isn't bad strategy -- it's bad execution."

Consider these alarming research findings:

• 90% of well-formulated strategies fail due to poor execution. [1]
• 85% of leadership teams spend less than 1 hour per month discussing strategy.[2]
• Only 27% of a typical company’s employees have access to its strategic plan. [3]
• Only 5% of employees understand their corporate strategy.[4]
• 92% of organizations do not measure performance indicators.[5]
• 75% of business improvement (change) initiatives to solve these problems fail due to lack of sustainability. [6]

BOTTOMLINE: So…what is the solution? Six Disciplines is the first complete strategy execution program for small and midsized businesses that focuses on the four required elements of a sustainable business excellence.

In his first book, Six Disciplines for Excellence author and CEO Gary Harpst describes the fundamental disciplines that organizations must learn in order to balance strategy and execution. In Six Disciplines Execution Revolution, Harpst's unveils the reasons why execution is much tougher than strategy, and presents a complete formula for attacking this biggest challenge in business.

Cited Sources:
[1] (R. Kaplan and D. Norton, Harvard Business School Press, The Strategy-Focused Organization, 2001)
[2] (R. Kaplan and D. Norton, Harvard Business School Press, The Strategy-Focused Organization, 2001)
[3] (Strategy & Leadership Journal, May/June 1999)
[4] (Renaissance Solutions Survey, 1996)
[5] (Renaissance Solutions Survey, 1996)
[6] (J. Kotter, Leading Change, 1996)

How to Spot the "Uncoachables"

In this Harvard Business Publishing article "How To Spot The Uncoachables" renowned executive coach Marshall Goldsmith offers his insight on which business leaders are - and are not - coachable:

1. She doesn't think she has a problem.
2. He is pursuing the wrong strategy for the organization.
3. They're in the wrong job.
4. They think everyone else is the problem.

BOTTOMLINE: Marshall's take? "Save time, skip the heroic measures, and move on. These are arguments you can't ever win."

COSE To Co-Sponsor Economic Acceleration Tour in Cleveland

COSE, one of Ohio's largest small business support organizations, with 17,000 member companies, is co-sponsoring the "Economic Acceleration" presentation by CEO and best-selling author, Gary Harpst.

The event in Cleveland on May 5, 2009, is the continuation of Harpst's 50-city speaking tour.

For full details, agenda and registration information, visit: www.GaryHarpst.com/tour/Cleveland.

Excellence of Execution Is Again The Top Challenge of CEOs

According to a November 2008 study by The Conference Board, (as published in The AICPA Journal of Accountancy), when asked to rank their greatest challenge from a list of 94 challenges, the sample of CEOs chose "excellence of execution" as their top challenge - for the second year in a row.

Other findings:

• 46.7% of survey participants—up from roughly half that (24.5%) in a summer survey of the same CEOs—were most concerned about speed, flexibility and the ability to adapt to change.
• There were no people-management issues in the top 10 of the year-end survey

Economic Acceleration Tour Comes To Louisville

CEO and best-selling author Gary Harpst will continue his 50-city speaking tour “Economic Acceleration: Breaking The 3% Speed Limit,” in Louisville, Kentucky on April 15, 2009 at the Marriott East in Louisville, from 7:30 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.



The event is sponsored by ENTERPRISECORP, the enterprise development arm of Greater Louisville Inc., The Metro Chamber of Commerce.

“Louisville currently ranks 42nd in the nation among large metropolitan areas for its number of "high-impact" companies, those that produce both significant revenue growth and expanding employment,” said Harpst. “Yet only 3 percent (2.09 percent) or 1,251 out of Louisville’s 59,745 businesses are considered to be high-impact. Why does it have to be less than only 3 percent? And perhaps more importantly, what are we going to do about accelerating growth for the other 97 percent of businesses here in Louisville? That’s specifically what I’ll be revealing during the Economic Acceleration event on April 15th.”

