132 / LEADING THROUGH CHALLENGES
Focusing on the future
Making decisions
Leaders set the agenda in three key
areas—by determining the direction in
which the organization will move, by
shaping how the organization does
business, and by setting the pace of
change. Any decisions you make in any
of these three key areas should be based
on objective criteria; for example, in a
choice between two equally attractive
options that require large investment,
you should be able to explain why your
own decision was the best one in the
circumstances. Test your decision by
assessing its strengths, weaknesses,
opportunities, and threats (SWOT).
As a leader, you’ll need to make tough decisions, plan a course of action,
and take your team with you. The best way to achieve this is to involve
your team from the start: explain what criteria your judgment is based
upon and how plans are connected to other activities in the organization.
Locating change
Deciding which opportunities to explore,
exploit, and reject requires a crystal clear
understanding of your organization’s
purpose and mission. In particular, you
must know what gives your business its
edge over the competition and use this
knowledge to guide your future focus.
Competitive advantage is based on what
customers value and the organization’s
strengths relative to the competition. It
takes into account external trends that
will help or hinder momentum. In a SWOT
analysis, internal factors are strengths
and weaknesses, while external issues
are opportunities and threats.
ASK YOURSELF…
YES NOWhat’s our competitive advantage?
1 Do we know what business we are not in? ......................................
2 Do we know our core values? ..........................................................
3 Do we know what business we are in? .............................................
4 Do we differentiate ourselves by offering our customers
unique benefits? ..............................................................................
5 Do we differentiate ourselves by offering our customers
better prices? ....................................................................................
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FOCUSING ON THE FUTURE / 133
STRENGTHS
What advantages or unique ideas and proposals
do you have?
What do you do differently or better than anyone else?
What unusual materials or low-cost resources
do you have sole access to?
OPPOR TUNITIES
What new opportunities or emerging trends
can you identify?
What interesting changes in technology and
developing products are you aware of?
Are there new consumer spending patterns
or demand for different services?
WEAKNESSES
What challenges or areas should you avoid?
Do new products or processes need further
development or investment?
Have market research results been positive,
or is there insufficient demand?
THREATS
Are stringent or expensive quality standards
or requirements being imposed?
Are you in a good financial position to adapt to
any change quickly?
Would any communication or technological issue
challenge your market position?
S
W
O
T
Question your decisions using a SWOT analysis
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134 / LEADING THROUGH CHALLENGES
Keeping objective
A weighted assessment will
make clear the criteria you can
use to make a decision and give
your decision transparency. In
the simple example, right, a
decision has to be made to
adopt one of two projects—A
or B; both seem attractive and
have similar costs. To carry out
the assessment, first engage
with your team to make a list of
criteria that the projects should
satisfy. Not all criteria are
of equal importance, so give
each one a score from 1 to 10
depending on how valuable the
team considers it to be. Check
that the criteria are varied—not
all skewed toward finance, for
example. Score each option (A
and B) out of 10 on each
criterion, and multiply each
score by its corresponding
weighting. Add the scores to
see which project fulfills the
criteria best.
Maximize long-term
customer satisfaction
CRITERIA
Maximize return on investment
Maximize sustainability
Maximize high quality standards
Maximize long-term profit potential
Maximize staff satisfaction
Maximize added value for customers
Minimize hassle and
administrative complexity
Maximize fun and interesting work
TOTAL
Weighted assessment
Not all criteria are
of equal importance,
so give each one a
score from 1 to 10
depending on how
valuable the team
considers it to be
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FOCUSING ON THE FUTURE / 135
9
SCORE
PLAN B
4
4
10
5
10
8
7
8
6
SCORE
PLAN A
5
9
6
8
2
6
10
3
60
PLAN A x
WEIGHTING
45
72
48
64
14
42
50
12
WEIGHTING
10
9
8
8
8
7
7
5
4
407
90
PLAN B x
WEIGHTING
36
32
80
40
70
56
35
32
471
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136 / LEADING THROUGH CHALLENGES
Strategic
Business Plan
Setting the pace
When orchestrating strategic change
within an organization, you need to give
careful consideration to timing. If the
rate of change is too slow, the process
may simply run out of momentum;
if it is too fast, you risk creating
stress and burnout.
Aim for a sustainably fast pace
at which your major initiatives will
have started to produce measurable
results within a year—even if the
whole process is scheduled to take
much longer. Steering significant
organizational change is hard work:
OPEN CHANNELS
Keep listening to everyone you are
connected to; share ideas, and keep
open channels of communication
that are needed now and may be
needed in the future.
Tip
Connected organizational plans
typically, there is a trough in visible
results just at the point where you
need the most effort and commitment
from all stakeholders. Investors, in
particular, may lose heart in this trough
period, so need to be reminded regularly
of the benefits to come. Plan in “quick
wins” throughout the process of
change—achievements that have
high visibility but require little
effort. Celebrate and publicize these
successes, and drip-feed messages
about how project milestones and
results achieved so far are bringing
the vision nearer to reality.
Aim for a sustainably
fast pace at which your
major initiatives
will have started to
produce measurable
results within a year
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