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For a company to achieve strong performance, its culture and employees must be aligned with business strategy to provide value.
But more and more, it seems employees can’t even articulate business strategy.
Therefore, management must identify and communicate effective programs that blaze new paths and fuel business growth.
Talking about achieving strong performance is easier said than done. Why?
The marketplace is forever changing. Studies show employee morale is suffering. Management is ineffective in listening and communicating business strategy back to employees.
So, many companies find it necessary to focus more intently to alleviate uncertainty.
If employees can’t articulate business strategy, how can they be in lock-step with it? The solution is the process we commonly call change management.
Power of sharing
Collaboration, transparency and trust are key ingredients to align a culture with business strategy. So is encouraging diversity of thought.
These traits lead to thought leadership.
Businesses should develop a plan on how to identify growth opportunities – not only for the short term but for the long term, as well.
Such a framework, however, means the company has to analyze its strengths and weaknesses to create value. By focusing on its capabilities and further investing in them, a business is more apt to sustain itself indefinitely.
How?
For strong performance, here are seven thought leadership tactics:
1. Analyze your big picture
Study your landscape – where you are and what you must do to achieve your full potential in leadership for strong performance.
The assessment must determine what you must do to solve gaps in efficiency, and to include relationships with your stakeholders, such as employees, vendors, customers and target audience.
Employee engagement will help you get profitable ideas as well as reassure workers about your vision for change management. In other words, to drive employee engagement, close the trust gap between managers and workers.
Along the way, talk with your employees about operational costs and ways to provide value.
In this way, you’ll connect all the dots. You’ll benefit from clarity and alignment of thought to strengthen your organization.
2. Identify best management approaches
Weed out weak processes. Be a good steward of your assets.
For effectiveness, recognize the best practices. Incorporate them. Leaders employ 11 strengths to grow their businesses.
3. Identify your internal influencers
Who are the wise, courageous employees who understand your marketplace? Who can accelerate your growth with innovation? Who can exploit opportunities for growth?
Identify your talented employees and nurture them.
Savvy employers know how to profit from their human capital. They know how to motivate employees to offer profitable ideas. Such knowledge is a powerful weapon for strong performance in a competitive marketplace.
4. Solve your business-intelligence gaps with human capital
Next, go to the next level – thought leadership. Who are the specialists who have the critical expertise to implement solutions for you? Identify the people who have specific expertise to be used as thought leaders.
Let them guide your efforts – by avoiding pitfalls and implementing strategies for growth.
So use best practices to capitalize on business intelligence.
5. Study your history
What hasn’t worked for you? What has? Review the pivotal events and innovations that have made a difference for your success. What lessons from those events would work today?
Don’t forget to consider technology. Many corporate executives see new strategic risks as a result of technological changes — from big data and cloud computing to social media.
Many times you’ll discover that prior events might differ, but the principles remain the same and how you best deal with them.
6. Inventory your allies and customers
Your allies or strategic partners, if you will, and your customers should be evaluated for their authentic potential to help you realize success. That could be in the form of breakthroughs, innovation, growth or possible opportunities.
Build on them with value as the goal. Honor your achievements by sharing your success stories.
If an inventory reminds you that you have a shortage of strategic partners, look for new partners but make sure they will work.
7. Incorporate all the elements for your strategic plan
Continually ask what is productive. Identify your revenue streams and the methods for maximizing them. Encourage innovation. Always push the envelope.
Now that you have a better idea of how to proceed for sustainability, put everything together in a plan and keep fine-tuning it. Stay on course for maximum communication of strategic ideas. Be gracious in your sharing.
Strive to build your company’s reputation as a thought leader. As a result, you’ll achieve strong performance.
From the Coach’s Corner, related strategies:
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6 Tips to Turn Your HR Department into a Profit Center — At least 50 percent of a company’s profits are contingent on employee problems. If you have challenges in one department, odds are you have HR issues in other departments. In fact, human capital is the No. 1 reason why CEOs lose sleep. Many businesses often need an objective source of information and expertise from critical thinkers. It’s true you can turn your human resources department into a profit center.
“An ounce of performance is worth pounds of promises.”
-Mae West
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