New Discussion Viewpoint – Warning Flags

To succeed, it is often not good enough to have the best talent, the latest technology, and the most efficient processes. In many instances, the difference between organizations performing exceptionally and those that are merely good is the ability to avoid performance pitfalls.

To date, the StrategyDriven website has been focused on those best practices that successful organizations employ to achieve sustained, exceptional results. Going forward, StrategyDriven contributors will offer performance insights in a new type of discussion posting, Warning Flags.

Warning flags represent those activities or performance attributes that diminish an organization’s effectiveness. By their very nature, warning flag behaviors are active not passive. They represent individual or organizational behaviors that diminish the organization’s overall ability to create value. Because warning flags are behavior based, they can be readily observed, recognized, and corrected or eliminated.

Warning flags are not simply the absence of best practice performance. While this may be the case in some instances, the omission of a best practice often only results in an organization foregoing that practice’s benefits. Warning flags always represent behaviors that are destructive to organizational performance, not the absence of performance enhancing practices.

We hope you find these new warning flag postings to be of great value in your pursuit of organizational excellence and look forward to receiving your comments and feedback.

Recommended Resource – First, Break All The Rules


First, Break All the Rules: What the World’s Greatest Managers Do Differently
by Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman

About the Reference

First, Break All the Rules: What the World’s Greatest Managers Do Differently by Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman explains how great managers select employees, set expectations, motivate people, and assign people to jobs that fit. Selected examples from the vast research for this book reveal in detail why these practices are successful at attracting and motivating the most talented individuals in a way that produces results beyond those realized by applying traditional managerial methods.

Benefits of Using this Reference

The challenge of today’s highly competitive business environment is compounded by an ever tightening labor pool. In order to meet the need of continually producing more with less, managers must attract and retain talented personnel and find better ways to release their creative, productive spirits.

StrategyDriven Contributors like First, Break All the Rules because it clearly illustrates how managers, without elaborate and costly rewards systems, can better attract and motivate employees. Using the insights gained from extensive Gallop Organization research, Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman show how great managers:

  • select employees based on their talents rather than their skills and experiences
  • define goals and expectations for the work employees perform
  • focus and build on the individual strengths of each employee rather than on “fixing” the employee’s weaknesses
  • seek to place employees in jobs that fit rather than on corporate ladder climbing

We believe the management approach described in First, Break All the Rules will motivate employees and help them reach their highest potential; ultimately creating increased organizational value.

Strategy without effective execution is no more than a compilation of good intentions. We believe managers implementing the approach described in First, Break All the Rules will enhance tactical business execution at all levels of the organization; making this book a StrategyDriven recommended read.

StrategyDriven Decision-Making Best Practice Article

Decision-Making Best Practice 2 – Multidiscipline Teams

StrategyDriven Decision Making Best PracticeComplex decision execution, whether seeking near- or long-term results, often stimulates action involving many of the functional business units within an organization. These decisions may mobilize procurement personnel for material acquisitions, human resources specialists for contractor in-processing, finance personnel for debt restructuring, or any of a number of other functional organizations for the performance of core business activities.


Hi there! Gain access to this article with a StrategyDriven Insights Library – Total Access subscription or buy access to the article itself.

Subscribe to the StrategyDriven Insights Library

Sign-up now for your StrategyDriven Insights Library – Total Access subscription for as low as $15 / month (paid annually).

Not sure? Click here to learn more.

Buy the Article

Don’t need a subscription? Buy access to Decision-Making Best Practice 2 – Multidiscipline Teams for just $2!


About the Author

Nathan Ives, StrategyDriven Principal is a StrategyDriven Principal and Host of the StrategyDriven Podcast. For over twenty years, he has served as trusted advisor to executives and managers at dozens of Fortune 500 and smaller companies in the areas of management effectiveness, organizational development, and process improvement. To read Nathan’s complete biography, click here.

StrategyDriven Strategic Planning Best Practice Article

Strategic Planning Best Practice 8 – Results First, Actions Second

StrategyDriven Strategic Planning Best PracticeToo often, organizations biased to action move forward with projects and initiatives before defining the results to be achieved. This shotgun approach resembles the marksman who shoots, shoots some more, and then aims. And like the marksman who doesn’t first aim, the organization may or may not achieve its desired goals. Even if the goals are met, it is likely that many of the activities pursued contributed little or not at all to the organization’s goals; ultimately, wasting precious time and resources.


Hi there! Gain access to this article with a StrategyDriven Insights Library – Total Access subscription or buy access to the article itself.

Subscribe to the StrategyDriven Insights Library

Sign-up now for your StrategyDriven Insights Library – Total Access subscription for as low as $15 / month (paid annually).

Not sure? Click here to learn more.

Buy the Article

Don’t need a subscription? Buy access to Strategic Planning Best Practice 8 – Results First, Actions Second for just $2!


About the Author

Nathan Ives, StrategyDriven Principal is a StrategyDriven Principal and Host of the StrategyDriven Podcast. For over twenty years, he has served as trusted advisor to executives and managers at dozens of Fortune 500 and smaller companies in the areas of management effectiveness, organizational development, and process improvement. To read Nathan’s complete biography, click here.

Resource Projection Best Practice 2 – Begin with the Work

The business planning process of balancing what the organization will do with its limited resources is an iterative one. However, resource owners too often focus on the amount of resources they have and alter work estimates so the activity portfolio they are responsible for fits within the resource pool under their immediate control. This practice frequently leads to under-estimating resource needs as managers continually strive to expand their activity portfolios; resulting in reduced quality, late deliveries, and a diminished bottom line.


Hi there! This article is available to StrategyDriven Personal Business Advisor Remote Access and Dedicated Advisor clients and those who subscribe to one of the article's related categories.

If you're already a Remote Access or Dedicated Advisor client or a related category subscriber, please log in to read this article.

Not a client? We'd love to have you on board. Check out our StrategyDriven Personal Business Advisor service options.