Time and again, organizations – like people – focus on overcoming weaknesses to improve performance. But like people, far more can often be gained by advancing the company’s strengths. Strength in this sense is not simply a corporate competency; rather, it is something the organization can consistently perform at world class levels.
Organizations focusing on their strengths realize several strategic advantages over their competitors. A focus on activities of strength implies reduced managerial attention and resource application to weaknesses; freeing these to further advance the company’s strengths. Workers feel a greater sense of accomplishment with the company’s increased success; improving employee engagement which often leads to an improved public image, both of which build on the strengths.
Focusing on strengths does not imply a lack of awareness or activities to eliminate weaknesses. In fact, it is important that weaknesses be reduced to a level that appropriately manages the risk of exploitation by competitors and minimizes their interference and distraction to the achievement of strength activities.
Additional Resources
StrategyDriven contributors recommend several resources that elaborate or compliment the Focus on Strength best practice including:
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“Vision without resources is a hallucination.” Old Pentagon Quote
Organizations are complex creatures comprised of personnel with varying personalities, talents, needs, and aspirations. Increasing this complexity is the wide array of organizational possessions: tools and materials, physical and intellectual properties, and financial instruments. Ordering this complex collection of resources to ensure the efficient, highly engaged use of all of the organization’s assets is the function of the resource management program.
Processes associated with an organization’s resource management program vary between the strategic and the tactical. Within the realm of strategic planning, resource management encompasses the processes and activities of performing annualized projections and monthly/weekly capacity planning. Extended into the tactical arena of business execution, resource management involves scheduling; acquisition; retention; maintenance and development; and termination, retirement, and release/disposal of assets.
Resource management, whether strategic or tactical, focuses on personnel, material, land, intellectual property and financial instruments. In strategic planning, resource management processes group assets into large categories based on common characteristics. As processes narrow their focus from long-range to tactical resource planning, asset focus becomes more specific; even to the point of uniquely identifying the asset to be involved in an activity.
Focus of the Resource Management Forum
Materials in this forum are dedicated to discussing the leading practices of companies successfully executing a resource management program in support of strategic planning and tactical business execution. The following articles, podcasts, documents, and resources cover those topics foundational to a strong resource management program.
The Effective Executive: The Definitive Guide to Getting the Right Things Done by Peter F. Drucker focuses on self-management rather than on the management of others. The book addresses how an individual can become more effective in key activities such as time management, activity prioritization, and decision-making to the furtherance of their organization’s goals.
Benefits of Using this Reference
As discussed previously, StrategyDriven Contributors believe that because an organization’s actions are defined by its people and not the buildings, machines, and tools they use, organizations themselves fundamentally behave like people. Subsequently, as individuals become more effective, such that their decisions and activities are increasingly focused on mission achievement, the organization itself is more likely to achieve greater levels of success. Therefore, when the principles of The Effective Executive are built into processes and procedures, additional measurable improvements in organizational effectiveness can be achieved.
The Effective Executive clearly and concisely conveys several powerful concepts. Many of the best practice recommendations found on the StrategyDriven website relate to The Effective Executive; making it a StrategyDriven recommended read.
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Organizations must be able to respond quickly and decisively to the rapidly changing business environment. A formally defined strategic planning program consists of a collection of planning and execution activities that help an organization appropriately respond to marketplace events and evolving trends.
A strategic planning program provides the framework for execution consistency and minimizes the risk of inappropriate action or inaction. Comprised of planning, execution, and monitoring and control processes; the strategic planning program structures the way data is collected, assessed, and acted upon. Established prior to event occurrence, the program enhances the organization’s overall responsiveness because it ensures the organization is aware of its environment and prepared to respond to changes in a timely manner.
About the Author
Nathan Ives 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.
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Shared experience, organizational pride, and/or conflict avoidance can diminish the criticality of data and conclusion assessment; leading to exaggerated optimism and resulting in an organizational pursuit of unrealistic goals. Inflated expectations may drive investment in projects well outside of the organization’s risk tolerance. In today’s aggressive marketplace and under intense shareholder scrutiny, missteps like these can be disastrous for a company and its executive team.
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Nathan Ives 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.
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Business Programs
Strategic Planning Best Practice 6 – Focus on Strength
/in Strategic Planning/by Nathan IvesTime and again, organizations – like people – focus on overcoming weaknesses to improve performance. But like people, far more can often be gained by advancing the company’s strengths. Strength in this sense is not simply a corporate competency; rather, it is something the organization can consistently perform at world class levels.
