Long-term strategies and short-term operational excellence.

Every day I see companies make short-term decisions and decide that they will not hire the intern or the college student etc.

How did they get into that place?

I understand all to well the pressures on business. My role as a business, human resource architect of solutions that turns around business to profitability is to balance both the short term without sacrificing the long term.

What is clear to me is that strategies come in many “time frames”

My mantra is: You must do today to protect your future, without sacrificing today!

1. Always have a clear vision of your mission. Never take your eye of the goal. You lose this and you may as well pack up and go home.
2. Your game plan is to continue to reach those goals.
3. Key metrics are absolutely essential AND the competences to identify them and deliver them.
4. There is no mission without margin so day to day focus on operational excellence is a MUST.
5. A bright Tomorrow will not come if you don’t deliver operational focus today.

Business has to ensure it has competences that deliver today AND the long term.

Too many are tempted to go for one at the expense of the other.

That is why many companies spend “ oodles” of dollars to train and develop their work force only to lay them off at the first sign of lower profits.

Remember: there are Six things business has to be great at…. at the SAME time.

1. Operational Excellence.
2. Strategic development of its core business platform.
3. Long term partnering.
4. Developing a curious leadership talent throughout its employee workforce.
5. Keep the momentum going, once you lose that “sense of urgency” for the LONG TERM all you are doing is surviving.
6. Nimbleness of thought and customer anticipation is paramount.

Picture : credit google images

 

Curiosity killed the cat but made a GREAT leader

There is a fundamental logic to this being THE most fundamental of core leadership competences.

Without it there is:

1. No desire to learn
2. No desire to do anything new
3. No desire to do anything different
4. No desire to wanna be…
5. NO desire…..

The list goes on and you can add much more.

The problem also is that much of life depends on the need to have a mind that wants to know more not less. To create more to be more. I have never met anyone who in every way of their being wanted to stay where they are. There is always something.

A GREAT leader I have found needs more than anything to want to know the what, how and the when, and in doing so they know that they need more than themselves to achieve and deliver.

Curiosity without the “doing” simply gives learning.

Doing without “learning” makes for more of the same.

“More of the same” defines a life that does not teach.

“Lack of teaching” creates a long life of sameness.

“Sameness” is not what we want for our children.

We all want the very best for our loved ones.

There are those who simply want to be who they are no more, no less. That is ok for them.

Everyone has something to offer, GREAT Leaders continue to develop everything and everyone around them continually and always.

GREAT leaders know it is their mission to develop and create, nurture and flourish, develop and ignite passion.

GREAT leaders understand that developing the mind and soul and heart is what they need to do.

Is that not the gift we were all given? Is that not the gift we cannot waste?

People are too important…..  GREAT Leaders know this

 

The 4 Stages of Leadership – The Path to Recovery!

The 4 Stages of Leadership – The Path to Recovery!.