About ENTERPRISECORP (sponsor of the event)

ENTERPRISECORP is the enterprise development arm of Greater Louisville Inc., whose mission is to dramatically increase the number and quality of fast-growth companies headquartered in the Louisville region – companies that create the vast majority of new wealth, new revenue and new jobs. For existing businesses that want input and guidance on how to generate growth, ENTERPRISECORP offers Business Advising, which uses detailed assessments and case review by an advisory council of seasoned professionals to create custom recommendations on how businesses can take advantage of opportunities for growth. When a management team is ready to embrace change and pursue the next level of performance, we are the place to start. Contact David Oetken at DOetken@ENTERPRISECORP.com.

Four Fatal Flaws of Strategic Planning

Ed Barrows recently published an article on HarvardBusiness.org entitled "Four Fatal Flaws of Strategic Planning."

Here are four fatal flaws that consistently creep into strategic planning processes that, if avoided, can significantly improve both the process and the results.

1. Skipping Rigorous Analysis
2. Believing Strategy Can Be Built in a Day
3. Failing to Link Strategic Planning with Strategic Execution
4. Dodging Strategy Review Meetings

Read the entire article here.

CEO and Best-Selling Author Gary Harpst Sets April Speaking Schedule

After successful visits to Columbus, Austin, San Antonio, Houston, Dallas, (as well as Memphis, Nashville, and Knoxville in mid-March,) veteran CEO and best-selling author Gary Harpst will be continuing his 50-city speaking tour “Economic Acceleration: Breaking the 3% Speed Limit” in North Carolina, Southern Ohio and Kentucky in April.

To review the agenda and to register for these events, visit:

• April 1 - Raleigh, NC


• April 14 - Cincinnati, OH


• April 15 - Louisville, KY


• April 16 - Lexington, KY

Exclusive Worldwide Webcast - March 26

As an exclusive event for all Be Excellent readers, CEO and best-selling author Gary Harpst will continue his 50-city speaking tour with a special worldwide webcast of his presentation “Economic Acceleration: Breaking The 3% Speed Limit”, sponsored by Six Disciplines, on March 26, 2009, from 12:00 pm - 1:30 pm Eastern Time.

Register here for this exclusive webcast.

The content of the webcast comes from Harpst’s newest book, Six Disciplines Execution Revolution: Solving the One Business Problem That Makes Solving All Other Problems Easier, which has been named a nationwide bestseller by The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, USA Today, and BusinessWeek. The book details the elements of a complete strategy execution program, clarifies why it could only have happened now, and explains why such a program will soon become a mainstream requirement for all successful businesses in the future.

Register here for this exclusive webcast.

CEO and Strategy Execution Expert Gary Harpst To Speak in Raleigh

Veteran CEO and best-selling business author Gary Harpst will continue his 50-city speaking tour in Raleigh, NC on April 1, 2009 at the Brier Creek Country Club from 7:00 - 9:30 AM.

The event is being hosted by Business Clubs America-Triangle Chapter, Brier Creek Country Club, Six Disciplines North Carolina, and Gary Tomlinson of Tomlinson & Associates.

Cost is $25.00 for members and invited guests; $30.00 for non-members.

TO REGISTER, call 919-206-4600.

Agenda

What is the biggest problem facing your business today? Is it the economy? Is it cash flow? Is it the competition? Is it strategy? Is it execution? Regardless of your answer, Gary Harpst believes what most business leaders think their greatest challenge is, isn’t. And, whatever their problems are today, they’ll be different tomorrow and they will be bigger too. Gary believes there is one business problem that if solved, will make solving all other problems easier.

On April 1, Gary will share his belief that excellence requires on-going balance between strategy and execution. Of the two, execution is far more difficult to achieve, but it is impossible without solid strategy. Join us on April 1 and hear Gary’s presentation about a next-generation approach to building organizations that learn to execute strategy in a fundamentally new way. It’s a message of hope!

Best Practices for Employee Performance Management

Bersin & Associates conducts dozens of meaningful research projects each year, specifically in the areas of organizational learning and workforce management.

Here's their Top 22 Best Practices for Talent Management" - a list of 22 talent management processes that drive highest business impact.

Of particular interest are those with the Performance Management tag:

#1. Coaching programs for employees
#6. Cascading goals - aligning individual goals with corporate goals
#7. Creating consistent plans across the entire organization
#8. Establishing clear and measurable goals for all employees
#12. Assessing performance (appraisal and evaluation)
#15. Performance-based compensation

Building Engagement in This Economic Crisis

Solid advice here from Jennifer Robinson with the Gallup Management Journal on "Building Engagement in This Economic Crisis."

