Editor’s Choices for Week Ending Aug 10, 2012
Article of the Week
Why boards fail to choose the right CEO (Fortune)
Big Idea: If leadership is critical to strategic alignment then so is the leader. Ram Charan points out that the choice of CEO must begin with the Board understanding clearly the leadership requirements of the company. He contrasts the selection of Gerstner at IBM (success) with Apotheker at HP (failure). And it doesn’t have anything to do with vision!
Article of the Week
Strategic Alignment
Why boards fail to choose the right CEO
Big Idea: If leadership is critical to strategic alignment then so is the leader. Ram Charan points out that the choice of CEO must begin with the Board understanding clearly the leadership requirements of the company. He contrasts the selection of Gerstner at IBM (success) with Apotheker at HP (failure). And it doesn’t have anything to do with vision!
Fortune
August 8, 2012
Editor’s Choice Articles
Retail 2020: Competing in a Changing Industry (BCG Perspectives)
Big Idea: Transformation trends in the retail industry provide much to ponder for any consumer-oriented business. BCG provides a detailed study for those in the business. For readers thinking about alignment issues beyond retail, check out the sections on customer focus and the top ten trends.
Corporate Strategy and Value Quadrants (Methods Frameworks)
Big Idea: Scorecard and strategy map practitioners always strive to link organizational culture and strategy but often end up with generalities. Method Frameworks reviews the Organizational Value Quadrant (OVQ) matrix, a good starting point to give more substance to defining the alignment of culture, structure, and service model.
Corporate Success vs. Failure – 30 Points of Distinction (Forbes)
Big Idea: Defining the strategic shifts required to execute a new vision and strategy is often a very useful tool to kick start the strategy execution process. Mike Myatt provides a “from/to” road map of change that summarizes the general themes of transformation that businesses face today. Pick what is relevant for your business and voila – a ready-made change agenda.
The Blue Screen of Death (Planninga from Nanninga)
Big Idea: A gummed up operating system is an apt metaphor for the inability of many organizations to get change implemented. Nanninga drives the analogy home in his usual fashion. Mixing his metaphor with mine, I like the idea of applying some “corporate draino” to clean out the system occasionally.
Editor’s Choices for Week Ending Aug 3, 2012
Article of the Week
Why Cascading Goals Doesn’t Work (The Rypple Blog)
Big Idea: Rypple, a social application for workforce management recently acquired by Saleforce.com, challenges the conventional top-down approach to goal-setting. As scorecard practitioners know, cascading goals is often the bane (bain?) of the strategic alignment process. Short piece, with useful references, that raises a timely and important caution regarding a traditional alignment practice.
Article of the Week
Strategic Alignment
Why Cascading Goals Doesn’t Work
Big Idea: Rypple, a social application for workforce management recently acquired by Saleforce.com, challenges the conventional top-down approach to goal-setting. As scorecard practitioners know, cascading goals is often the bane (bain?) of the strategic alignment process. Short piece, with useful references, that raises a timely and important caution regarding a traditional alignment practice.
The Rypple Blog
July 31, 2012
Editor’s Choice Articles
Going Boss-free: Utopia or ‘Lord of the Flies’? (Knowledge@Wharton)
Big Idea: Is strategic alignment possible without bosses? The trend to open, “democratic” workplaces raises the issue. This Wharton blog surveys the different points of view and sounds a note of caution. A questio: if “lord of the flies” characterizes democracy run amok, would “lord of the files” be a good designation for sclerotic bureaucracy?
Realizing the Value of People Management (bcg.perspectives)
Big Idea: Better management of people delivers results to the bottom line, according to a new survey by BCG and the World Federation of People Management Associations. The article provides an overview of the best practices in the areas of leadership development, talent management, and performance management and rewards.
Connecting the Future – Three Horizons, Strategies, Innovation (Innovation Excellence)
Big Idea: Paul Hobcraft continues his series on the “the three horizons” framework for innovation strategic planning. This is a great starting point for anyone embarking on strategic initiative and portfolio management, one of the core processes of strategic alignment and execution. He promises more on the topic.
Can Established Manufacturers Transition To Agile? (Forbes)
Big Idea: Steve Denning has been trumpeting the potential application of “agile” and “scrum” as advanced management methodologies useful beyond the confines of software development. In this piece, he explores the approach in manufacturing with the consultant, Joe Justice, of SolutionsIQ.
