Get the strategy worked out and the tactics just fall into place.
Archive - Originally posted on "The Horse's Mouth" - 2004-09-30 06:16:13 - Graham Ellis
I'm always one for finding a little time to think well ahead - it really can be just a little time, and thinking can be done in the shower, driving a car, or seated in a train. I find that if I've thought through the longer term strategy (what do I want to achieve / why are we doing this) then the short term tactics and decisions become easier and (I believe) better. And there's a huge reduction in reversed decisions, And (in a customer facing environment) there's far less chance of one employee saying something and another contradicting it. And all members of the team can be far more empowered to make decisions, leaving senior staff more time to play golf. ;-)
Except for the playing golf(!!) this is the approach we try to take at Well House Consultants and it does seem to work for us; we achieve a lot, it seems effectively, and we know where we're headed.
I have to admire the organisation at the company I'm at this week. They've grown in the semiconductor business from nothing to a billion-dollar company in 10 years, and they've weathered out the storms in their industry well. They have strategies which they impart to their staff, and these strategies are detailed on the wall of the conference room I'm in. "Enjoying our work", "very open communications", "integrity" and "teamwork" are the four I can read from where I'm sitting, and each goes on to list about half a dozen bullet points. It's NOT all about "be nice to everyone" - there are some difficult things there like "if you don't like what someone has done, tell them privately, politely and with respect and don't let it fester". Good strategy, and I'm sure it's lead to things being brought out into the open and dealt with quickly and easily.