“Yes we have a vision and strategy but no-one lives it.” Variations of this comment seem all too common lately. Have you had your own experience of a leadership team creating a shiny new vision and strategy that did not go much further than a marketing tagline?
Why do organisations have a vision and a strategy that is not alive and well? In our discussions with business leaders, there is a certainly growing realisation that businesses need a game-changing strategy to counter the impact of technology disruption. However, the conclusion here is that strategy and leadership go hand in hand.
That is precisely the reason that the Ford Motor Company has just replaced its chief executive, Mark Fields. He apparently failed to persuade investors and his own board that the company was moving fast enough with a game-changing strategy to develop battery powered driverless vehicles.
On the other hand, some leadership teams realise that creating a game-changing vision and strategy is just the beginning. Ownership of its execution is the key. We have seen the difference it makes to have an aligned leadership team create a bold new future and then take it forward. They realise that they need to end practices, processes and behaviours that do not support the vision and strategy. Similarly they need to start new practices, processes and behaviours so that they don’t end up with just another meaningless marketing tagline.
We like the idea put forward in this HBR article that “Leadership is a conversation.” A useful way to think about the challenge of executing a game-changing strategy is as a series of leadership conversations. A conversation is a two way street. The objective is to gain ownership of the vision and strategy throughout the organisation. For example, a behaviour to end could be, “That’s the way we have always done things.” A process to start could be, “Who can we partner with to forward our vision.”
Game-changing leaders also realise that they need to continually build their own leadership capability to succeed in executing game-changing strategies.
What leadership conversations would bring your vision and strategy alive?
Best regards, Brian
PS: Contact us for a free 30 minute leadership diagnostic.