Archive for October, 2009

Charting Your Organization’s Course - The First Step

With unlimited resources, your company can pursue all alternatives.  What?  You don’t have unlimited resources? 

OK, so, with the limited resources you do have, which opportunities will your organization pursue?  Which opportunities will provide the best returns?

An effective planning process allows you to chart a course for your company from the present to the desired destination.  The first step in this process of charting a course from Point A to Point B is to define Point A.

Time and time again, I work with a company’s leadership team to chart a course for the organization’s future.  Whether it’s business planning, strategic planning or management innovation work, I’m still amazed at the lack of a consensus on where they are as a starting point.  One leadership team of four people that I worked with a couple of years ago had four different opinions ranging from we’re having a few operational challenges to the future of the company is at risk.

Before you start charting a course for the future of your company, assemble the leaders of the organization for a heart to heart discussion of the current realities and the current challenges.  It’s the difference between putting one person on each of twelve buses or putting all twelve people on one bus.  As a group, choose one bus.