Steps to Strategic Planning Part 2

THE SIMPLEST WAY TO THINK OF STRATEGIC PLANNING IS WITH 3 QUESTIONS:

1. Where are we now?

• List each area and current performance, then ask the following questions for each:
• What is working?
• Observation
• How can we do even better in this area?
• What is not working?
• Observation
• Root Cause
• Resolution 

2. Where do we want to go?

• What is our mission and our vision?
• What are our main goals?
• Time-Frame
• Measurement
• Priority
• What are our strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT Analysis)? 

3. How will we get there?

• What should we:
• Stop doing?
• Start doing?
• Continue doing?
• What do we need in order to achieve these goals?
• Staffing
• Training
• Other
• Resources
• What are the specific tasks to be performed to reach these goals?
• Due date
• Responsible

ONCE A STRATEGIC PLAN IS PUT IN PLACE, REMEMBER TO EVALUATE IT PERIODICALLY.

Strive for continuous improvement, and be prepared to make adjustments as changes occur in the organization as well as in the business environment.

Until next time...






Sheryl Tuchman, SPHR, SHRM-SCP
http://tools2succeed.com/

Strategic Planning: Defining the Business Environment Part 3

DEFINING OUR MISSION

A mission statement is a sentence or short paragraph that describes an organization's reason for being that unites and inspires people around a common vision of their purpose and contribution to their society/community.

• This statement is not financially driven, nor is it related to current products and services.
• It addresses the contribution of the organization to the community or society of which it is a part.
• A mission statement is simple and concise.
• It provides direction and focus.
• It is broader than current products, services, markets, customers.
• It asserts greatness.
• It is understandable to everyone.
• It inspires and motivates.
• It sets the context for strategic decision-making.  

What is your version of a mission statement for your organization?

GUIDING PRINCIPLES

Principles are deep, unchanging truths, laws, or tenets.

• They are like the "Constitution" of an organization.
• They communicate the rules by which people will act.
• They provide wisdom so we can act instead of react.
• They bring integrity to an organization.

Until next time...






Sheryl Tuchman, SPHR, SHRM-SCP
http://tools2succeed.com/

Effective Ways To Lead

What is a Leader? 
Effective leaders can be found at every level of an organization and don't necessarily need to have a "titled" position.  The employee must be willing to assume a leadership role by modeling positive behaviors in his or her attitudes and ideas.  Leaders must be willing to teach and support others, be proactive, and be willing to serve as well as lead.

Leaders must be flexible enough to pitch in, even when the task at hand does not involve their job specialty.  Learning what others do is a great opportunity.  Leaders must also be willing to share information with others and be assertive enough to honestly question job procedures.  They must seek out every opportunity to satisfy customer needs and expect that others will notice and appreciate their efforts.  Finally, leaders must understand that being only a "follower" is no longer accepted in today's organizations.  Everyone is expected to be a leader in the attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors they bring to their jobs.
 
Some Leadership Traits  

• Trustworthy and shows integrity  
• High-achieving and always strives for excellence  
• Able to make others feel important and valued  
• Willing to serve others  
• Being the consummate teacher  
• Building relationships  
• Communicating effectively  
• Optimistic and enthusiastic  
• Vision for the future  

Never Give Up
In addition to demonstrating leadership qualities, true leaders never give up despite mistakes or setbacks.  They understand that they cannot be "all things to all people."  They know that a few bad days are perfectly normal.  Most importantly, they are never intimidated by these realizations!   Leadership takes thought, practice, and hard work, but it is well worth the effort.  Leaders are resilient people who keep the best interests of the individual, the team and the organization in mind.

Until next time...

Sheryl Tuchman, SPHR, SHRM-SCP
http://tools2succeed.com/

Defining A High Performance Team

We define a High-Performance team as "a self-managing, multi-functional group of people organized around a whole process and empowered with full responsibility for their success."

In traditional workgroups, employees are grouped by similarity of function.  This fragments work so that people over-identify with their own jobs and don't understand or care about the overall good of the company or customers they serve.

In traditional workgroups, power is centralized at the top.  Employees who are closest to the work have little authority to make significant decisions.  Managers are the thinkers and planners, and employees are merely the "doers."

