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Your clients should never feel your org chart
Today’s Strategic Alignment Journal post in two sentences: Your org chart may make perfect sense inside your organization, but your clients should never have to experience its boundaries. Sometimes the weakness in the client experience is not at any individual touchpoint, but in how the client is handed from one person or department to another.…
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People either survive in the jungle or exist in the zoo
Today’s Strategic Alignment Journal post in two sentences: Businesses often ask for initiative, accountability and adaptability without examining whether their systems actually allow those behaviours to develop. Before deciding that people need to change, it may be worth asking what the organization has been teaching them to do. I heard this line in The Gentlemen:…
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They Asked for Training. I Asked Why.
Today’s Strategic Alignment Journal Post in two sentences: A request for customer service training became a six-country customer journey mapping engagement because one question revealed that the problem had been misdiagnosed. Return on Decision begins before execution: it is determined by whether we solve the visible problem we were given or take the time to…
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Yes Does Not Mean Agreement
One of the more subtle ways organizations derail themselves is by confusing agreement with commitment. The distinction seems almost insignificant until you begin looking for it; and once you find it, you will realize just how many strategic decisions are built upon an assumption that was erroneous. We tend to believe that a meeting has…
accountability, agreement, business leadership, business strategy, change management, commitment, Decision-Making, execution, execution gap, Leadership & Practice, leadership communication, leadership development, Organizational Alignment, organizational behaviour, organizational culture, organizational effectiveness, strategic alignment, Strategic thinking, team alignment -
What Happens When the Obvious is Misleading?
The obvious deserves attention. It just doesn’t always deserve to be part of the conclusion. We are conditioned to respond to what we can see. Most of us don’t witness the beginning of a problem. We encounter it only after it has worked its way to the surface. By then, what we call “the problem”…
business leadership, business strategy, continuous improvement, critical thinking, Decision-Making, executive leadership, Leadership & Practice, leadership development, Organizational Alignment, organizational development, organizational effectiveness, pre-decision diagnostics, problem solving, root cause analysis, sensemaking, strategic diagnosis, Strategic thinking, strategy, systems thinking -
What truths has your organization become unable to hear?
Every organization depends on information flowing upward. Customers complain. Processes break. Risks emerge. Frontline employees notice inefficiencies long before they are likely to appear on a management report. The quality of leadership decisions is directly tied to the quality of information leaders receive. When people stop speaking honestly, reality becomes filtered. Leaders begin making decisions…
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How the Best Football Teams Answer The One Question Every Business Must Answer™
Every four years, the world watches football’s greatest coaches make decisions that appear almost instinctive. Should they play with three at the back or four? Should they press high or defend deep? Should they attack through the middle or exploit the wings? Should they rely on experience or give youth an opportunity? To the casual…
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Agreement Does Not Guarantee Alignment
Agreement and alignment are often used interchangeably, but they describe very different conditions. Agreement is relatively simple. It occurs when people arrive at a common position or decision. A proposal is accepted. A contract is signed. A partnership is formed. A strategy is approved. Agreement answers the question: Do we support this? Alignment is something…
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Have You Ever Asked a Doctor for a Refund?
It’s perhaps a strange question to ask but I am curious. A doctor diagnoses a condition, explains what is happening, recommends a course of treatment, and sends us on our way. We may follow the advice diligently. We may follow some of it. We may ignore it entirely. Yet if our condition fails to improve…
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