Editor’s Choices for Week Ending Jul 27, 2012
Article of the Week
How strategists lead (McKinsey Quarterly)
Big Idea: Cynthia A. Montgomery of HBS describes the key roles of “the strategist” –meaning maker (purpose), the voice of reason (competitive reality), and operator (think about construction not just design). As she explains, these are the characteristics that enable leaders to forge the link between strategy and execution.
Article of the Week
Strategic Alignment
Big Idea: Cynthia A. Montgomery of HBS describes the key roles of “the strategist” –meaning maker (purpose), the voice of reason (competitive reality), and operator (think about construction not just design). As she explains, these are the characteristics that enable leaders to forge the link between strategy and execution.
McKinsey Quarterly
July 2012
Editor’s Choice Articles
How Will You Measure Your Company’s Life? (HBR Blog Network)
Big Idea: Scott Anthony applies the questions raised about personal purpose in HBS Professor Clay Christensen’s new book to business purpose. If you want to hear what Christensen has to say himself about purpose, check out his TEDx Boston talk as referenced in Inc. (Success: You’re measuring it wrong).
Entrepreneurs Must Be Adept At Rapid Realignment (Forbes)
Big Idea: The essence of strategic alignment is captured in the famous quote: “The main thing is to keep the Main Thing the main thing.” Martin Zwilling lays out what’s required to keep leadership and the organizations centered on what matters in the face of rapid and turbulent change.
Rethinking the Marketing Organization (bcg.perspectives)
Big Idea: De-layer the traditional organization to make it more flexible and responsive says BCG. The analysis is focused on the marketing function, but the ideas apply more broadly for those who want to think through their organization’s structure to make sure it facilitates driving their strategy.
Government Did Not Build Your Business (Reason)
Big Idea: Ronald Bailey has some interesting information to share on the value of human capital and start-up businesses occasioned by the current Romney-Obama debate on “You didn’t build it.” Even if you don’t agree with the author’s judgment on the debate winner, the analysis is provocative.
Other Articles
What’s Wrong With How You Measure Success (Inc.)
Editor’s Choices for Week Ending Jul 20, 2012
Article of the Week
A Better Way to Manage Risk (HBR Blog Network)
Big Idea: Professor Kaplan is joined by his HBS colleague, Anette Mikes, in an audio presentation with slides covering the basics of risk management. As you would expect from one of the creators of the Balanced Scorecard, they explain how to incorporate their framework into strategy mapping and the strategic measurement system. Slightly under one hour.
Article of the Week
Strategic Alignment
Big Idea: Professor Kaplan is joined by his HBS colleague, Anette Mikes, in an audio presentation with slides covering the basics of risk management. As you would expect from one of the creators of the Balanced Scorecard, they explain how to incorporate their framework into strategy mapping and the strategic measurement system. Slightly under one hour.
McKinsey Quarterly
July 19, 2012
Editor’s Choice Articles
Becoming more strategic: Three tips for any executive (McKinsey Quarterly)
Big Idea: Not all strategists are executive leaders but all executive leaders must be strategists. This is McKinsey’s conclusion and an inevitable one, I believe, following up on their article urging leaders to spend more time together focusing on strategy and its execution (see last week’s picks). Strategy is back and rightly integrated with operational execution at the top.
How Smart Leaders Translate Strategy into Execution (HBR Blog Network)
Big Idea: Strategic alignment calls for the CEO to become the Chief Execution Officer. Randall Russell succinctly summarizers what this means and he does it without mentioning either Kaplan-Norton or any of their standard methodology or tools even though he is Palladium’s head of research on the Balanced Scorecard methodology. For a comparable approach to strategy execution, see this article by Method Frameworks.
9 Metrics to Measure Social Media Marketing Success (Evergreen Search)
Big Idea: Social media is central to reaching and engaging customers these days and the strategically aligned organization must be able to measure its impact. Evergreen Search, the search marketing consultancy, suggests a starting point for measuring the impact of social marketing activities. Given all the data social media inevitably generates, here’s a place to start.
Exploring and Exploiting Your Way to Growth (HBR Blog Network)
Big Idea: How do companies exploit growth opportunities in mature businesses while exploring breakthroughs in new business units? One successful example is IBM’s strategy management process called EBO – Emerging Business Opportunity. Professor Tushman, one of the architects of the “ambidextrous” organization approach on which EBO is based, highlights the key principles IBM followed.