Our team model includes 3 elements:

Charter -- Design -- Relationships

  

The Charter includes:

• Customers
• Purpose
• Team Goals
• Team Vision

The Design includes:

• Core work processes
• Roles and responsibilities
• Procedures/Norms
• Systems

The Relationships includes:

• Trust and respect
• Communication
• Cohesion
• Synergy

The elements of the model are interdependent, yet the above sequence must drive their development.

Until next time...

Sheryl Tuchman, SPHR, SHRM-SCP
http://tools2succeed.com/

Leadership and Change

Leadership is the ability to inspire other people to do what is required to achieve the organization's desired goals. 

Leaders provide what is needed to ensure that change initiatives succeed.  Effective leadership is crucial for successful change at every level in an organization.  When introducing change, it is the management team's role to provide leadership and to ensure that it is mirrored at every level of the organization.  For local change, it is the responsibility of the supervisor or team leader to provide leadership to the team and to make sure that the change is completed successfully.

Leading Successful Change Projects Means:  
    
- Agreeing on the objectives  
- Deciding on the tasks  
- Planning how the tasks will be done  
- Organizing the resources  
- Communicating tasks  
- Making people responsible  
- Monitoring and controlling

It is important to remember that people facing change are being asked to deal with the unknown.  The leader is the one who provides the vision of the future, inspires confidence that the future will be even better than today, and who shows that he/she knows how to get to the destination - the change.
 
Until next time...







Sheryl Tuchman, SPHR, SHRM-SCP
http://tools2succeed.com/

A Clear Vision of the Future

Change affects people to a greater or lesser extent depending on what kind of change it is.  To ensure the success of a change program, everyone must change to some degree.  In practice, this means understanding two factors: what influences behavior and what motivates people to change.

Five factors that influence behavior at work:
KNOWLEDGE is what people must know to be able to do what is required, and it is the easiest element to change.

SKILLS are what people need to carry out new tasks, and they may be physical or behavioral.  Skills are more difficult to change than knowledge because they must be practiced.

BELIEFS determine attitudes which determine whether knowledge and skills are really applied on the job.  Beliefs can be very difficult to change since they require people let go of established behavior.

BEHAVIOR is also influenced by environment.  If desired behavior is rewarded, and undesired behavior is corrected, then organizations are more likely to succeed.

PURPOSE:  The leaders' collective beliefs determine the purpose of the organization and create the environment.  A clear vision of the future and the ability to convey it creates an environment that encourages productive and effective behavior.

 

What motivates people to change their behavior?  

According to Abraham Maslow, our needs drive our behavior. Maslow believed that only unsatisfied needs motivate an individual.  A supervisor can impact an employee's sense of security, belonging, and self-esteem.  Supervisors can make a link between ability to change and value to the organization.  

People always have predictable concerns about change.  Anticipating and responding to these concerns can lessen and, in many cases, resolve them.

Until next time...







Sheryl Tuchman, SPHR, SHRM-SCP
http://tools2succeed.com/

Vision is power

Vision is the power to transcend "what is" - to bring into existence what does not now exist.  It is knowing what we want or where we are going.  Vision consists of three parts: Clarity -- Value -- Faith

We must be clear about what we want.  It must be truly important to us. We must believe that we can achieve it.

Vision is power.

It is the power whereby anything worthwhile is accomplished.  Everything that exists was first created in the mind.  People who succeed are first and foremost people of vision. What keeps us from achieving our visions?   Most often it is our own thinking. Think about those beliefs that keep you from achieving your vision.  

How can you translate your vision into reality?  Set specific goals to achieve your vision.  Vision is what you want to achieve; goals are how you will get there.

Until next time...







Sheryl Tuchman, SPHR, SHRM-SCP
http://tools2succeed.com/

Vision Is Power

We must be clear about what we want.  It must be truly important to us.  We must believe that we can achieve it. It is the power to transcend "what is" and bring into existence what does not now exist -- the power whereby anything worthwhile is accomplished. Vision consists of three parts:

Clarity --- Value --- Faith

Everything that exists was first created in the mind. People who succeed are first and foremost people of vision.  Do you know people who live their lives from vision?  What characteristics do these people have in common? 

What keeps us from achieving our visions?  Most often it is our own thinking. Think about those beliefs that keep you from achieving your vision.

How can you translate your vision into reality?  Set specific goals to achieve your vision.  Vision is what you want to achieve; goals are how you will get there.

Until next time...







Sheryl Tuchman, SPHR, SHRM-SCP
http://tools2succeed.com/