Saturday, November 30, 2013
Vision n Strategy
The young boy asked the old man, "why a fast running
horse is better than the slow running horse"? The old man said, "It
has developed the habit to produce more power so that it can run up to ten
times faster than the slow horse"
The youngster asked, "And what if the horse is running
in the wrong direction?" The old man smiled and said, "Then
definitely it has the proportionate factor for wasting the efforts ten times
quicker than the slower horse"
The young man asked, "And what if other horses are
following him too?" The older man said, "Off course it will mislead
all those horses too!"
The young man asked again, "Then why all other horses
follow the faster horse?" The older man said, "Because that attracts
them but all that glitters is not gold sometimes."
Lesson learned
Vision is one of the most critical traits of current and
emerging leaders because strong vision results establishing better strategy to
ensure success. In its basic definition, the vision is to see (visualize) the
future at present moment and then aligning the strategies including but not
limited to policies, procedures and action plans in order to ensure success
without any setbacks.
Below 8 Ps elaborate the concept of Vision and Strategy
altogether:
1. Picking
the Right Battle
Effective leaders ponder well enough to choose the right
course of direction (the mission) which can lead them towards success with
higher success probability and greater efficiency. This does not means that
they select easy targets instead sometimes they select more challenging grounds
with their gut feeling of success. However they are careful in making their
choices because of being the captain of the boat. If the leader succeeds, the
boat sails; if leader drowns the whole boat gets collapsed.
2. Perspective
How a leader sees the future is very sensitive matter. No
matter how genius team members he/she possesses; his own vision is highly
important. It is said that an army of dears lead by a lion is far better than
any army of lions lead by a dear. The leader's vision depends on the level of
mental comprehension of industry, current statistics, near future and long term
forecasts/trends, overall knowledge and experience of associated domains, a lot
of study and observation about market and expectation of stake holders.
3. Present Position
The leader must define the baseline because this will be the
reference to be compared when measuring performance and progress at later
stage. The visionary leader must clearly define the Key Performance Indicators
(KPIs); the current values of KPIs, bench marking in line with industry
standards, the measurement criteria and measurement frequency.
4. Policies
and Procedures
The review of current and finalization of policies for
concrete results should be done prior to kick off the execution phase. Yet a
leader should be smart enough to closely monitor and tweak the policies and
procedures in case something is putting the projects/programs in jeopardy. The
market dynamics demands consistent focus and a lot of iterations in companies'
strategies.
5. Plans
Failing to plan is planning to fail. The leader would define
high level goals; the goals which are SMART (Specific, Measureable, Achievable,
Realistic, Time bound) Once defined, the
leader assigns these to the team of managers which in turn use the RACI model
for further low level implementation. (RACI tool is used for defining
Responsibility Matrix; RACI stands for Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, and
Informed respectively)
6. Pattern
Although Low level micro tasks is not a specific leaders'
responsibility but it becomes very effective if leaders take active part few
times during the life cycle of the project; especially when WBS (work breakdown
structures) are prepared by the associated Project Managers. Sometimes his/her
vision and experience can make big difference when reviewing WBS with the PM.
7. Progress
Performance
Consistent progress and performance measurement against the
baseline must be ensured by the leaders. This also requires risk
identification, risk analysis and risk mitigation. The project becomes orphans
if the leader does not review its performance periodically.
8. Power
Plug
Last but not the least; he becomes the consistent source of
inspiration, fuel and energy for his team members. By this act he ensures that
the 'batteries' (employee's working potential) are charged throughout the life
cycle of the project.
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