Asking for Advice & Input - Maximizing The Results

To maximize the value you get when seeking advice from your business advisor and/or any member of your team, give consideration to these questions. Being prepared to discuss your answers to these questions will provide the background for you to get the insights you are seeking to move your agendas forward.

1. What are the 3 most important strategic objectives you would like to achieve for the planning horizon you are focusing on?
2. What are the 3 biggest road blocks .... internally and/or externally .... that are preventing you from meeting all of your objectives?
3. What tools, skills and concepts would you like to explore, so we can cope with the road blocks .... while trying to  achieve your strategic objectives?

 
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Be Good at "Execution" - Right Approach & System

Do you sometimes worry about spending too much time planning and not executing effectively? Trying to figure out the management system that ensures clarity for expected performance with accountabilities for results?

Do you feel you and your staff spend too much time putting out "fires" and there is just not enough time in the day? Are you searching for the root cause issues that hurt productivity? Want to implement a system that identifies the right priorities and provides staff feedback recognizing results rather than activity and time spent?

Do people understand what you expect? Do they have the sense of urgency you need? Do you have clarity and alignment on the "what" and the "when"?

Ensure you have the right management process for your company. The right framework for structure, staffing, performance expectations, decision making and accountability systems in place.

Ask yourself the following questions:

1. Does my organization structure effectively implement strategy and plans? What adjustments do I need to make?
2. Do we have results based role definitions for the jobs within the structure? Do we identify Key Results Areas (KRAs) or is the focus lost for the role in a never ending list of activities for each role?
3. Do we have performance scoreboards that track the right metrics for each role?
4. Do the people who fill each role have an annual/quarterly/monthly "personal" targeted action program with clear accountability? Incentives where appropriate? Control points, early warning signals & back-up plans?
5. Do the people filling each role in your company understand who in other parts of the company & outside the company are critical to them producing their expected results? Are they aligned on how they need to support each other? 
6. Do the people filling each role understand the level of decision making authority they have? What decisions you expect them to influence but not make on their own? What decisions they can make on their own? What decisions they should be delegating? 

Really good companies are good at "execution" of strategy. What good are all the ideas if you can't "make them happen"?

Increased productivity and results don't just happen .... The right disciplined management systems are the key to implementing strategy. Evaluate your current systems.  Ensure you have the right approach and the right systems to get the results you need and expect.


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West Wing TV Series - Having Answers vs Asking the Right Questions

Lately I have been looking to discover new content to read or watch on my iPad. I came across an old TV series I always enjoyed watching .... The West Wing. It was on TV for 7 seasons .... a behind the scenes story of the inner workings of the White House.

I enjoyed watching the West Wing for many reasons. Primarily from a leadership perspective. Each week the President and his staff faced different issues. It was every interesting to watch how they addressed those issues......some they handled well and some not so well.

Tough accountable decisions had to be made......The President and his staff needed to put team 1st ... not ego.....it was all about what the President's agenda was......not any individual member of the staff. Healthy conflict and honest communication was critical to exploring and implementing the right decisions. Loyalty to each other and the President was expected and not often spoken about. People had to be open to another point of view and change their view on decisions that needed to be made or accept and support a decision they didn't agree with....quickly get over it and move on to the next one. Every member of the team cared about each other. They survived a very stressful environment because they had each other. As people left the staff, not only the right skills had to be replaced, but the person had to be the right fit for the rest of the team. The rest of the team had to accept them quickly so the President's agendas were always being addressed.

As I watched this TV series for 7 years when it originally aired, it helped me learn many things about the different facets of successful leadership, teambuilding and business building. As I watch it years later again on my iPad, it still has many great lessons and reminders.

An episode I watched recently was framed around President Bartlett (President of the United States in the TV series)  along with 2 former Presidents traveling on Air Force One to attend a funeral of a foreign leader. During the flight the President was dealing with an emergency in another part of the world and was in dialogue back and forth with the former Presidents throughout the episode discussing alternatives and their views. The point I want to make through all this is to fast forward to the end of the episode where one of the former Presidents makes the comment that it "is a shame that it takes getting to the end of eight years in office before we begin to really know the questions we need to be asking when facing the issues that come to any President."

This comment is really a mouthful .... getting to the point where a leader can ask all the right questions rather than have all the answers.  As we enter organizations and rise through promotions that come our way we are trained to have the right answers and become very good at having those answers when they are needed. We become experts with all the answers.

The puzzling thing becomes that to make the transition to senior leadership in any business, we have to get really good at knowing what we don't know...... and asking the right questions! The really good senior leaders ask the insightful questions .... are comfortable in their own skin when not knowing things and are open to letting their own teams pursue the answers.

Take the time today to ask some really good questions of your staff. Fight the urge to answer them yourself. Sit back and watch what happens.

Also, measure the advisors you surround yourself with....they should be asking the right questions.....not just providing you with answers!

 

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