Plan Your Work: The Intricacies of Strategy - Part # 1

THEME: Fall 2010 From Vision to Action Executive Roundtable Report

FOCUS: Plan Your Work: The Intricacies of Strategy - Part # 1

Monday morning: September 27, 2010

Dear friends,

We were sitting in the Board Room after the meeting when the CEO turned to me and said, “We’ve lost our joint purpose. Everyone is so busy and so wrapped up in the minutia of the moment that we’ve lost our sense of direction. It is all day, every day put out fires and hurry on to the next crisis. We are disconnected from what is most important.” It was a sad and sobering moment in the organization’s journey.

C.K. Prahalad in his last article before his death called “Why Is It So Hard to Tackle the Obvious?” in the June 2010 issue of the Harvard Business Review wrote, “During a corporate transformation, the forgetting curve is sometimes more important than the learning curve.” As he explained, past success creates a distinct corporate ideology. An example of this is The Toyota Way, which contains specific information about how to compete, how to measure performance, organization structure, specific ways to problem solve plus whom to reward and why. In essence, past success creates “that’s the way we do things around here.” Nevertheless, when it is time to change, leaders need to decide what to preserve and what to discard.

From my perspective, past success can at times be the enemy of strategic planning. It can blind people to current reality. They do not see the need for change, because they can not “receive” the information related to it.

Furthermore, past success leads to an unconscious translation of strategy. People do what they are doing but do not understand anymore “why” they are doing it in that specific manner. They just do it because “it works” and it is “the norm.”

Next, past success in combination with no brutal facts, using a Jim Collin’s term from his book, Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap. . . and Others Don't. HarperBusiness, 2001, no applicable metrics, and no regular strategic reviews does not create a strategic mindset. Instead, it creates an operational mindset of “get’er done” and “do not piss off anyone off in the process.”

Finally, past success does not create ownership; it creates habits. A habit is a collection of unconscious actions, i.e. an automatic pattern of behavior in reaction to a specific situation. When this happens, past success does not generate new strategy. It often prohibits the development of new strategy. Past success can generate constant support for status quo. In sum, past success can perpetuate tactical or technical problem solving.

This week as you prepare for the challenges of 2011, remember past success can become a source of many problems.

Have a super week,

Geery

Geery Howe, M.A.Consultant, Executive Coach, Trainer inLeadership, Strategic Planning and Organizational ChangeMorning Star Associates319 - 643 - 2257

The Search For Now

THEME: Some Thoughts On Current and Emerging Trends

FOCUS: The Search For Now

Monday morning: September 20, 2010

Dear friends,

Years ago in the popular psychology literature, the term “inner child” was coined and referenced by many people. Having walked in the world of people, organizations and change for many years, I now believe the inner child has grow into the inner adolescent. I also believe they are an adrenaline junkie.

With the arrival of iTunes, Droid phones, iPads, Twitter, iPhones, YouTube, Hulu and many more technological devices and websites, we now live in a world where everyone is digitally distracted and everyone can seek new adrenaline highs. In this new “all me, all the time” world where “drive me to the mall now” is replaced with “drive me to hot, new and fancy web sites,” every second of every day people are looking past today and seeking more and more bling to take them to a greater sense of “me”.

As history is rewritten with a sound track and a theme song, and marriage ceremonies, proms and high school sports are PR events that need DJ’s, sound tracks and lighting experts, the image of change, success and clarity are more important than the actual journey of commitment, effort and understanding. Instant everything is taking over. As one young person told me recently, “e-mail and Facebook are so yesterday.”

The impact of this world on business and leadership is profound. In order to gain some perspective I am reminded of a key concept in Jim Collins’ book, Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap. . . and Others Don't, HarperBusiness, 2001. Here, he talked about how great companies have a mirror and a window. As he writes, “Level 5 leaders look out the window to attribute success to factors other than themselves. When things go poorly, however, they look in the mirror and blame themselves, taking full responsibility. The comparison CEOs often did just the opposite - they looked in the mirror to take credit for success, but out the window to assign blame for disappointing results.” Currently, I believe we live in an all mirror all the time world where self is the center of everything.

In order to be successful in the long haul, we need to have mirrors where reflection on our thoughts and actions takes place. We also need windows where we regain perspective about ourself and the the world. But I also think we need candles so we can stare into the flame and quiet the self, quiet the world and see beyond the constant rush of new and possibilities. We need to rediscover the truly miraculous moment of living in the now.

