Notes from the Field

 

Notes from the Field illustrate key concepts for business evolution. Please feel free to share them with your colleagues.

 

 2/7/2012

Taking On The Toughest Yet Most Important Leadership Conversation and Surviving

Role alignment conversations are probably the toughest leadership conversation to lead. This is because they are where the needs and aspirations of individuals inevitably crash into the needs of a business, causing emotional fireworks. Yet, they are also among the most important leadership conversations because they have a deep impact on how people perform, and therefore on how businesses grow and evolve.

 

 11/17/2011

Creating Conditions for Success in Not-for-Profit Organizations

Twenty years ago, Peter Drucker predicted a “management boom” for not-for-profit (NPO) organizations. It promised more effective, mission-focused, accountable organizations. Yet two decades later, has any real progress been made towards Drucker’s vision? There is reason to be disappointed. Why? A common culprit: a broken system of roles.

 

 9/15/2010

The Path to Strategic Alignment (pdf 446 kb)

If you are planning a strategic alignment meeting with your leadership team and you don’t know about The Path to Strategic Alignment, then you are more likely to waste time, goodwill and resources. Business leaders who are serious about business growth and evolution should know about natural paths. A natural path is a natural order or hierarchy, which when combined with key data, reveals specifically how to reach the next sustainable performance level.

 

 7/21/2010

Strategy Is a Mindset (pdf 298 kb)
As a business leader, if on the occasion when you bring together the entire leadership team for a strategic summit you find yourself engaged with discussing important tactical issues but not strategic ones, what’s going on? Why are highly capable professional management teams often unable to come together and craft cohesive strategies for taking businesses to the next level? Why are even the best seemingly spot-on strategies taking much more energy and greater resources than necessary to execute on? And why do they frequently end up with only mediocre results?

 

6/27/2010

In a vaulted tower somewhere far away, an impassioned Chief Executive hunches over a thick wooden table, quill in hand. Dipping and writing, pondering, anguishing, he considers and writes the much anticipated company strategy. In the course of hours and days, his team holding vigil, he consults the eager wise men, visionaries, and gurus who come to posit their strategy wisdom.
 
After much travail, the CEO emerges, masterpiece in hand. Following the ritual Board meeting and blessing, the document is printed, bound, and embossed. Suddenly, a sunbeam splits the clouds and lights upon the tome. Let us all bow down! It’s the birth of the COMPANY STRATEGY!
 

But lo, given time, the strategy is neither implemented nor executed. In fact it’s never directly referred to again.

 

6/14/2010

Reviewing Strategic Performance: examining the differences between an operational and a strategic perspective (pdf 504 kb)

Although most enterprise leaders and their teams think it is important to regularly review their performance from a strategic perspective, in my experience many don’t really know how. This article is about Growth River’s approach to quarterly enterprise performance reviews.

  

5/19/2010

The Four Arguments Towards Competitive Advantage (pdf 443 kb)

How do you know which changes are most likely to make your business grow? How do you determine which investments will most likely contribute to competitive advantage and therefore to growth? These are important questions for business leaders because it goes to the heart of how to figure out where to focus time, attention and resources. This article will demonstrate a way to answer these questions by walking through a step-wise analysis. It’s called the Four Arguments Towards Competitive Advantage.

  

4/17/2010
The Missing Question (pdf 293 kb)
It’s common knowledge: ask better questions, and you will get a better answers. And for leaders, better answers inform tough choices, especially in times like these. But what about questions that are missing altogether? When it comes to organizational growth and development, this could be deadly.

 

3/12/2010
Repairing Broken Business Systems (pdf 330 kb)
Perhaps you know a business leader who has made the mistake of trying to develop “accountable” leaders and teams without first clearly defining roles – defining who should do what - in a way that makes sense in a business context.

 

3/15/2010
Escape Flatland Hell...to a Connect and Collaborate World (pdf 557 kb)
Many of us have done sentences under micromanagers, overbearing bosses, and leaders willing to get results at any cost. It’s Glengarry Glen Ross meets The Devil’s Advocate.

 

3/15/2010
Survival of the Fittest: Creating Corporate Dream Teams (pdf 390 kb)
Do you remember the shot? It was taken at the anticipated entrance of some of the hottest, young stars in basketball—LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, Allen Iverson, Tim Duncan.

 

3/1/2010

You Are in Transition (pdf 214 kb)

Transition is the natural and necessary break in the flow of our lives for course correction. It’s the only serious time we take for reflection, and systematic assessment of our strengths, relationships, and purpose in life. When it comes to career development, this time is especially critical.