Editor’s Choices for Week Ending Jul 13, 2012
Article of the Week
Managing the strategy journey (McKinsey Quarterly)
Big Idea: Dynamic times require dynamic management. A few years ago McKinsey asserted this must begin with executives spending more time together to discuss strategy. Now they argue executives should spend as much time together focused on strategy as they do on operations and suggest a process to drive implementation. An important piece.
Article of the Week
Strategic Alignment
Big Idea: Dynamic times require dynamic management. A few years ago McKinsey asserted this must begin with executives spending more time together to discuss strategy. Now they argue executives should spend as much time together focused on strategy as they do on operations and suggest a process to drive implementation. An important piece.
McKinsey Quarterly
July 2012
Editor’s Choice Articles
There Is No Single Best Measure of Your Customers (HBR Blog Network)
Big Idea: Customer measures such as Customer Satisfaction, Net Promoter Score (NPS), and Customer Effort Score are supposed to be lead indicators of business performance. Each has it fans but research suggests you should first understand clearly what kind of performance you are trying to achieve before choosing your customer metric. Good input for those trying to measure the customer perspective.
“Cross-Functional” or “Dysfunctional”? 5 Keys to Getting Those Big Initiatives Right (Executive Leadership Group)
Big Idea: Strategic alignment requires cross-functional initiatives but they can often be difficult to pull of successfully. The authors characterize the key types of failed initiatives – “zombies”, “cesspools”(did you ever experience those?) – and suggest the best course of action to cure them.
3 Steps to Innovate Like Google (Inc.)
Big Idea: The authors use Google to explain the Three Horizons Model, a framework for driving innovation strategy, initiative resourcing, and business growth. This model should inform all strategy mapping and initiative management processes.
Facing Up to the Future (BCG Perspectives)
Big Idea: This analysis of the telco industry is a great example of the dictum “structure follows strategy.” BCG, in fact, turns the adage into “structure is the strategy.” The new operating model they describe should be of interest to any business challenged to align its organization to a fast changing marketplace.
Editor’s Choices for Week Ending Jul 6, 2012
Article of the Week
A Better Project Model than the “Waterfall” (HBR Blog Network)
Big Idea: The “agile” movement in IT is rapidly replacing the traditional “waterfall” approach to project management. Jeff Gothelf explains the core idea: shift the focus from preconceived requirements and outputs, and instead discover the best solution by focusing on measurable outcomes. Traditional strategy management suffers from the same “waterfall” paradigm. Strategy alignment and execution must adopt the “agile” approach, too.
Article of the Week
Strategic Alignment
A Better Project Model than the “Waterfall”
Big Idea: The “agile” movement in IT is rapidly replacing the traditional “waterfall” approach to project management. Jeff Gothelf explains the core idea: shift the focus from preconceived requirements and outputs, and instead discover the best solution by focusing on measurable outcomes. Traditional strategy management suffers from the same “waterfall” paradigm. Strategy alignment and execution must adopt the “agile” approach, too.
HBR Blog Network
July 6, 2012
Editor’s Choice Articles
Open Innovation Past and Present: an Exclusive Interview with Henry Chesbrough (Innovation Management)
Big Idea: Professor Chesborough invented the “open innovation” model and this substantive interview introduces his latest thinking. He defines the distinction between the “outside-in” and “inside-out” approach to open innovation. The first is now a hot topic for driving alignment beyond the walls of the company. The latter is just emerging.
Solve Your Business Problems By Asking Why (Inc.)
Big Idea: Aligning limited resources to strategic priorities is a management challenge faced by most organizations. The leaders of the Avondale consultancy explain the way they use the “5 whys” framework, borrowed from the Toyota lean system, to drive alignment on what opportunities to pursue. Provides a quick introduction to the 5 whys, used in a strategy alignment context rather than lean.
Leaning Into Risk (SFO Blog)
Big Idea: Sandy Richardson articulates the danger for an organization of adopting a “defensive” posture in managing risk – retarding growth and innovation. Instead, she suggests an adaptable approach she calls “leaning into” risk and change. She explains that success will require new management processes, new skills, and a new culture. Her “leaning into” approach is definitely an improvement on the compliance and checklist version of risk management often seen in the scorecard world.