Currently, we live in a world of hand held everythings such as head phones, ear pieces and wireless devices, all of which take us away from now. Always connected and always streaming, twittering and downloading, we miss the actual life experience of living now, being now, and experiencing now. We live more on the Internet, resulting in a life of any where but here and now experiences.

When we miss the miracles of now, we miss simple experiences and comments of support, unconditional listening or kindness. We miss the beauty of a sunrise, the taste of biting into a cool crisp fall apple, the feel of sweat and accomplishment after a day of hard physical work. We miss the joy of holding hands, unconditional love, and a walk around the neighborhood. These are now moments in world so addicted to change, speed and sound that they are regulated to non-moments.

This week, I hope you can reconnect to now and live into now. And when you do, I suspect you will discover a way to move and live which is most rewarding.

Have a wonderful week,

Geery

Geery Howe, M.A.Consultant, Executive Coach, Trainer inLeadership, Strategic Planning and Organizational ChangeMorning Star Associates319 - 643 - 2257

The Need For Health, Healing and Wholeness

THEME: Some Thoughts On Current and Emerging Trends

FOCUS: The Need For Health, Healing and Wholeness

Monday morning: September 13, 2010

Dear friends,

It was interesting earlier this year to watch the healthcare debate rage on in Congress. People on all sides of the issues where fired up, and as the November elections roll around, people are still fired up about issues related to healthcare.

I remember one day last spring talking with a Doctor who told me that at the heart of this debate was a problem. From his perspective, people were calling it healthcare reform when it was actually health insurance reform. The focus was not on health but really on coverage.

Having done this work since the 1980’s, I have watched issues of health enter into the workplace in many different ways. First, there was the widespread and fully embraced notion of wellness activities. Here, we were to walk more, stretch more, eat better and generally just have an improved attitude. Companies offered wellness classes and many people signed up.

Then, some where in the 90’s, companies embraced a more medical model approach to wellness. Then, health analysis was the key to success. Thus, the business community ran employees through tests such as Body Mass Index (BMI), blood work, and diet analysis. Then healthcare professional analyzed the results and made recommendations. In between this, we witnessed programs on mind/body health and holistic health. This year the Harvard Business Review published another article on the importance of managing energy instead of time. Whatever the pathway, the goal was to improve personal health and reduce healthcare insurance expense on the business side.

But with rising rates of obesity, diabetes, heart disease and cancer, we have not made great progress. While there are pockets of success, we are not seeing the healthcare revolution that so many people were wanting to take place so many years ago. I think the problem falls into two categories.

First, we do not comprehend and embrace the notion that we are the programmer and the program. When it comes to our bodies, we do have many short and long term choices we can make. I recognize that bad things happen to good people and getting a serious illness is not your fault, but how we care for ourselves on a day to day basis is our choice. Some grasp this but choose to follow a different path. As I continue to remind clients, awareness is not understanding.

Second, many work place health improvement programs fail to be successful over time because they do not understand the world of change. As John P. Kotter in his book, The Heart of Change: Real-Life Stories of How People Change Their Organizations, Harvard Business School Press, 2002, wrote, “The single most important message in this book is very simple. People change what they do less because they are given analysis that shifts their thinking than because they are shown a truth that influences their feelings.... The flow of see-feel-change is more powerful than that of analysis-think-change.” People need to see results, and experience short term wins more than just receive detailed analysis.

If we seek to create a healthier work place, we need to create more see-feel-change experiences. This week, think about this and recognize that insurance reform is only part of the picture.

Have a fantastic week,

Geery

Geery Howe, M.A.Consultant, Executive Coach, Trainer inLeadership, Strategic Planning and Organizational ChangeMorning Star Associates319 - 643 - 2257

The Power of Joyful Service

THEME: Some Thoughts On Current and Emerging Trends

FOCUS: The Power of Joyful Service

Tuesday morning: September 7, 2010

Dear friends,

Regularly now, I am finding more and more people who lack passion and joy about the work they are doing. Years ago, some one told me that “it is only work if you want to be some place different.” Right now, it appears that more and more people want to be some place different. They are not happy and they are not passionate. It is just another day at the office, doing another day’s worth of paperwork. It is another day of watching the clock and hoping the day will be over quickly. The sad part about this situation is that more and more people are experiencing this and thinking it is the new normal in business.