Organizations focusing on their strengths realize several strategic advantages over their competitors. A focus on activities of strength implies reduced managerial attention and resource application to weaknesses; freeing these to further advance the company’s strengths. Workers feel a greater sense of accomplishment with the company’s increased success; improving employee engagement which often leads to an improved public image, both of which build on the strengths.
Focusing on strengths does not imply a lack of awareness or activities to eliminate weaknesses. In fact, it is important that weaknesses be reduced to a level that appropriately manages the risk of exploitation by competitors and minimizes their interference and distraction to the achievement of strength activities.
Additional Resources
StrategyDriven contributors recommend several resources that elaborate or compliment the Focus on Strength best practice including:
Organizational Strength
by Jim Collins
Good to Great and the Social Sectors: A Monograph to Accompany Good to Great
by Jim Collins
by Jack Welch
Individual Strength
by Peter F. Drucker
Now, Discover Your Strengths
by Marcus Buckingham and Donald O. Clifton
StrategyDriven Resource Management Forum
/in Resource Management/by StrategyDrivenOld Pentagon Quote
Organizations are complex creatures comprised of personnel with varying personalities, talents, needs, and aspirations. Increasing this complexity is the wide array of organizational possessions: tools and materials, physical and intellectual properties, and financial instruments. Ordering this complex collection of resources to ensure the efficient, highly engaged use of all of the organization’s assets is the function of the resource management program.
Processes associated with an organization’s resource management program vary between the strategic and the tactical. Within the realm of strategic planning, resource management encompasses the processes and activities of performing annualized projections and monthly/weekly capacity planning. Extended into the tactical arena of business execution, resource management involves scheduling; acquisition; retention; maintenance and development; and termination, retirement, and release/disposal of assets.
Resource management, whether strategic or tactical, focuses on personnel, material, land, intellectual property and financial instruments. In strategic planning, resource management processes group assets into large categories based on common characteristics. As processes narrow their focus from long-range to tactical resource planning, asset focus becomes more specific; even to the point of uniquely identifying the asset to be involved in an activity.
Focus of the Resource Management Forum
Materials in this forum are dedicated to discussing the leading practices of companies successfully executing a resource management program in support of strategic planning and tactical business execution. The following articles, podcasts, documents, and resources cover those topics foundational to a strong resource management program.
Articles
Principles
Best Practices
Warning Flags
StrategyDriven Expert Contributor Articles
Recommended Resource – The Effective Executive
/in Decision-Making, Management & Leadership, Recommended Resources/by StrategyDrivenby Peter F. Drucker
About the Reference
The Effective Executive: The Definitive Guide to Getting the Right Things Done by Peter F. Drucker focuses on self-management rather than on the management of others. The book addresses how an individual can become more effective in key activities such as time management, activity prioritization, and decision-making to the furtherance of their organization’s goals.
Benefits of Using this Reference
As discussed previously, StrategyDriven Contributors believe that because an organization’s actions are defined by its people and not the buildings, machines, and tools they use, organizations themselves fundamentally behave like people. Subsequently, as individuals become more effective, such that their decisions and activities are increasingly focused on mission achievement, the organization itself is more likely to achieve greater levels of success. Therefore, when the principles of The Effective Executive are built into processes and procedures, additional measurable improvements in organizational effectiveness can be achieved.
The Effective Executive clearly and concisely conveys several powerful concepts. Many of the best practice recommendations found on the StrategyDriven website relate to The Effective Executive; making it a StrategyDriven recommended read.
Strategic Planning Best Practice 5 – Defined Program
/in Strategic Planning/by Nathan IvesOrganizations must be able to respond quickly and decisively to the rapidly changing business environment. A formally defined strategic planning program consists of a collection of planning and execution activities that help an organization appropriately respond to marketplace events and evolving trends.
A strategic planning program provides the framework for execution consistency and minimizes the risk of inappropriate action or inaction. Comprised of planning, execution, and monitoring and control processes; the strategic planning program structures the way data is collected, assessed, and acted upon. Established prior to event occurrence, the program enhances the organization’s overall responsiveness because it ensures the organization is aware of its environment and prepared to respond to changes in a timely manner.
About the Author
Strategic Analysis Best Practice 2 – advocatus diaboli, The Devil’s Advocate
/in Premium, Strategic Analysis/by Nathan IvesHi there! Gain access to this article with a StrategyDriven Insights Library – Total Access subscription or buy access to the article itself.
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About the Author