Strategy is the story (London Business School BSR)
Big Idea: Strategy is story telling. Here are some guidelines on how to tell the story in a way that will clarify the strategy. Users of the scorecard methodology will benefit from the reminders of what should go into their strategy map narratives.
Editor’s Choices for Week Ending Jun 29, 2012
Article of the Week
A Practical Guide to Change in the Public Sector (bcg.perspectives)
Big Idea: With countries, states, and cities all on the verge of bankruptcy, big change – or “reform” some might say – is coming. BCG offers a substantial guide to pulling off large-scale transformation in government. There is much here to interest change managers in the private sector, too.
Article of the Week
Strategic Alignment
A Practical Guide to Change in the Public Sector
Big Idea: With countries, states, and cities all on the verge of bankruptcy, big change – or “reform” some might say – is coming. BCG offers a substantial guide to pulling off large-scale transformation in government. There is much here to interest change managers in the private sector, too.
bcg.perspectives
June 27, 2012
Editor’s Choice Articles
How Mature is Your Risk Management? (HBR Blog Network)
Big Idea: Michael Herrington provides a summary of the research findings from Ernst & Young’s recent study on risk management. Better financial performance, they report, comes with “risk management maturity.” This requires moving beyond audits, checklists, and compliance to focusing on strategic risks. There is a link to the study.
Don’t Just Get It Done, Get the Right Things Done! (Innovation Excellence)
Big Idea: Effective execution requires aligning initiatives to strategy. Holly Green explains the approach used at The Human Factor and provides a link to the Strategic Value Initiatives Ranking Tool she describes. This article will be helpful for anyone getting started on strategic alignment.
Use a Threat-Opportunity Analysis to Develop Your Case for Change (Emergent Consultants)
Big Idea: Successfully launching a strategic alignment program often requires making the case for change. Emergent Consulting describes one of the techniques they use in their change management practice. For an online change management toolset (requires subscription), check out their Change Accelerator.
How Value Patterns Work (BCG Perspectives)
Big Idea: BCG continues its analysis of “value patterns.” The key idea is to align the investment thesis of a company with its current business context and economic realities. This article focuses on the strategic priorities of high-value brand companies. Check out Value Patterns: The Concept to get further grounding in their new strategy formulation approach.
Other Links Referenced
Value Patterns: The Concept (BCG Perspective)
Change Accelerator (Emergent Consulting)
Editor’s Choices for Week Ending Jun 22, 2012
Article of the Week
How Intangible Corporate Culture Creates Tangible Profits (Fast Company)
Big Idea: David Lapin uses Southwest Airlines as a case study to explain how an intangible like culture is a source of competitive advantage and driver of tangible success. See the related post by Sarah Caldicott in Innovation Excellence on how the values of Gen Y will shape organizational culture in the future.
Article of the Week
Strategic Alignment
How Intangible Corporate Culture Creates Tangible Profits
Big Idea: David Lapin uses Southwest Airlines as a case study to explain how an intangible like culture is a source of competitive advantage and driver of tangible success. See the related post by Sarah Caldicott in Innovation Excellence on how the values of Gen Y will shape organizational culture in the future..
FastCompany
June 20, 2012
Editor’s Choice Articles
Organizing for an emerging world (McKinsey Quarterly)
Big Idea: The ability to align an organization effectively is challenged by the growing management complexity of globalized businesses. McKinsey addresses the key issues related to structure, processes, and network linkages that can either hinder or help support growth, better decision-making, and resource management. Any company, global or not, will benefit from these ideas.
Top 100+ management resources you need to know (Torbenrick Blog)
Big Idea: Need a starting point to drive organizational transformation and alignment? Torben Rick provides one hundred links to numerous change management and engagement topics to help get the process started or respond to specific issues.
Before You Take a Risk, Lay Out the Logic (HBR Blog Network)
Big Idea: Roger Martin, in a brief post, questions the value of risk management based on tracking standardized checklists of risk factors and fostering new cultural norms. Instead, he stresses the value of clarifying the outcomes and understanding the drivers of success for any major initiative. Down with checklists; up with driver-based strategy execution.
The Power of Counter-Balanced Measures (Corporater World)
Big Idea: Paul Niven explains how to address the problem of unintended consequences of performance measures. There’s more to “balance” than financial and non-financial measures in a well-executed scorecard.