It is time that we rekindle the experience of making a difference at work. We need to enjoy what we are working on and be more engaged. We need to rekindle a sense of purpose and passion which unites us to rise to our current challenges and meet them head on.

Gallup research in the book, Married To The Brand: Why Consumers Bond With Some Brands For Life, Gallup Press, 2005, points out that “engaged employees create engaged customers.“ Given the current economy, we need as many engaged customers as we can get. But we must realize that the source of engaged customers is more engaged employees. The later happens before the former happens. And the former happens when we have more engaged leaders and managers. But many leaders and managers are overwhelmed and unimpressed by how their organizations have responded to the current economic challenges and subsequent organizational changes. Routinely, they witness status quo trumping innovative strategic solutions.

As a strategic planner, I have observed a change to this situation in certain organizations. In these unique work places, their strategic plans have one element that many others do not have, namely organized community service and regular philanthropic actions. Recognizing that we live in a very interconnected world, these companies choose to invest staff time and corporate dollars in helping others in their community. They recognize that we live in an interconnected world where service to others is not only good for the receiver but also good for the giver. As James C. Hunter in his book, The Servant: A Simple Story About the True Essence of Leadership, Crown Business, 1998, wrote, “Long ago a man named Syrus said that it is of no profit to have learned well if you neglect to do well.”

For us here today, doing well means reengaging in the communities where we live. We need to seek out opportunities to make a difference and reengage in the life of our communities. By doing this on an on-going basis, it will be good for our communities and good for the company. But most important it will rekindle a sense of passion and joy in the lives of those who we work with on a daily basis.

This week, support volunteer community service and recommit to regular philanthropy.

Have a great week,

Geery

Geery Howe, M.A.Consultant, Executive Coach, Trainer inLeadership, Strategic Planning and Organizational ChangeMorning Star Associates319 - 643 - 2257

Preparing for Fiscal Year 2012

THEME: Some Thoughts On Current and Emerging Trends

FOCUS: Preparing for Fiscal Year 2012

Monday morning: August 30, 2010

Dear friends,

In the non-profit world, alarm bells are ringing all over the country. Executive Directors and their teams are seriously worried about the impending dangers of Fiscal Year 2012 which starts on 7/1/11. As they all know, when the recession hit the country starting in September 2008, the tax income dropped off dramatically. When this happened, state budgets were in serious trouble and not able to cover basic service delivery commitments. Therefore, the federal government generated stimulus dollars which in part offered a brief relief to these traumatized state budgets.

Nevertheless, the stimulus dollars are going to be used up soon. Then, the states will have to deal with problems that have continued to persist. According to the June 28, 2010 issue of Time magazine, David Von Drehle reports in his article called “The Other Financial Crisis” that Iowa, for example, will have a 18.6% shortfall next year as a percentage of this year’s state budget. While the best non-profits are actively working quite hard to prepare for the difficult 2-3 years ahead as the states recover from the recession and see tax revenues rise, they also know that the future will not be an easy road to travel.

On the state side of this picture, they are doing just about everything that can to shrink the budget and still operate. One state level solution begins with offering extensive early retirement packages in order to reduce the head count within government. While I recognize that this action will, over time, save the bottom line, I think we need to recognize today that those who are leaving take with them knowledge and experience that has been critical to short and long term success within their respective departments or areas of expertise. Any time there is a loss of knowledge and experience at this level, there is the potential for a decline in the quality of the service delivered and the ability to solve problems within and between different divisions in a timely manner.

Furthermore, when we create a work world where the “long time” employees have barely 5-10 years of experience, we must come to recognize that knowledge acquisition and retention are very critical to success. Remembering that our past choices often lead us to our current challenges, and those who do not remember the past often repeat the mistakes of the past, our work as senior executives will be difficult over the next 18 months.

First, given what could be coming, make sure you have the right people on the right seats on the bus, using a Jim Collin’s metaphor. You will need a strong team to handle these challenges.

Second, examine closely the implications and impact of Fiscal Year 2012 within your circle of influence and/or organization. Generate a plan so people stay focused on the right things.

Third, create a team of people who will work to make sure that as people retire the best of their knowledge and experience is not lost.

Fourth, generate clarity of purpose and focus within your organization about what must be preserved at all costs for short and long term success, and what may be discarded or laid aside until current challenges have passed.

In a time period of great worry, it is important to build a network of healthy relationships. As a bone cancer survivor told me many years ago, “make friends before you need them.” This week, prepare thoughtfully and carefully for the coming fiscal year.

