Strategic Discipline Blog

Michael Easter’s The Comfort Crisis is extensively about his journey into the remote Alaskan backcountry on a demanding thirty-three-day hunting expedition to experience the hunting Caribou. But it’s much, much more.

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Topics: Strategic Learning, The Comfort Crisis, Michael Easter, Leaders Are Learners

If you’ve already completed your Annual Planning & Strategy Meeting for 2019, congratulations!

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Topics: Annual Plan, Strategic Learning, Strategic Planning, Strategic Learning Cycle, Strategy vs. Planning

In football, they call this a reverse.  My intentions in my last blog were to discuss Productive Paranoia from Jim Collins Great By Choice.

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Topics: Leadership Training, Growth Summit, Strategic Learning, Think Week, Effective Leadership

Trends have become an increasing focus in our Gazelles coaching practices with our customers each Annual Planning session.

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Topics: Strategic Learning, Growth Summit. Learning, Strategic Learning Cycle

Next week I’ll be in Dallas attending the Fortune Sponsored Growth Summit Verne Harnish and our Gazelles coaches puts together twice annually.

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Topics: Growth Summit, Strategic Learning, Growth Summit. Learning, Strategic Learning Cycle

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Topics: Strategic Discipline, Cadence of Accountability, meeting rhythms, Strategic Learning, Five Killer Competencies, Strategic Learning Cycle

Nature generates variations through a massive and ceaseless set of experiments.  Mutations test a wide range of survival strategies.

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Topics: strategy, Strategic Learning, Strategic Planning

Is it cruel irony that for all the dedication Strategic Discipline concentrates on developing premier execution the reason your business will succeed or fail is not going to be due to how well you execute?  Strategic Discipline, flawless execution of determining your priorities, following your metrics and developing consistent accountability patterns through meeting rhythms is really a means to an end.

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Topics: counter intuitive business practice, Strategic Discipline, market dynamics, Strategic Learning, Execution, 4 Disciplines of Execution

Every company talks about it, yet not many make the commitment and follow through.  That commitment is to training.  The monthly meeting is a structured, consistent discipline for training when following the agenda we suggest. 

There’s much more to the monthly meeting agenda, yet if it can accomplish one dedicated hour to improving your team’s education and learning it can reward your business many times over with improved efficiency and performance.

The Monthly Meeting should be held as soon as possible after the Financial Results are available from your Accounting Department. One of the most important aspects of the Monthly Meeting Cycle is to see how the organization is performing financially – in actuality – against Quarterly Priorities and Metrics.

The other primary aspect of the Monthly Meetings Rhythms is to spend some quality time evaluating progress on the Quarterly Priorities – and making decisions on any Corrective Actions that need to be taken, should performance not be tracking with the progress needed to deliver on all Accountabilities to the Plan from each SPA (Single Point of Accountability) – The WHO on the Who, What, When Accountability List.

When we speak of Mid-Course Adjustments, we are speaking of precisely that – WHAT is your Corrective Action to get your Accountability back on Plan? While there may be explanations offered in this environment, there can be no excuses for failing to deliver on one’s accountabilities to the Plan.

You will also want to devote time to one or two lengthier subjects of either Strategic or Tactical/Operational Issues. Pick an item or two which need an immediate and a wider level of discussion or discovery -- usually something that is taking shape as an Obstacle or a Chokepoint – and drill down on the subject, with the intention of advancing solutions to remove the obstacle or the chokepoint, before it begins eroding or affecting results.

This Meeting should run about 1-2 hours, and no more. Maintain focused discipline in managing the timeframe, and make every minute together count.”

Here’s our suggested agenda for the Monthly meeting:

• 15 Minutes -  Review Priorities and Last Meetings Actions.   

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Topics: Accountability, Training, monthly meetings, meetings, Strategic Learning, Education & Training

In Leadership’s Mission we discussed the critical need to satisfy spiritual resources first in building your business.  Win the hearts and minds of your employees and then the right strategy pays dividends.  The question becomes, how do you accomplish this and exactly what questions do my employees have that I need to satisfy.

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Topics: Strategic Discipline, Core Values, Core Purpose, meeting rhythms, Strategic Learning