Other Articles
Will Gen Y Deliver Body Blow to Fortune 500? (Innovation Excellence)
Editor’s Choices for Week Ending Jun 15, 2012
Article of the Week
The end of performance management (as we know it) (Management Innovation eXchange)
Big Idea: Bjarte Bosgnes has written elsewhere about the new dynamic management principles he has implemented at Statoil (also see his book…). In this piece he proposes replacing traditional performance management (an oxymoron?) with “self-regulation” – letting individuals engage in complex and intelligent processes by imposing “simple, clear purpose and principles” in place of controls.
Article of the Week
Strategic Alignment
The end of performance management (as we know it)
Big Idea: Bjarte Bosgnes has written elsewhere about the new dynamic management principles he has implemented at Statoil (also see his book…). In this piece he proposes replacing traditional performance management (an oxymoron?) with “self-regulation” – letting individuals engage in complex and intelligent processes by imposing “simple, clear purpose and principles” in place of controls.
Management Innovation eXchange
June 15, 2012
Editor’s Choice Articles
The global company’s challenge (McKinsey Quarterly)
Big Idea: Accompanying the recent McKinsey Global Survey, this article elucidates the “dimensions of organizational health” wherein global corporations struggle to succeed in emerging markets. Each is an aspect of strategic alignment that will require new organizational and operating response’s if global companies hope to beat focused local leaders in emerging markets.
Book Review: The Heretic’s Guide to Best Practices (CMS Wire)
Big Idea: The “best practices” of program management may not be the answer but the problem. So says a brief review of a new book that explains how to attack “wicked problems” – business problems that are difficult, complex, and ambiguous. Intriguing thesis. Be sure to follow the link to Dialogue Mapping, a technique for collaborative problem-solving that provides additional resources complementing the book.
The Coherent Conglomerate (HBR Bog Network)
Big Idea: The challenge for conglomerates is to define how the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. The authors see the answer in the “coherence” of the few critical capabilities informing all of the businesses in the portfolio. They rightly point out this unique challenge of strategic alignment is much same for any large, complex company.
How to Rally Your Team Around a New Strategy (Inc.)
Big Idea: The authors address what they see as the biggest obstacle to strategic alignment. This is the fifth in a series drawn from their new book on the Six Habits of Strategic Thinkers. Links to all their related articles are provided.
Editor’s Choices for Week Ending Jun 8, 2012
Article of the Week
How Risk Reduction Is (and Isn’t) Rocket Science (HBR Blog Network)
Big Idea: Large endeavors require the discipline of project management if they wish to reduce risk and increase the likelihood of achieving real results. The latest findings from the Project Management Institute highlight the importance of strategic alignment – focus on organizational goals, not just project goals. Link to the survey and start accessing PMI’s body of strategy execution knowledge.
Article of the Week
Strategic Alignment
How Risk Reduction Is (and Isn’t) Rocket Science
Big Idea: Large endeavors require the discipline of project management if they wish to reduce risk and increase the likelihood of achieving real results. The latest findings from the Project Management Institute highlight the importance of strategic alignment – focus on organizational goals, not just project goals. Link to the survey and start accessing PMI’s body of strategy execution knowledge.
HBR Blog Network
June 6, 2012
Editor’s Choice Articles
To Build Your Business, Smash Your Silos (Fast Company)
Big Idea: Structure and strategy are always in tension when it comes to managing change across organizational silos. The answer lies in aligning priorities and coordinating information flow and decision-making, according to Neil Smith. This excerpt from his new book provides good questions to help address the challenge of managing across the divide of divisions, departments, and functions.
The Business Performance Management Triad – The Key to Translating Your BPM&I Efforts into Results (SFO Blog)
Big Idea: There are lots of methodologies to improve performance. Sandy Richardson discusses what the common success factors are they all share if they are to succeed in driving transformational change. Her advice to take a “just in time” approach to deploying the tools and techniques of any methodology is especially good.
Leadership and the Expectation Gap (Innovation Excellence)
Big Idea: Don’t confuse the leadership task of aligning stakeholder expectations with simply managing them. Along with this important distinction, Mike Myatt articulates three key practices that will help leaders and their organizations deliver on expectations.
Seven Ways to Disrupt Your Industry (Fast Company)
Big Idea: At the next offsite focused on organizational vision and strategy, challenge the team to think how they can lead, not just follow, customer and competitive change. The authors provide some excellent “disruptive” ideas to start the strategic conversation. May the best disrupter win!