What I want to talk to you about today is the issue of strategic leadership and how that relates to programs that organizations create.
If you think about leading at the strategic end, what it is?
Strategic leadership is…
the art of influencing people and organizations to achieve a vision by influencing its culture, its allocation of resources, the promulgation of policies, and building a consensus to accomplish common interest and move the organization into the future.
Now, as we talk about this in military terms— and this applies to any organization— it’s not tactics, it’s not direct leadership, it’s not operations or what we call organizational leadership or the day-to-day operations of a large organization. Strategic leadership involves longer timelines when dealing with questions and have a strategic nature.
Strategic planning, therefore, requires 3 things:
What are our ends?
What is the purpose, vision, mission, and values of the organization that we’re trying to accomplish?
What are the ways?
What are the action plans, policies, programs, and strategic leader initiatives that are going to move the organization towards that end stage destination?
What are the means?
What are the resources we’re going to apply to do all this? How do we prioritize our people, their time, our time, money, and capital items?
Oftentimes, I think people confuse programs and strategies. I’ve talked to major organizations and asked them: “What’s your strategy for moving the organization ahead?” And they’ll start talking about a whole series of programs. Programs or tactics, back to the military metaphor, are day-to-day operations. They are focused to move the organization along the way. They’re focused in disparate directions, but how to achieve synergy of those programs in a holistic approach, really is the strategy.
So use your strategy and strategic planning to evaluate those programs. As someone suggests a new program or if you’re evaluating how well a program is doing, use the yardstick of your strategy or strategic plan. Does it really move us in the direction we want to go— is it consistent with our mission, vision, and values? If it does, terrific! If not, do we need to tweak it to get it to be more in that direction? Or perhaps do we need to discard it? Or if we determine this program, while worthwhile, really isn’t consistent with our strategy— do we really want to something and devote resources to something that isn’t moving the organization moving along the path that we have decided. So review that very, very frequently. Look at those programs to be consistent with the organization’s mission, vision, and values.
Remember Albert Einstein once said: “If I were given one hour to save the planet, I would spend 59 minutes defining the problem and 1 minute resolving it.”
Programs solve immediate problems but the effective strategic leader ensures they’re integrated and focused towards the long term strategy and vision of the organization.
We want to hear from YOU! Are new ideas and programs distracting your organization? How do you keep your programs consistent to your organization’s purpose, vision, mission, and values? Share your comments below.