Strategy in Principle

Recently I hunkered down to think deeply about company direction. (My own company is "pivoting," preparing to leverage what we already have to accomplish something new and amazing for business owners and managers.)

Here's the bottom line for your company.

The Now of Wow

One thing is utterly clear: to succeed any more you can't just be good. A strategy or direction change can't just be another type of business as usual. It has to radically push limits, "shock and awe," make great things happen.  You have to be "Wow" in anything you do. 

To accomplish that, you need to define and refine your strategy in a big way. You have to ask (and answer) a lot of questions.

New ventures or directions especially need to "Get to Wow" from the start. If it isn't wow, it isn't worth doing.

Example: Twylah. I signed up for an invite to a new visual Twitter service. The next day I was told that my new Twylah page was ready. Here's what I saw: http://twylah.com/kcren

That was AUTOMATIC with no help from me. It just worked, brilliantly, visually, from my Twitter feed. (Visual is king now.) A couple of clicks later and I saw I had control over the web site (I can own the site name and the traffic), I can pin major topics, etc. So I started to pin some topics and stopped myself. Twylah worked so well out of the box that I didn't want to interfere with it. I wanted it to keep working its magic, to see what it would come up with next instead of me doing it all. Talk about a timesaver.

"If it isn't wow,
it isn't worth doing."

Not Perfect, Just Wow

Example: LastPass. LastPass is kinda annoying to use sometimes; sometimes it's hard to figure out (and I'm a techie at heart!) But after one year of using it in the enterprise, I panicked when renewal was debated. There was simply NO WAY I would dream of operating without it. The pain it relieves is just too great.

"Wow."

There are many possible "wow" factors. You don't have to do them all, at least not at first. But you've got to have at least one big "WOW" or it won't fly.

Getting to Wow

So where's the "wow" in your company, new strategy, or project?

Here's how to wow:

• Involve the whole team in the process.
• Brainstorm.
• Ask the hard questions.
• Creatively tear down anything that isn't wow.
• Distill it to its absolute simplest form.
• Require a minimum 10:1 benefit over the current way of doing thngs, AND minimize or eliminate the change required for new users. (See this HBR article.)
• Clear time to make room to do it right. (Tip: Use this time management system [mine].)

It's lurking there somewhere, just around the corner. You can probably feel it. You just need to precisely define it in a few words--whatever your wow factor is--so the investors and clients see it like a hammer hitting them over the head.

When you finally have a 10:1 or 20:1 advantage over the current way of doing things, only then have you found "wow."

Only then can you or I be a huge success.

 A Simple Blueprint for Any Organization

The most essential element of leadership and management is... communication. To be effective, you have to understand the impact of what, why, and how you communicate--personally and as an organization. Fortunately, great communication comes down to a few simple principles. Master them and you get amazing organizational focus and vigor.

Here are the most crucial laws of communication for any organization--from a family to a Fortune 500 firm. I've identified these from decades of experience with start-ups to multinational Fortune 500 corporations to nonprofits to families. Regardless of the size or setting, these principles apply.

Do you know of more laws? Do you disagree with the order? Let us know below.

Law #1: Communicate the strategic vision to everyone, often. 

Where are you headed? Decide, then focus everyone on it, over and over and over. Constantly tie short-term actions to that long-term vision. You can't get organizational clarity any other way. As Yogi Berra said: "If you don't know where you're going, you might not get there."

Law #2: Keep it clear and simple. 

Less is more. If they won't read it or can't understand it, you didn't communicate.

Law #3: Distinguish leadership from management, and communicate accordingly.

Managing = Delegating and following up. [Ed: Use Donedesk for this. Period.]
Leading = Encouraging, lobbying, focusing each other on the common vision.

Everyone leads. Only direct supervisors manage. Violate this rule and you will confuse the troops, stifle initiative, and micromanage a lot.

Law #4: Ensure excellent, constructive engagement on all the issues. 

Internal contention destroys organizations. So does its opposite, groupthink, as the Lehman Brothers collapse attests. Therefore, keep communication abundant and effective by emphasizing the need for feedback with mutual respect and mutual purpose.

The Crucial Conversations model gives excellent results. 

Law #5: Create accountability, but don't kill initiative.

What you measure, improves, and in the best organizations, everyone is accountable to each other regardless of level or seniority. HOWEVER, excessive follow-up stifles initiative, and if you measure the wrong things, the wrong things improve.

So, be careful what you ask about, and when. But do ask.

Law #6: Add permanent value.

Convert discussions and decisions into long-lasting, easy-to-use stores of knowledge. Let all participants do this together, especially new team members, since that reinforces learning and formalizes decisions. Do it during meetings in a shared document that everyone can see (a Google doc displayed overhead, for example).

Law #7: Involve others freely, but beware TMI. 

By involving more people, you get great benefits:

• Communicate whole-organization issues directly to the whole organization for precision and efficiency.
• Include others when it can create collaboration and shared responsibility. This breaks down information silos and creates essential systems thinking.

However, you need to avoid TMI ("too much information"), which can paralyze people. Therefore, limit communication to what really matters, when it matters, and only to the parties who will benefit.

Law #8 The Golden Law of Great Communication: "Never reach a negative conclusion without carefully clarifying."

This one should really be first. Violating this rule destroys teamwork by damaging mutual trust and mutual respect. Visibly honor this law and insist on it in others. It will establish trust, which is the foundation of great teamwork and world-class communication.

Now, stop a moment and look over the items above. Seriously--do it right now.

Imagine your organization communicating this way, all the time. How would it feel? What would you accomplish together?

It is surprisingly easy to do with the right tools.

"We need to be the change we wish to see in the world." – Ghandi