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 The Ripple Effect
A Strategy & Leadership Thought-Starter from Trium
April 2010 |
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Make Strategy Personal: A Brief "How-To" |
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 Strategy and
execution don't occur in a vacuum. They require people to act in concert, remain in
dialogue, and adapt as needed to reach a common destination. Yet often
we see organizations fall short of rapid, effective, and sustained
strategy execution. And while the particulars often vary, the root
cause is often the same: individuals inside an organization are
disconnected from the broader strategy. Or more problematic still,
individuals say they're fully connected to the strategy but their
actions indicate that they are not.
This brings up a critical
point: you need to make strategy personal for everyone inside your
organization.
After all, people don't get out of bed every day because
they want to advance high-level corporate priorities. They don't get
dressed each morning excited to execute against divisional or
functional imperatives. No--they get up and get in because they are
personally inspired to make a contribution to something that they
believe in and believe they can personally impact.
When we discuss this idea with clients, we see lots of
head nods. Then we're asked what to do. Below we present 5 tangible
"How To's" to make your macro-level strategy personal... so
everyone in your organization is taking meaningful, aligned action to
support the broader cause:
1. Connect goals and
strategies to context and direction. Ensure everyone in the organization is on the same
page. You've done this when everyone is crystal clear on where the
organization is coming from and where it aims to go, as well as what
the road ahead looks like and what specific outcomes or metrics will
indicate success.
2. Help people see
themselves in the strategy. A strategy that
does not resonate, connect, inspire or enlist a high level of personal
engagement has little chance of success. On the other hand, if you and
your management team help people see how they fit into the strategy-and
this may require you to be very explicit about how individual
responsibilities and expected outcomes directly support the broader
aim-our experience tells us you will get much more out of them.
Read More>
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Do What Only You Can Do |
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 A senior executive
client recently asked one of Trium's team leaders for "the single
piece of advice" that would best help him drive his business
forward, immediately.
This was a hard one-because our work is deep, nuanced,
and in that messy space where strategy, leadership and culture
intersect. We also felt the question deserved a response more specific
and actionable than popular kindergarten wisdom such as "Be
fair" or "Clean up your own mess."
After contemplation and discussion, we decided upon our
response: Do
what only you can do. We came to this for three
principal reasons:
1. Priority-setting matters. Executives have the unique authority to set meaningful,
strategic organizational priorities and hold the rest of the
organization accountable for sticking to them. If you have this
authority and either do not use it or do not give it the attention it
deserves, there could be very significant negative consequences that
cascade throughout your organization, immediately and into the future.
The chances are you don't want everyone deciding their own priorities.
Read More>
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Alum Named
FCC Deputy Chief |
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 Congratulations to Trium alumnus Yul Kwon--after first
utilizing Trium strategy and skills to win Survivor: Cook Islands (and
its $1M prize), he recently survived government vetting to become the new
Deputy Chief of Consumer and Governmental Affairs at the Federal
Communications Commission (FCC).
In his governmental role, Yul becomes the public face of the
FCC-the person accountable for delivering official responses to external
inquiries and complaints.
Since leaving Trium and becoming a reality television star,
Yul has also campaigned on behalf of then-Senator Barack Obama's
presidential bid, worked with the FBI to teach agents unconventional
methods of interacting with people, served as a CNN special correspondent,
and became active on the public speaking circuit. Along the way, the
former lawyer-turned-consultant-turned-celebrity also made People Magazine's
"Sexiest Men Alive" list.
We recently asked Yul for his
latest perspective on strategy, leadership and survival. Here's are three
of his answers from our Q&A:
Q: What's the #1 piece of advice you have for executives
striving to win the hearts & minds of teammates and beat the
competition... on or off the Cook Islands?
Yul: The one quality that I feel is too frequently overlooked
or dismissed by business leaders is empathy. I've worked with some
incredibly talented and motivated people in great organizations like
McKinsey, Google, the FBI, and others. The human capital in these organizations
is top-tier-almost everyone is intelligent, driven, and ambitious.
However, there's a culture in many of these high-powered organizations
that looks down on fuzzier 'softer' things like feelings and emotions.
Executives in particular often feel pressured to appear competent, smart,
and 'locked-on' all the time, and they're often implicitly taught to mask
their internal feelings and look down on others who show
vulnerability. To me, this represents a missed opportunity.
Executives who learn strong empathy skills-the ability to understand and
connect with people, to recognize emotional vulnerability and offer
support-are in a much better position to obtain critical information,
motivate and influence others, generate business, improve internal morale,
and ensure positive external PR (case in point, Goldman Sachs, whose
leadership could probably benefit from a course on
empathy). Empathetic executives are generally more adept at
recruitment, building support and forming coalitions for their initiatives,
and instilling a sense of collective ownership within a team. In my view,
empathy is one leadership quality that is vastly underleveraged and
should be explicitly coached to high-potential executives.
Q: You've survived in business, law, entertainment, and now
government. What are your keys to success?
Read More>
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What's On The Bookshelf |
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 We're always looking for good reads that can further our
thinking and help us advance our craft, and ultimately help our client
organizations thrive. Here are a few books we've been recommending
lately:
· The Service Profit
Chain by James L. Heskett, W. Earl Sasser, and Leonard A. Schlesinger.
Written years ago but only now taking proper hold, the authors argue
profit is almost entirely a function of customer loyalty and executives
can influence this loyalty via a set of choices between vision and the
customer.
· Who Would You Be
Without Your Story? Dialogues with Byron Katie. Yes, you could say
this book shows our California roots, but Katies's key point--that you
should honestly articulate your judgment and then ask four specific
questions to challenge and reconsider it--should resonate and add value
wherever you may be.
· Leading Outside the
Lines: How to Mobilize the Informal Organization, Energize Your Team, and
Get Better Results by Zia Khan and Jon R. Katzenbach. We
mentioned this in our last The
Ripple Effect, and wanted to give another friendly reminder
that this very practical book came out on April 19. The authors
explain how executives can create sustainable competitive advantage by
effectively mobilizing the formal and informal structures within their
organizations.
By the way, if you've recently come across or thought
about a book that's had a profound impact on you, please let us know.
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About Us & The
Ripple Effect |
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 The Trium Group is an elite strategy consultancy that helps
leaders align, equip, and mobilize their organizations to solve
complex business problems and execute multi-dimensional strategies. We
work at the intersection of strategy, leadership, and culture--in
areas like corporate transformation and restructuring, post-merger
integration, and leadership-driven change management. Trium's
clients span a broad range of industries and geographies.
We welcome the opportunity to be your thought-partner or
sounding board. To learn more about us or to discuss how we can help you
with your latest challenges, please e-mail ManagingPartner@triumgroup.com.
We call this newsletter "The Ripple Effect"
because our logo features a single pebble causing ripples of water in a
pond. The pebble is symbolic of how a single, well-executed action can
have a very significant impact. The ripples also remind us of the
collateral effects of every business action--effects we strive to
proactively create in collaborating with our clients to develop and
execute strategic agendas for purpose-driven change and improved business
performance.
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A Final Note |
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It's already April... and already time to plan for 2011 and
beyond. But it's not too late to drive harder on your 2010 strategy and
execution. Feel free to contact
us for experienced perspective on how to achieve the results you
need, before it's too late to impact this
year.
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