8 Jan 25
Ensuring your team is in full alignment with the Company direction of travel is challenging. Because in the everyday working environment, there are always going to be multiple distractions and noise that mask the intended destination.
The key skill of a leader is to stop this by carrying out quarterly baselining activity. This will ensure that any course errors are not going to be compounded over time resulting in jeopardising success.
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#43 - Keeping on track!
What?
Let's face it, in a typical workplace, there is a lot of noise. When I say 'noise' I mean stuff that you end up being seduced into doing, but which doesn't add a jot of value to what your compnay is trying to achieve.
You know the sort of things I am talking about; multiple reviews which cover the same stuff (but each requires the same information presented in a different format), travel and subsistence claims, regular briefs being given to someone who you know won't act on the information that you're providing. I am sure you can think of more 'overhead' tasks which sap your time and energy and leave you wondering what you have actually achieved at the end of the working day!
Why?
The thing is that the noise associated with tasks like this in any business slowly builds up without you noticing and is applied to you layer by layer. Like sedimentary rock it starts to exert pressure on you, compacting you down. By the time you realise what is happening it is too late and some of this additional overhead has become 'the norm', embedded under the banner of 'business as usual' and the reason why it was asked for in the first place has been lost in the midsts of time.
Like a parasite, this stuff feeds off its host and you have no time left to concentrate on the activities which will add real vale and propel you forward.
How?
The trick is to rebaseline where you are heading and where you need to be. So start with going back to the foundations.
Most companies have articulated their 'why' and 'what' and this is presented in the format of a 'strategy house' (see below):
This is the direction that has been chosen by the Board. Therefore, the next step is to ensure complete alignment with this direction within all parts of the business.
Carrying out this exercise every Quarter ensures that you are not veering off course. Remember the metaphor that an aircraft that takes off from Heathrow on its way to Africa but is 1 degree off course at the start of its journey? It never reaches Africa...not even close!
It's the same with your departmental direction of travel. If you are completing any tasking which does not fall under at least one Strategic Objective, then you only need ask one question! 'Why are we doing it?'
If the answer is not clear cut and unambiguous, then ditch it! Because that is misdirected energy which is contributing to the errors in navigation. These will compound over time and so will ensure you do not reach your intended destination.
In Summary
I hope that you enjoyed reading this newsletter and that it has given you food for thought.
It is easy to be seduced into carrying out tasks which do not contribute to the Strategic direction of travel. The antidote is to baseline every Quarter and prevent the noise from distracting you from reaching your intended destination.
Have a great week!
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