Are Leadership Gaps Threatening Your Strategy?

Are Leadership Gaps Threatening Your Strategy?
There are times when companies and teams just do not have the leadership team alignment or horsepower to execute the strategic plan effectively.  Are leadership gaps threatening your strategy?  If you have inadequate or misaligned leaders, in numbers or in capabilities, even the best strategies are apt to miss expectations.

Have Enough of the Right Leaders First
Don’t put the cart before the horse. The analogy may not be the most complimentary to leaders — we apologize — but you get the meaning. You need to put the plan and its implementers in the right order. You need strong enough leaders in key positions in order to successfully define and execute your business strategy.

Remember — the more innovative or complex the strategy, the greater the need for skillful leaders at multiple levels — especially on the Executive Team.  You need to do what it takes to identify any leadership gaps threatening your strategy and do something about it.

Once your strategy is clear enough and strategically believable enough, you must make sure that you have the resources to implement it by:

1. Predicting Where Leadership Is Needed Most
   New strategies are likely to need leaders with new or different skills, knowledge, and mindsets. We are not talking about leaders narrowly defined. Leaders in this context include those employees throughout the organization who are required to deliver breakthroughs in performance.

   We know from our leadership simulation assessments that bold strategies require bold leaders who operate at many levels, deliver on challenging goals, and inspire the best from their colleagues.

   Have you identified where the right leaders will make the greatest strategic impact in the next 3 to 5 years?

2. Putting the Right Leaders in the Right Positions
   The goal is to put the right leaders in the right positions at the right time to maximize your critical few strategic big bets matter most. We believe that the most important task of a leader is to get the big strategic choices and fundamental leadership decisions right.  If you stretch your current leadership too thin, you risk missing your targets and minimizing their talents.

   Do you have a talent management plan to ensure that the right leaders are in key roles?

The Bottom Line
The right leaders in the right positions translate the wishful thinking of the strategy into reality. Too many organizations fail at strategy execution because they do not have the leadership required to make it happen.

To learn more about how to beat the strategy execution odds, download 7 Strategic Clarity Warning Signs to Pay Attention To