Strategic Discipline Blog

Saturday evening I attended my youngest son Noah’s concerts.  The coordination between orchestra sections and individual students at the sixth, seventh and eighth grade level can be challenging, yet it’s surprising how much harmony a group of 60 or more 12-14 year olds can offer.  This orchestra mixed students from the different high school middle schools in the area.  They only had a couple of practices and yet performed remarkably well.  When it comes together it really is inspiring.

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Topics: Discipline, Strategic Discipline, One Page Strategic Plan, Rockefeller Habits Checklist

Balance is extremely important in life and running a business.  When we set goals we can concentrate so much in one direction that something extremely important gets lost or eroded in the process.  At one time Delta Airlines worked hard to get their planes to arrive on time. The consequence of their focus on delivering this outcome resulted in countless passenger bags not reaching their destination on time.  One obsession hurt performance in another aspect of the business, customer service.  It’s like a tug of war.  If there’s no one resisting on the other side there’s a loss of balance. 

There is no more important place for business to balance then subjectivity and objectivity in operating your company.  You need both to run a successful business, yet too frequently the business is off balance, relying on one over the other.  It’s a high level aspect of business that I feel too frequently business owners and managers overlook or simply don’t recognize.

Subjectivity is the emotional aspect of your business.  It’s the squishy part that propels you forward.  It’s your commitment to a cause, quality, production, BHAG, Brand Promise, the reasons you are in business, including your core values and purpose. 

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Topics: Discipline Plan, One Page Strategic Plan, Balance

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Topics: Strategic Discipline, meeting rhythms, One Page Strategic Plan, priorities, Strategic Planning, Five Killer Competencies

It's discouraging to discover that if you're spending time on your proposal, talking about your solution, your company and the future you're putting your focus on the wrong things to make a sale. 

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Topics: Sales Process, One Thing, One Page Strategic Plan, Sales Discipline, Diagnostic Business Development Process

Topics: Business Growth, Strategic Discipline, One Page Strategic Plan, priorities, BHAG, Promise

Your long term goals for your business won't be achieved unless you break them down into individual accountabilities and priorities.  As Peter Drucker pointed out, "Plans are only good intentions unless they immediately degenerate into hard work."

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Topics: Top Priority, Discipline Plan, One Page Strategic Plan, priorities, Strategic Planning, Page Strategic Plan

Forgive the short detour from the One Page Strategic Plan Quarterly priorities.  Yesterday I had about 4 + hours of windshield time and listened to Gallup's audio on Strength Based Leadership.  One business coaching tool that I've been recommending for my clients is the Strengths Based Leadership test.  [A word of warning you may have difficulty navigating this site before you purchase the audio or the book]

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Topics: Business Growth, Mastering the Rockefeller Habits, One Page Strategic Plan, Business Development Tool, Strength Based Leadership

Just about every business I know can put together a one year plan for their business.  How many actually do is another question.  The biggest issue is whether the plan has the teeth to succeed.  Does it muster the proper support and accountability to achieve the expected result?   You need only refer to my last blog Strategic Planning - Great Strategy Isn't Enough to understand the multitude of reasons why most business plans fail.  That's why you need Strategic Discipline.

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Topics: Accountability, Strategic Discipline, Discipline Plan, Annual Plan, One Page Strategic Plan, priorities, Strategic Planning, 3-5 year plan

A recipe for a great meal is only as good as its presentation.  Clarity in your business is only as good as your ability to communicate it and then implement.  So perhaps your buying into to the idea of creating a vision for your business as the recipe for growth.  What's next? Gazelles One Page Strategic Plan provides clarity and action steps to not only broadcast your intentions but to provide steps to get everyone on board and contributing to the momentum of your top priorities.  It's the key to not only achieving clarity in your business, it provides the next action steps.  You must not only indicate where you are going, you must give your team a way to climb on board and contribute.

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Topics: Business Growth, Core Values, Discipline Plan, One Page Strategic Plan, Business Vision, Strategic Planning

In Clarity Dissolves Resistance we discussed how many business owners and executives fail to understand the importance of determining a vision for their business.  While small business owners [less than $1M in revenue] may be more guilty of this than mid-size business owners, it’s not hard to find this lack of vision in larger companies.  The changing economy, advancing technology, competitive pressures, internal challenges all contribute to this so-called fog of war.  It can dull the senses and reduce the leader’s appreciation for developing a vision.  Setting priorities and communicating them to employees is critical to growth. 

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Topics: Business Growth, E-Myth, One Page Strategic Plan, Business Vision, Michael Gerber, Strategic Planning, emyth