Have a grand week,

Geery

P.S. Here is some interesting information I learned recently about the non-profit world. According to Guide Star, the nonprofit industry accounts for 5% of the nation's entire GDP. The nonprofit sector overall employs 12.9 million people, or nearly 10 percent of the workforce (larger than the finance, insurance, and real-estate sectors combined). There are more than 1.9 million tax-exempt organizations in the U.S., a number that has doubled in the last 30 years.

Geery Howe, M.A.Consultant, Executive Coach, Trainer inLeadership, Strategic Planning and Organizational ChangeMorning Star Associates319 - 643 - 2257

The Transformation of Energy

THEME: Some Thoughts On Current and Emerging Trends

FOCUS: The Transformation of Energy

Monday morning: August 23, 2010

Dear friends,

Over the years, I have worked with a number of clients in the energy generation, transmission, and conservation business. First, let it be known that these are good men and woman who are smart, thoughtful and level headed. Every day, they face difficult challenges and handle complex questions. They meet these difficulties and solve these situations with good problem-solving skills. Putting BP’s Gulf coast challenges to the side for the moment, I am convinced that the majority of people working in this industry do know what needs to be done and do want to do things right the first time.

However, due to BP’s actions in the Gulf coast and other issues that were surfacing before this disaster took place, energy use is now clearly on the front burner of hot topics to be fixed. The difficulty is around the word “fixed.” By definition and implication, the word “fix” assumes that there is a single permanent solution which will solve a problem and restore order or normalcy. Our challenge is that there is not a single permanent solution to energy use in the United States.

For example, there is a rising tide to eliminate coal in the United States. Many say natural gas is the solution. Currently, it does not appear that we have the transmission system to handle the potential volume of natural gas that would be needed to replace coal based generation.

Next, we have the continued rise of electric cars, e.g. the Chevy Volt, and mixed use cars such as the Prius. The public does not like the expense of fossil fuels, the dangers of off-shore drilling, or the importation of petroleum from the Middle East. With cries for the demise of the combustion engine and the rise of the battery based life style, we come full circle to having to create more energy so the batteries can stay fully charged. Recognizing that some will argue over the science of global warming until the cows come home, and others will argue that alternative or green energy is the solution but not until we have a national transmission infrastructure that is comparable to Eisenhower’s interstate highway system, we nevertheless must all walk to the bathroom, look into the mirror, and ask ourselves a simple but difficult question: “Am I willing to change my energy habits?”

For example, this past weekend I borrowed the neighbor’s cordless lawn mower and cut the grass at our house. I have been wanting to try it out and see how well it works. Quiet and no fumes, the little 20 inch Toro mower moved through the wet grass cleanly and easily. When I was done, I returned it and just plugged it in. I never thought that a battery operated mower could handle the job and I was wrong. It worked like a charm. It makes me think twice about the push mower that I currently own.

While many will point fingers at the energy industrial complex as the source of all evil, few will commit to changing their own lifestyle. As senior executives, we know that organizational transformation is the sum of individual transformation. It is the same with the transformation of energy use. If we seek to generate, transmit, and use new sources of energy in new ways, then we have to be willing to understand our own personal energy choices. We are the solution and the problem all wrapped up in one.

What intrigues me on top of our personal choices is the degree to which energy management is creeping into organization’s strategic planning. While, in the past, the price of energy would have surfaced in a traditional SWOT analysis, or a more innovative PESTAL analysis, more and more organizations are starting to put energy management into their strategic plans. While this group is still small in numbers, it is slowly growing as awareness shifts to understanding. Nevertheless, we all must realize that the power industry will not change on a dime unless a large majority of people are willing to invest the capital to build a new infrastructure and the capacity to maintain this infrastructure.

In short, let’s not paint the power industry as people with limited perception or understanding. In recent conversations, they are acutely aware of what is happening in the world related to energy, and understand the short and long term implications of ours and their choices. This week we as senior leaders need to make energy management a part of all future strategic plans. As I mentioned before, our individual choices will impact our collective choices.

