Are We There Yet?

Routine & Systematic Evaluation of Strategic Progress

As leaders, some portion of our leadership team agendas should be dedicated to ensuring progress toward our defined strategic direction. At a minimum, this should include two things: a review of performance on our key measures and an (honest) assessment of our progress to plans.

For some leadership teams, these are the focal points of their routine meetings, as the review of metrics and progress against plans are viewed as vital to carrying out their collective responsibilities as a team. These teams find that most topics align with one or more of their strategic goals and therefore this format for their leadership agendas works well. (Note: Not all organizations are at that level of organizational maturity to make this a sound approach, just yet.) Other leadership teams set aside a specific monthly (or quarterly) leadership meeting with a longer and sole focus on the systematic review of their strategic progress.

Both Parts Are Essential

Review of Key Measures

In reviewing measures, it is important to use a format that allows for the long-view on performance data, examined over time, to prevent over-reacting to a single data point. Instilling sound principles of fact-based management for reviewing and interpreting metrics becomes a key skillset (and expectation) of all members of the leadership team. In high-performing organizations, this skillset is in place at all levels of management, not just among the senior leadership team.

The other key aspect of this periodic and ongoing evaluation of progress against the strategic direction is in assessing progress to plans. My best clients do this using their well-defined action plan (or strategic initiatives list) which has been clearly aligned to and derived from their overall strategic plan/direction.

Each month or quarter, they assess:

whether they are on track to accomplish the initiative,
whether there are barriers in the way (and if so, how leadership can help),
if any adjustments are needed (such as additional resources, additional time, a specific subject matter expert) in order to realize the objectives,

When the initiative has been fully implemented, they also assess and share the learnings that have been identified which can be applied more broadly in the organization or to other initiatives.

Honest Assessments of Progress

In organizations striving for organizational excellence, leadership teams recognize that honesty in these periodic assessments is critical. Too often I see leaders or leadership teams in typical organizations who feel it best to sugar-coat the assessment of progress or not to ask for the help that is needed or who fail to recognize barriers to future progress. This does not help the organization in the long-run. Sooner or later, leaders discover that the initiative has not been accomplished, or is behind schedule or budget.

In addition, as is all too common when incentives are intertwined, we give “ourselves credit” as a leader and leadership team for accomplishing something that is not fully in place, in the manner we intended, when we crafted the initiative or action plan. But we are eager to “check it off” and move on to something else. What I notice, when I begin to work with organizations who have previously adopted this mindset, is that the same initiative comes up again on the plan a year or two later, under a new name or new guise, because the organization did not in fact create the needed change the first time. They would have been better served to fully accomplish the plan and meet the objective, so as not to revisit the same item repeatedly when conditions once again surface the same priority.

As leaders, it is critical that we create the right environment within our leadership teams for these ongoing, systematic, and honest evaluations of progress. Both parts are important – progress to plan and progress against the key measures of our strategic direction – in order to determine if we are truly making strategic progress.

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Kathy Letendre, President and Founder of Letendre & Associates, advises organizations and leaders to create their excellence advantage.
Contact Kathy by phone or text at 802-779-4315 or via email.