Three critical drivers of corporate growth and prosperity
by John WheelerIn the December 2004 issue of Business 2.0, CEO Meg Whitman was asked how eBay was successful at managing its hyper-growth through the late 1990s into the 2000s. Her response? “Focus, focus, focus!” Numerous corporate success stories reflect the same strategy; they maintain focus on the target, and monitor progress on moving toward that target.
Corporate growth and prosperity is an elusive goal, especially in the age of virtual teams (teams that are physically disconnected and perform most of their duties through the use of various technologies). To achieve prosperity, a number of factors must coalesce. Above all, three elements are essential to developing and maintaining focus, thereby leading to prosperity. They are: visioning, organization and execution.
Vision
According to Fred Pryor, “Visioning is a process that allows you to think ahead to where you want to be and what you want to be doing, and to create workable plans to lead you there.” The more vivid the vision (target) is, the easier it is to maintain focus on moving your company from where it is to where you want it to be. The process Pryor described involves:
1. Picking a specific date in the future;
2. Defining what your firm looks like and how it acts at that time;
3. Identification of your company’s mission and values, strengths, weaknesses, challenges, long-term goals and short-term objectives; and
4. Development of a tactical plan to achieve that vision.
When completed, this process creates a template for action by your company to move toward sustained growth and prosperity.
Organization
Once a vision is created, successful companies create an organization to move themselves from their current position toward achievement of their vision. The most effective organizations consist of a diverse group of specialists, all contributing their expertise from various points of view. They focus on actions that benefit the company rather than the individual. They value the concept of team and, to that end, encourage the development and continuance of a supportive environment that challenges each team member to give his/her best efforts. They communicate effectively using all media (verbal, written, voice mail, e-mail) and operate according to a set of established operational and communications standards. In summary, organizations with these characteristics maintain focus on executing the corporate plan toward achievement of its vision, at an accelerated pace. They rarely lose sight of the target and, as such, are an essential component of prosperous companies.
Execution
Concurrently, the organization makes use of tools and techniques to monitor its timely and cost-effective execution of those workable plans. Tools and techniques used to monitor progress typically include the following:
1. Identification of major work areas and specific tasks to be performed in each work area;
2. Who has primary responsibility for completion of each task;
3. When each task should begin and end;
4. Some measure of the progress being made toward completion of each task.
These software tools fall in three major categories: table-driven documents such as Microsoft Word or Excel; more sophisticated project management packages such as Microsoft Project and; collaborative Web-based tools such as onProject and @Task.
Table-driven tools are the most simplistic and, as such, are the easiest to deploy. However, as the complexity of a given project increases, these tools become less usable. Project management packages, although rich in features, can be difficult to learn. Collaborative Web-based tools provide a relatively simple solution for virtual teams, in which all team members can access required information, task status, post new documents and notify team members of all updates to the project.
This Roadmap to Prosperity, utilizing the approach of visioning, organization and execution, encourages ongoing focus on your business. That focus includes establishing a future target to shoot for, a game plan to realize that vision, execution of the game plan in a timely and cost-effective manner, and use of tools to monitor progress toward short and long-term goals – all leading you down the road to success and prosperity.
John Wheeler is managing partner of Wheeler Performance Group, a corporate consulting and operational planning firm. He can be reached at prosperity1@wheelergroupllc.com or (508) 430-2319.
Published in Cape Business Sept/Oct 2007
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