Have a great week,

Geery

Geery Howe, M.A.Consultant, Executive Coach, Trainer inLeadership, Strategic Planning and Organizational ChangeMorning Star Associates319 - 643 - 2257

THEME: Some Thoughts On Current and Emerging Trends

FOCUS: The Intersection of the iPad, Community, and Social Intelligence

Monday morning: August 16, 2010

Dear friends,

With the introduction of the iPad this year and it’s projected 2010 sales being close to 10 million, Steve Jobs noted earlier in the summer that a new iPad is bought at a global level every 3 seconds. With such rapid acceptance, we are witnessing an amazing transformation in technology. This in combination with Goggle’s decision to not utilize Windows due to on-going security problems means the way we work is changing faster than in the past. While I do not think it completely signals the decline of the PC market as Steve Jobs suggested might happen back in June at the D Conference, it clearly signals the start of a whole new way of thinking about the speed of acquisition and the utilization of technology.

First, we need to recognize that software and hardware are skipping past the lap top platform and moving straight to slate based computer systems and smart phones. With texting as the new e-mail system and social media like Facebook topping half a billion users this summer and becoming the new foundation for creating and maintaining relationships, we enter a world were fragmentation is no longer acceptable and seamless integration is the new goal.

It is interesting to note a generational difference rising in the midst of this transformation, particularly between Baby Boomers and Gen Y’s or Millennials. For Baby Boomers, the expectation is that when a light switch goes up, the electricity will always be on. For Gen Xers and Millenials, when a computer or cell phone is on, then the expectation is that there will be 100% connectivity to the internet. The internet is their new electricity.

For generations before the Baby Boomers, there was a gratefulness for just having electricity. For the Baby Boomers, there was an expectation that it should be on and perfect all the time. Now that the internet is the new electricity, the expectation is the same for younger generations. They have an expectation for “electricity level” connectivity and delivery of internet content, and they expect it to move as fast as an electric light switch when turned on.

There is another recent generational difference noted by British neuroscientist Susan Greenfield. We could potentially end up living in a two class society with mostly the younger generation being “the people of the screen” who quick skim and scan the web which lodges in the brian’s short-term memory and is quickly lost, and a mostly older generation who are “people of the book,” who through slow reading experiences generate long term memories. The result is a very different level of understanding and interacting with the world between the generations.

Yet in the midst of these differences and the ongoing desire for more speed and simplicity in technology plus the growth of digital life experiences, there continues to be a growing desire for more real and authentic sense of community. John Naisbitt in his books, Megatrends and Megatrends 2000, wrote that we enter a dualistic world of high tech and high touch. While I recognize that Facebook is being utilized by many if not most of the affluent people in society, the result of this choice is the development of some very unique relationships. For example, people on Facebook may have 1,000 “friends” but only know and communicate with a handful well on a face to face level. Some would argue that young people may not understand that real relationships are first built off-line before going on-line.

Furthermore, we now have entering and influencing the workforce a younger generation that knows how to connect electronically and at the same time chooses different pathways to building relationships than Baby Boomers. For example, it is recognized that most Millennials are good at working on teams and with teams, multi-tasking and utilizing technology to increase productivity. Still, we have to recognize that people who work on successful teams are born from a healthy work place community. And when a team completes it’s work, it, namely the members of the team, will return to the work place community. In short, the source of healthy teams can not be replaced by electronic apps on iPads, or digital, Facebook level only connections.

During the coming years, our work as senior executives will require us to invest in new technology and to learn to interface with the rapidly changing and accelerating global technology platform. Nevertheless as high tech speeds up, we must also come to value high touch, i.e. slower face to face connections that require a degree of social intelligence. In a world that can access more information faster than ever before, we are discovering that more and more people are connected and at the same time feeling disconnected. With so many families scattered across the nation and the globe, and so many traditional social networks like churches and civic groups struggling to maintain membership, we must come to recognize that the building of community within the work place is more important and valuable than ever.

This week understand that the pace of change will continue to accelerate, and that the need to build social intelligence will be as important as digital and technological intelligence.

Have a marvelous week,

Geery

P.S. For those of you who are looking for a good article, I suggest you read “Powerlessness Corrupts” by Rosabeth Moss Kanter in the July-August 2010 issue of the Harvard Business Review. This is a short but very thoughtful essay about how powerlessness, particularly in the middle ranks, can fuel resentment, infighting and intergroup conflicts over resources. If you are looking to find a thoughtful way to start a team meeting, this single page essay with good observations and perspective is a good place to begin.

Geery Howe, M.A.Consultant, Executive Coach, Trainer inLeadership, Strategic Planning and Organizational ChangeMorning Star Associates319 - 643 - 2257