Talk...and listen...to your team now!

In his newsletter, Productive Living, David Allen, of Getting Things Done (GTD) fame, noted he had talked with all of his team individually over the past few months and was amazed at what he learned.  Leaders of large programs, projects, teams, and initiatives, typically cross-functional and distributed, can benefit from this as well. As part of your leadership strategy in 2011, make listen & learn a periodic focus:

1. Talk to everyone...preferably face-to-face. Yes that may be hard but face time shows this is important to you and the value you place on them not you.  Exclude no one no matter where they are in the "hierarchy".
2. Don't just talk...listen. Talk is really the wrong word--listen and engage them. This is about your team member not you.
3. No boundaries. Explore potential insights and "out-of-the box" suggestions. I am always amazed at the great, innovative ideas simmering below the surface that have no outlet. Set the tone by your listening and being open to what evolves in the conversation.
4. Look for synergies and potential connections. By talking with everyone you will have a broad range of insights and pieces of information about your team and its work
5. Focus on your learning not their performance. This is not a performance review but your chance to listen and learn.  Emphasize this is for you to learn and in so doing help the team to learn and grow both as individuals and as a team.
6. Share what you learn.  There is no learning without sharing.  Let your team know the insights and creative ideas their fellow teams members have.

Power of Culture--use it don't blame it

In our Stanford Advanced Project Management (SAPM) program we spend a significant amount of time on the criticality of culture to successful mexecution of strategy through project-based work.  Jon Katzenbach and Ashley Harshak have an excellent article in the forthcoming issue of the execellent journal, strategy+business, Stop Blaming Your Culture. Some of the many practices they discuss include:

• start pragmatically
• use both formal and informal ways to reinforce behaviors (Katzenbach has explored the power of informal structures in large organizations.  An excellent overview can be downloaded here.)
• build on and use the culture you already have
• seek out role models for the new behaviors.
• model what matters most
• clarify specific implications of the new behavior.

If you lead large initiative, projects, programs, global teams--this is worth your time to read and learn.

Repeated behaviors have cultural impact because they are contagious. People unconsciously imitate what they see others do.

Test your strategy against these ten tests

McKinsey has an interesting set of questions to ask about your strategy.

Most companies past fewer than four of these.  Compare how the strategies you support meet these tests.  Great source for team and direct report discussions about the alignment of your work with your strategy.  Don't know your organization's strategies...ask!

• Test 1: Will your strategy beat the market?
• Test 2: Does your strategy tap a true source of advantage?
• Test 3: Is your strategy granular about where to compete?
• Test 4: Does your strategy put you ahead of trends?
• Test 5: Does your strategy rest on privileged insights
• Test 6: Does your strategy embrace uncertainty?
• Test 7: Does your strategy balance commitment and flexibility?
• Test 8: Is your strategy contaminated by bias?
• Test 9: Is there conviction to act on your strategy?
• Test 10: Have you translated your strategy into an action plan?

Power of Understanding Business Models

Leaders and managers of projects, programs, and initiatives in large organizations create new or improved products and services.  Increasingly, this requires a full understanding of the underlying business strategies and related business models.  Fortunately, an excellent book (and forthcoming iPAD app) is available, Business Model Generation.  The Model's Business Canvas, is a clever way to develop or assess any business model.  Key elements included in the Canvas include:

• Key partners
• Key activities
• Key resources
• Cost structure
• Value propositions
• Customer relationships
• Customer segments
• Channels
• Revenue streams 

Alex Osterwalder, one of the creators, provides excellent slides on Slideshare. A recent blog post showed its application to the reverse engineering of Facebook's business model

 

8 Ways to Improve Your Strategy Execution in 2011

1. Describe where you want to be
2. Understand the context for the work
3. Organize and lead the team with enthusiasm
4. Plan how to get there
5. Do the work
6. Adapt as needed
7. Share the journey and the results
8. Celebrate what was learned

Leaders & bosses matter...learn why and how to be a better one

Bob Sutton, a member of our Stanford Advanced Project Management (SAPM) program faculty, discusses this in his new book, Good Boss, Bad Boss.  This book has had global impact and received two "awards" of note in 2011.
1- McKinsey Quarterly - Bob's article on why good bosses tune in to their people and know how to project power,  since those you lead need to believe you have it for it to be effective. was one of the TOP 10 most popular articles.  Read it here.
2- Harvard Business Review - Bob's post on 12 Things Good Bosses Believe was the most popular blog post in 2010 on all of the HBR blogs.
Congratulations to Bob and enjoy the learning from Bob and his research; his blog provides on-going insights and feedback.  Bob will be teaching in the SAPM program on the Stanford campus in June 15-17, 2011.  See details here.

Vision Statement: Why Mumbai at 1 PM Is the Center of the Business World - Harvard Business Review

Vision Statement: Why Mumbai at 1 PM Is the Center of the Business World - Harvard Business Review.

Super article for anyone managing globally distributed teams--looks at time zone and global holidays to find times for best meetings.