Strategic Discipline Blog

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Gazelles and Positioning Systems’ advocates Ten Specific Elements to grow your business.  It’s a Formula based on best practices proven successful by thousands of small to mid-sized companies and comes with a full money back guarantee (by selecting a Gazelles Coach like Positioning Systems).  A great deal of research and experience has gone into the formula and the model we follow.  It’s based on the best practices of proven business success and top thought leaders who’s methods have and are working in the real world.

The formula to follow:

Four Decisions

1. People
2. Strategy
3. Execution
4. Cash

Three Disciplines (Positioning Systems trademarks these as Strategic Discipline)

1. Priorities
2. Metrics
3. Meetings

Two Drivers

1. People/Relationship Driver
2. Productivity/Process Driver

One Catalyst

1. Coach, Advisor, or Consultant

People is at the top of the list.  This is because the research Jim Collins provided in Good to Great emphasizes the importance of getting the right people on the bus first.  It’s one reason why People Decisions are so critical to your success.  We’ve discussed most of these principles frequently in this blog.  There are links to blogs that provide more information on each of these pieces of the formula.  The Rockefeller Habits Checklist is a tool for measuring your performance in these areas.  It is worthy of review at least twice a year to ensure your business is on the right path to being as strategically focused as possible.

The Rockefeller Habits checklist is a group of specific disciplines (Top Ten Elements to Drive Business Growth) created to ensure your business has the culture to succeed in any economic environment. Alignment, communication, accountability, employee and customer feedback, core values, brand promise, productivity performance, metrics and leadership should be routinely followed in order to achieve the success. If you’d like a process that expands upon how to implement the Rockefeller Habits Checklist please send me an email with RH Process in the subject line.  Alternately if you’re looking for coaching help with this and the Four Decisions, please contact us at Positioning Systems.

The relationship and productivity drivers are at the top of the One Page Strategic Plan.  In upcoming blogs I will expand upon their value.  There needs to be a balance between focusing on productivity and people (the relationship side of your business).  For People/Relationship drivers we’re looking for metrics to measure our employees, customers and shareholders.  These drive engagement and loyalty leading to greater productivity. 

Productivity measures are Make/Buy, Sell, and Recordkeeping.  Most companies do a decent job of measuring these areas.  It’s important to recognize how too much focus on one segment, the relationship/people driver or productivity/process driver, can ultimately lead to a company getting out of balance.  Examples we give in our workshops include GM which was too dependent upon the relationship/people driver, versus Enron which was too dependent upon their productivity/process measures.  I’ll provide more details in upcoming blogs. 

Finally your business needs a catalyst.  Someone or a group of influencers who can help you get to where you want to go faster, achieve greater results.  This can be a coach, consultant or advisor.  In an upcoming blog I’ll explain the differences between all three.  Do you know what Steve Jobs, Eric Schmidt (past president of Google) and Jeff Bezos (Amazon’s President) all have in common?   They all shared the same business coach, Bill Campbell. 

There’s a lot to assimilate in order for your business to come together as a continuous growth company.  Don’t be overwhelmed.  No one has put this all together in one meeting or even several.  It requires time, it evolves.  Most importantly - Get Started.  Now.  Plan to schedule a minimum of two days to work on your strategy and execution for 2013.  Better yet plan this meeting outside the office so you and your staff will be completely free of all distractions.

It won’t take too long, once you’ve begun your meeting rhythms, you’ll see amazing progress. You’ll wonder why you didn’t do this before.  You also refuse not to lock this discipline in for your company every year.

Next blog People/Relationship Drivers.