Marc Goldstein discusses the essence of great strategic leadership and business success.

Leadership - To Guide the Way

 Leadership is not easy. It requires vision, determination and an ability to persuade many that they want to be part of the solution to the challenge. In the first instance it is relatively easy to get everyone on board, fired up and raring to go, but what about a year or two down the road when not everything has gone to plan. Then what…?

It still boils down to having a clear vision, a clear strategy , with clear goals , generating excitement , motivating the teams, providing appropriate and timely follow-up , and adjustment of the plan, the teams and the people where necessary.

A Clear Vision

Without a clear vision of where the company is going, it is really difficult to get anyone interested. So ask yourself why you are doing this, what is this business all about, how does it help others and what can it evolve into? Having spent most of my business life in the pharmaceutical world, creating an empowering vision has always been relatively easy: “We are in the Business of Saving Lives…”, “Extending Life Expectancy…”, “Improving Life Style….”, and many others related to health and well being. It has to be honest, it has to be unique, it has to be attainable, and it has to draw on an inner need and drive that everyone can relate to. Talk to your team; see what excites them, and ask them why they work for the company. Choose your vision wisely.

A Clear Strategy

Essentially a clear strategy is all about making sure you understand your own strengths and weaknesses, as well as the opportunities and threats that the company faces. It is particularly important to understand your customer’s needs and your competition. Once this is defined it is possible to formulate strategies that harness your strengths towards certain key opportunities, as well as strategies that limit the threats you face and address some of your weaknesses. In my experience, it is just as important to address the weaknesses in an organization, as it is to focus on a game-changing opportunity. Develop your strategy carefully, involve your senior management, and test it out with external observers.

A Clear Set of Goals

Once the vision and strategy are clear, then it is down to executing the business plan to make it happen. It is worth spending the time to draw up a comprehensive action plan that defines the goals you want to achieve, the timing, the expected results and who is responsible in the organization to make sure each goal in the plan is executed. It is also important that everyone in the organization understands the plan, how you expect to get there, and the types and standards of behavior you expect to be exhibited within the company and externally with your customers, suppliers and service providers. Your managers should ensure that every individual understands how they fit into the game plan, what their specific goals are and how they should achieve them.

Excitement & Motivation

This is where the vision plays an important role, making sure all contributors are involved in formulating the strategy and goals, and making sure the energy levels are high. Providing teams and individuals with challenging goals that stretch them is a vital part of this process as well as making sure the “team” really knows how to work together. A few timely team-building activities can be vital to help generate the excitement. Above all, making sure each individual understands how they contribute to the team and the company goals and vision creates an important emotional link to enhance a sense of excitement and motivation.

It is also vital that everyone understands they will be held accountable for achieving results, supporting the team and exhibiting the defined behaviors you think are important, and that their results and the “right” behaviors will be rewarded. Tying results and behavior to rewards are essential – both for individuals and for teams.

Follow-Up and Rewarding the “Right” Behavior

Regular follow-up is essential, both with progress reports on projects and feedback on individual contributions and teamwork. I always found it useful to have individuals define variances to plans, and any potential options and recommendations for changes they might propose. It is not enough to report a project is delayed, what are you doing to make up the time and limit the cost overruns? Requiring this approach helps them start to address and solve problems as they arose. The follow-up activities can be on an individual basis and team basis, and is an opportunity to reinforce the vision, strategy and goals.

Providing timely and appropriate feedback is essential – both good and bad. Only reward those that achieve their goals and exhibit the behaviors you want and articulated. Do not reward those that do not achieve results or if they use the wrong behaviors to get there.

Adjustment of the Plan

Adjustment of the plan is a vital part of ensuring your strategies and goals remain real and appropriate, taking into account changes in the environment, the competition, new developments within the company and the unexpected. By asking for variance reports (variance to plans), and forcing individuals to identify alternate options to get back on plan or to accelerate the plan, along with recommendations, forms the basis of the all important adjustment needed to get back on track or to get ahead. The biggest mistake a lot of companies make is forming a strategy or set of goals and sticking to it even if the world has changed. I am not saying one should change strategies every week, but one should review it regularly based on major changes that occur, so that you can ensure your company continues to grow and thrive.

Leadership is about keeping your eye on the ball, and making sure everyone else does too.