Includes reference to one of Gallup's most significant management tool ever published: "The 12 Elements of Great Managing."

Also listed are six tips that can help managers keep employees focused and engaged in times of change:

1. Tell employees what you expect from them
2. Make sure employees have the right materials and equipment
3. Give people the opportunity to do what they do best
4. Don't forget to give recognition or praise
5. Let your employees know you care about them
6. Keep encouraging their development

Keeping Up with Workforce 2020

Strategy+Business recently published a thought-provoking article by Daniel Rasmus, "Keeping Up with Workforce 2020", in which he asserts:

"...success in the next decade will depend on how well they implement information technologies that transform when and how people do their jobs."

Daniel's key premise:

• By 2020, innovative competitors — and inevitable gains in remote, mobile, and virtual devices — will make it impossible for most companies to deny that information technology is profoundly reshaping the workplace.

Rasmus established a number of likely scenarios that depict the workforce of 2020 and the strategic implications for employers looking not just to stay ahead of the curve but to shape it to their competitive advantage.

Insightful reading at the jump.

When Goal Setting Goes Bad

Harvard Business professor Max H. Bazerman and colleagues explored the hidden cost when stretch goals are misguided in the HBS article "When Goal Setting Goes Bad".

Key findings:

• Used wisely, goals can inspire employees and improve performance.
• But goal setting must be prescribed in doses, not as a standard remedy to increase productivity.
• When employees care exclusively about reaching a goal, and bad things can happen if they fail, cheating goes up.
• Goals are appropriate when you know exactly what behaviors you want, you aren't concerned about secondary behaviors, and unethical behavior is not a big risk.

Full working paper, "Goals Gone Wild: The Systematic Side Effects of Over-Prescribing Goal Setting" can be downloaded here.

Six Disciplines Execution Revolution Takes The Bronze

Six Disciplines Execution Revolution, by CEO and best-selling author Gary Harpst, has received the Bronze in the Entrepreneurship category of the 2009 Axiom Business Book Awards, designed to honor the year's best business books and their authors and publishers.

The Axiom Business Book Awards, sponsored by The Jenkins Group, are intended to bring increased recognition to exemplary business books and their creators, with the understanding that business people are an information-hungry segment of the population, eager to learn about great new books that will inspire them and help them improve their careers and businesses.

Six Disciplines Execution Revolution was also named a Finalist in the Entrepreneur & Small Business category of the National “Best Book” 2008 Award from USABookNews.com.

The book, published by Six Disciplines Publishing in 2008, is listed as a best-seller on The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, USA Today and BusinessWeek. Amazon customers ranked it in the Top 10 of all Business Books for 2008, and, it was named a top best-seller for 2008 by business book specialist, 800-CEO-READ.

See the entire list of all 2008 Axiom Business Book Award winners here.

Nothing Changes if Nothing Changes

"Nothing changes if nothing changes."

Sounds obvious. Even Einstein's definition of insanity was:

"Doing the same things over and over but expecting different results."

But the truth is that nothing changes... if nothing changes.

Here's Dan Bobinski's (Center for Workplace Excellence) take on change:

• People willingly engage in change if they have genuine input to the process.
• What people don't like is having change forced upon them with little advanced notice. Or worse yet, no notice at all.

So we need to try something different.

• According to researchers at Harvard University studying change practices in business, getting people to change is best accomplished by including an emotional connection.
• When communicating change, "the story must be simple, easy to identify with, emotionally resonant, and evocative of positive experiences."
• Behavior change happens mostly by speaking to people's feelings (even in organizations that are very focused on analysis and quantitative measurement.)

BOTTOMLINE: "The fact is that nothing changes if nothing changes. And maybe, if we want a successful change effort, we need to change how we implement (execute) change."

Economic Acceleration Tour Continues Into Tennessee

After successful stops in Columbus, Austin, San Antonio, (and later this month, Houston and Dallas), veteran CEO and best-selling author Gary Harpst will be continuing his 50-city speaking tour “Economic Acceleration: Breaking the 3% Speed Limit” in Tennessee.

Gary will be speaking in Memphis, TN on March 17, Nashville, TN on March 18, and Knoxville, TN on March 19.

Here's the issues that frustrate Gary, but he has a plan, and wants to share it with you:

• Why is it that every business – even the best ones - struggle so much to sustain growth and profitability?
• Why is that only 3% of businesses drive the overwhelming majority of economic growth and job creation in any given community?
• Why does it have to be only 3%? Can’t we do any better?
• Perhaps more importantly, what are we going to do about accelerating growth for the other 97% of businesses?

In attendance at the Tennessee Economic Acceleration events will be CEOs of small and midsized businesses, chamber of commerce executives, economic development executives, civic leaders, business incubator professionals, college and university business program chairs and faculty, quality program professionals, venture capitalists, private equity and angel investors, business coaches, management consultants, and professional service firm partners.

To review the agenda and to register for these events, visit:

• www.GaryHarpst.com/tour/Memphis


• www.GaryHarpst.com/tour/Nashville


• www.GaryHarpst.com/tour/Knoxville

Gary Harpst - On Execution (Podcast)

Dan Mulhern, the First Gentleman of Michigan, hosts Everyday Leadership: Making Work Work, a weekly look at leadership in business and the issues that impact the workplace.

In the first hour, Dan talks with CEO and best-selling author Gary Harpst (author - “Execution Revolution"), Jim Epolito (President/CEO - Michigan Economic Development Corporation), and Bill Emmerson (CEO - Quicken Loans).

Listen to the podcast here.

Growing Your Business Methodically - Video

In this video, published on Thrive America, angel investor Alan Urech, from Stoney River Capital Partners in Roswell, GA, talks about the importance of growing your business methodically.

At the beginning of the video, Alan references Six Disciplines for Excellence, by Gary Harpst .

Take a look at this 8:00 minute video here.

Game-Changing Small Business Intelligence

In the Winter issue of Chamber Executive magazine, the official journal of the American Chamber of Commerce Executives (ACCE), veteran CEO and best-selling author Gary Harpst published an article, "Game-Changing Small Business Intelligence" in which he begins by saying:

"...Even during the tough times we're confronted with now, there's actually good things that come from crises: they force us to make choices, sometimes tough choices. Crises force us to make a choice between vacilating among options, and taking action."

Read the entire article online here.

The Quality Most Valued in Leaders? Execution

The 2008 Best Companies for Leaders survey—conducted by management consultancy Hay Group and Chief Executive Magazine—identifies the top 20 best-in class companies as well as the attributes that make these companies known for great leadership.

Key findings of the Hay Group's research:

• When asked what organizations value the most in leaders, 83 percent of the best in class organizations as compared to others said “execution.”
• Organizations value leaders who can achieve results through others.
• In tough economic times, employees’ desire more communication and clarity around goals. They want their leaders to become more visible and to be leading from the front.
• During tough economic times, best-in-class companies create clarity, encourage development, drive accountability and recognize successful leaders.
• The top 20 best companies for leaders make leadership development a priority

Executive Coaching - Worth The Price?

In a January 2009 article "What Can Coaches Do for You?" published in the Harvard Business Review, HBR conducted a survey of 140 leading coaches and invited five experts to comment on the findings.

Some of the more interesting findings:

• The reasons companies engage coaches have changed.
• Ten years ago, most companies engaged a coach to help fix toxic behavior at the top.
• Today, most coaching is about developing the capabilities of high-potential performers.

Do companies and executives get value from their coaches? When HBR asked coaches to explain the healthy growth of their industry, they said that clients keep coming back because “coaching works.”

BOTTOMLINE: "Coaching as a business tool continues to gain legitimacy, but the fundamentals of the industry are still in flux. In this market, as in so many others today, the old saw still applies: Buyer beware."

Strategy and Execution At Its Best - A Picture of Excellence

Congratulations to Ben, and the Pittsburgh Steelers, on winning SuperBowl XLIII.

From all your friends and fans at Six Disciplines (a Findlay, Ohio-based company - hometown of Pittsburgh Steelers QB, Ben Roethlisberger...)

(Source: Simon Bruty, Sports Illustrated)